Sutpen’s story throughout the novel is analogous to the
decline of the South following the end of the war. Sutpen’s main goal is to
make a fortune through any means possible. Sutpen married a woman of African
descent and ended up leaving her because he found out that she was not of pure
blood. He thinks that abandoning his son is a solution; however Charles Bon
turns into a problem for him later in life. Another decision that Sutpen made
to have relations with Wash Jones’s granddaughter and abandon her leads to his eventual
death at Wash Jones’s hands. Sutpen’s selfish attitude and drive for success
ahead of his concerns for his family leads to his ultimate demise. The decline
of the South occurred after the Civil War because most of the South’s economy
was reliant on slavery and human labor that didn’t exist in great quantities following
the conclusion of the war. Sutpen’s investment in his slaves and his infatuation
with success at the expense of anyone in his way is similar to the South’s
downfall. The South was extremely invested in slavery, a practice that
encouraged the vast exploitation, mistreatment, and abuse of human beings. The South and people like Sutpen who became
so reliant on slavery ended up losing virtually everything after the war.
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