Faulkners Condemnation of the South in Absalom, Absalom Essay

Faulkners Condemnation of the South in Absalom, Absalom William Faulkner came from an old, proud, and distinguished Mississippi family, which included a governor, a colonel in the Confederate army, and notable business pioneers. by means of his experiences from growing up in the old South, Faulkner has been able to express the values of the South through his characters. William Faulkners Absalom, Absalom offers a strong hex of the mores and morals of the South. Faulkners strong condemnation of the values of the South emanates from the actual story of the Sutpen family whose history must be seen as connected to the history of the South (Bloom 74). Quentin tells this story in response to a Northerners question What is the South like? As the novel progresses, Quentin is explaining the story of the Sutpen myth and revealing it to the reader. Faulkner says that the duty of an author, as an artist, is to depict the human heart in combat with itself. This attitude is revealed in the conflicts that Henry Sutpen undergoes in Absalom, Absalom. Thomas Sutpen is the son of a poor mountain farmer who founded the Sutpen estate. Thomas Sutpen stands for all the great and noble qualities of the South, and at the same time represents the failure of the South by rejecting the past and committing the same types of acts that his ancestors did (Connelly 34). He rejects his own father to adopt a plantation owner as his surrogate father, who acts as a model of what a man is supposed to be. When the plantation owner tells Sutpen to use the back door instead of the front door, Faulkner is use ... ...). Works Cited Aswell, Duncan. The Puzzling Design of Absalom, Absalom Muhlenfeld 93-108 Bloom, Harold, ed. Absalom, Absalom Modern Critical Interpretations. New York Chelsea. 1987. Connelly, Don. The History and Truth in Absalom, Absalom Northwestern University, 1991. Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom New York Vintage, 1972 Levins, Lynn. The Four Narrativ e Perspectives in Absalom, Absalom capital of Texas U of Texas, 1971. Muhlenfeld, Elizabeth, ed. William Faulkners Absalom, Absalom A Critical Casebook. New York Garland, 1984. Rollyson, Carl. The Re-creation of the Past in Absalom, Absalom Mississippi Quarterly 29 (1976) 361-74 Searle Leroy. Opening the Door Truth in Faulkners Absalom, Absalom unpublished essay. N.d.