The 7th chapter of Absalom! Absalom! show nearly all of the details about Sutpen's past and clears up a lot of questions. It introduces Sutpen's childhood, and the factors that may have influenced his persona in Jefferson, as well as cementing the solidity of Sutpen and Compson's friendship, which previously was somewhat obscure. This section gives an insight to why Sutpen is so concerned with power, and his monomaniacal drive to be successful; moving to Southern Virginia with his drunken father taught him about the differences between races and classes. This desire to overcome his lower-class background and opposition to charity are significant characteristics that resonate through Sutpen's adult life and the reasons behind his secrecy, independence, and self-sufficience in Jefferson.
Sutpen's opinions on race become more clear in this chapter of the novel. In previous chapters he interacts with his slaves, running around naked and building his home with them, and even having children with them, giving the impression that race is not of too great an importance to Sutpen. However, we see in this chapter that Sutpen actually disowns his wife because she has the slightest amount of negro blood, and therefore disowns his son as well. I find it strange that Sutpen has such conflicting attitudes, and also why he continues to provide for his daughter, Clytie, who is notably of negro descent. Why would he allow her to live in his house and interact with his fully white children when he can't even stand to acknowledge Charles Bon as his own son?
It is also interesting to note Sutpen's familiarity with Wash Jones, who up until this chapter seemed to be an irrelevant character in the novel. Now we find out that Jones is actually the great grandfather to Sutpen's bastard child. Sutpen's actions with this child are also indicative of his background, and his dismissal of the low-class child as he dismissed his previous wife in Haiti and his son, Charles Bon.
I agree with Sarah's interpretation that Sutpen has many curious reasonings in how he treats people of different race/class. The examples that you provide, specifically Sutpen's interaction with his slaves and his sexual relationships with them, support the idea that Sutpen is not innately racist. Rather, he is mirroring the societal belief that associating your blood-line with non-whites was reason to lower your own social class. In essence, Sutpen's refusal to acknowledge Bon and others as his kin is because doing so would hurt his social reputation, something he views as paramount to all other things. I think that Sutpen acknowledges Clytie and allows her to live with him because she is serving a role as a housekeeper and is openly below the social class of the rest of the household.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah and Will in thinking that Sutpen has curious thoughts about people of different races in the book. It’s interesting that Sutpen will have sex with his slaves but then not acknowledge them or the child if a child is born. It’s like he doesn’t really care about race, yet he is conforming to the social norms thus not acknowledging the relationship just because others don’t think he should. I can’t tell if Sutpen is really a racist or if he’s just conforming to social norms about race. It’s interesting that he fell in love with a woman, had a child with her and then left her and the child once he found out that she had black blood. It proves that race really doesn’t matter in a relationship.
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