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Chapter 7
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Absalom, Absalom!, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling, Perspective, and Truth
The South
The Limits of Ambition
Social Taboos, Racism, and Inherited Trauma
Summary
Analysis
Quentin and Shreve sit in a college sitting room. Shreve continues to make sense of Quentin’s story. He speculates that Sutpen sent for Henry and told him that Judith and Bon couldn’t marry because Bon was their brother, and Henry instantly replied, “You lie.” Though from the grave expression on Sutpen’s face, Shreve guesses, Henry would have known that Sutpen was telling him the truth. As Quentin and Shreve retell Sutpen’s story, it’s as though they’re transported from their New England college to the Mississippi library where Sutpen first disclosed the truth about Bon to Henry.
Sutpen’s death and Wash Jones’s motive for killing him are fairly straightforward, so Quentin and Shreve redirect their attention to parts of the story where conflicting accounts leave room for ambiguity. They’re determined to arrive at some semblance of the truth about why Henry turned on Bon. Shreve proposes a hypothetical situation where Sutpen tells Henry that Bon is his brother and that’s why Henry turns on Bon. The rather surreal description of Quentin and Shreve being transported back in time to the library at Sutpen’s Hundred where this hypothetical fight takes place illustrates the transformative potential of narrative.
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Quentin and Shreve continue to debate what must have happened in the library that day. Shreve says that it wasn’t just the fact that Bon was Henry and Judith’s brother that Sutpen disclosed to Henry—Sutpen also told Henry that Bon knew about this all along. Shreve thinks that Bon’s mother in New Orleans must have been bitter about Sutpen’s abandonment and begun grooming Bon to take revenge on Sutpen for years, waiting for just the right moment to get even with Sutpen. They imagine her hiring a lawyer to track Sutpen’s every movement and business transaction, waiting until Sutpen had amassed a suitable amount of wealth to put her plan into action. Meanwhile, they imagine that Bon spends all the money his mother receives from Sutpen “on his whores and his champagne,” and on fine clothing.
Shreve proposes yet another interpretation: Sutpen did tell Henry that Bon was his brother—but claimed that Bon wasn’t aware of this fact. In Shreve’s version of events, Bon’s mother is the architect of Sutpen’s demise, throwing her unwitting son to the wolves to get back at Sutpen for abandoning them. As the novel progresses, characters’ speculations get more and more outlandish. Shreve’s imagination runs especially wild because he has no personal stake in any of the details he’s speculating on. While Shreve and Quentin portray Bon as hedonistic, as Mr. Compson had in his telling of the story, they’re doing so in an admiring rather than a critical way. Mr. Compson sees Bon as the villain, but Shreve and Quentin see him as a tragic hero of sorts.
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Next Shreve and Quentin imagine how Bon came to attend college. In their retelling, Bon leaves home to attend college in Mississippi at age 28. It’s unclear whether the lawyer or Bon’s mother made this decision for him. Someone—the lawyer or the mother—selected, of all places, the University of Mississippi at Oxford for Bon to attend.
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In Shreve and Quentin’s retelling of the story, the lawyer sends a letter to Henry Sutpen, introducing Bon to Henry as the son of a widowed gentlewoman (not as Henry’s brother) in advance of Bon’s arrival in Oxford. Then Quentin and Shreve imagine Bon and Henry’s first meeting. They imagine Henry being enchanted by Bon’s cosmopolitan upbringing. They imagine how, over drinks one night, Henry clumsily lets it slip that if he had a brother, he’d want that brother to be exactly like Bon.
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Literary Devices
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In the novel’s present, Shreve announces to Quentin that they’re now “going to talk about love.” In Shreve’s telling of the story, he imagines Bon teaching Henry how to lounge around in a dressing gown and slippers, “such as woman wore,” wearing colognes “such as women used, smoking a cigar almost as a woman might smoke it.” Meanwhile, Bon wonders if Henry can see the resemblance between them. Shreve, in the present, ruminates on what Bon wanted from Henry—if he just wanted to influence Henry, or to get rid of him.
Shreve and Quentin continue their story, picking up the Christmas that Henry invites Bon to accompany him to Sutpen’s Hundred. Shreve speculates what Bon’s intentions were with Sutpen and muses that perhaps Bon only wanted Sutpen to see him, recognize him, and acknowledge him as his son. But Shreve hypothesizes that when Bon arrives at Sutpen’s Hundred and comes face to face with Sutpen, Sutpen does not acknowledge Bon as his son.
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Shreve, in the present, guesses that Ellen must have executed her own scheme to marry Judith to Bon, something she’d been planning since Henry first mentioned Bon in one of his letters home. In Shreve’s telling, Ellen goes out of her way to arrange for Bon and Judith to be alone together—in the parlor or library or in afternoon buggy rides. As they imagine the details of Bon and Judith’s courtship, Shreve and Quentin argue over whether Judith and Bon truly loved each other. Shreve thinks they did, but Quentin resists this notion.
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Quentin and Shreve’s story of Henry and Bon continues. Henry and Bon return to Sutpen’s Hundred—Bon’s second visit—the following June. This time Sutpen isn’t there, and nobody knows where he’s gone—nobody but Bon, who must know that Sutpen has gone to New Orleans to confirm the truth once and for all. On this visit, Bon continues to court Judith, and they exchange their first kiss—but nothing else happens. Henry and Bon leave two days later. To Ellen’s dismay, Bon hasn’t yet proposed to Judith.
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Then Bon returns home to New Orleans. He never learns if Sutpen was actually there. In Shreve’s version of the story, Bon confirms the truth of the lawyer and his mother’s scheme through the lawyer’s strategic questions about the “country families” Bon has met up in Mississippi. September passes, and still neither the lawyer nor Bon’s mother directly brings up the matter of Sutpen with Bon.
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Bon returns to school, where Henry is waiting for him. It’s at this point (Shreve guesses) that Bon finally starts writing letters to Judith, with “Charles Bon” written clearly on the outside for Sutpen to see. Bon wonders if maybe Sutpen will send the letter back to him, and that will be the sign—the recognition—that Bon needs.
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Then (in Shreve’s telling), it’s Christmas once more, and Bon and Henry return to Sutpen’s Hundred. Bon expects that this will be the visit that Sutpen acknowledges him. Sutpen returns to the house that evening and summons Henry into the library and tells him the truth about Bon’s identity. Then Henry emerges from the library, and he and Bon walk wordlessly through the garden and into the stable. They saddle their horses and get ready to leave.
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In the present, Shreve stops speaking, and he and Quentin sit together in silence. It’s not even clear which of them has been retelling Sutpen’s story, nor does it matter. Their shared retelling of the story transports them back in time to that cold December when Bon and Henry set off together on horseback: “four of them and then just two—Charles-Shreve and Quentin-Henry.” Both realize how Sutpen has set about their ruin, and neither thinks that Bon has known the truth all along, which is why he’s acted the way he has.
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It’s 1860 now, and Bon and Henry go to Bon’s home in New Orleans together. Henry meets Bon’s mother, “the Haiti-born daughter of the French sugar planter” whose father had lied to Sutpen about her racial background. In Shreve and Quentin’s imagined version of the story, she already knows that Bon is “in love” with Judith—Henry doesn’t even need to tell her. Shreve and Quentin imagine that Bon must have taken Henry to see Bon’s mistress and Charles Etienne (this is what Mr. Compson thinks happened, too). But Shreve and Quentin don’t think the visit bothered Henry as much as Mr. Compson suspects it did. In fact, they suspect that the mistress only made Henry envy Bon more.
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In Shreve and Quentin’s telling of the story, the lawyer and Bon will finally reach an understanding—if only an unspoken one. The lawyer will tell Bon that he’s “fortunate,” for most people who are “lucky enough to get [their] revenge […] must pay for it[.]” Bon reacts violently, attacking the lawyer. Eventually he assures the lawyer he won’t hurt him, and the lawyer apologizes, insisting that he “misunderstood [Bon’s] feelings about the matter.”
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Time passes. Abraham Lincoln is elected president, the South draws out of the Union, and then there are two presidents. Then the Civil War begins. Shreve and Quentin imagine the conversation Henry and Bon must have had around that time. Henry, they imagine, must be shocked that Bon is still planning to go through with his plan to marry Judith to get back at Sutpen. Bon, in their retelling, explains that he waited years for Sutpen to claim him as his son, and yet he refused. At first Bon thought that perhaps Sutpen simply didn’t know Bon was his son, but after Sutpen called Henry into the library that day, it confirmed for Bon that Sutpen did indeed know Bon was his son—he simply refused to recognize him as such. Henry pleads with Bon to call off the revenge plot and to think of Judith, but Bon refuses.
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Henry doesn’t disapprove of Bon’s plan. Instead, he tells Bon he needs time to get used to the idea of Bon marrying their sister. Then it’s Christmas 1861. They haven’t heard from Judith because Henry still won’t let Judith write to Bon. The University Grays are organizing on campus, and Bon and Henry join them. Henry comes around to the idea of Bon marrying Judith, noting that “kings have done it.” After that, Henry allows Bon to write to Judith, and Judith sends Bon a metal case with her picture in it. Bon and Henry and their company then go off to war.
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At this point, Quentin and Shreve imagine Bon and Henry fighting in the Battle of Shiloh. Shreve insists that Mr. Compson was wrong about one detail of his story—it was Henry who was wounded in this battle, not Bon. He imagines a scene where Henry lies bleeding on the ground, pleading with Bon to just let him die so that Henry won’t have to find out what Bon plans to do about Judith. Bon pleads with Henry to just tell him it’s okay for him to go to Judith—then, maybe he’ll decide not to do it.
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Quentin and Shreve’s story skips forward in time. Now it’s the winter of 1864, and the army has retreated across Alabama and is on its way into Carolina. Bon, who has still not decided what he wants to do about Judith, realizes why he hasn’t been able to decide: he’s still holding out hope that Sutpen will acknowledge him as his son. He would abandon his plans altogether if he were to receive a letter from Sutpen that said, “Forgive me: but: You are my oldest son. Protect your sister; never see either of us again.” But he realizes he’ll never get this message.
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Now it’s 1865, the South has all but lost the war, and Bon has finally made up his mind to marry Judith. He tells Henry, and Henry is relieved—not about the incest, but that finally a decision has been reached and they can move forward.
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In March of 1865, Bon and Henry’s troop is still in Carolina when Lee sends some troops down for reinforcement. Bon sees Sutpen then, for the second time in his life. He sees his own features in Sutpen’s face, and he also sees recognition. Bon considers forcing Sutpen to acknowledge him but doesn’t. After this—and after Henry has given his permission for Bon to marry Judith—Bon writes to Judith to tell her that it’s time for them to marry. Henry reads the letter and sends it to Mississippi. Then one night an orderly comes to Henry and says that the colonel (Sutpen) wants to see Henry in his tent.
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The narrative shifts suddenly to Shreve’s retelling of what Quentin and Miss Rosa encountered in the old house the night Miss Rosa took Quentin there three months prior. He describes a terrified Clytie trying to stop them from going upstairs, and a determined “Aunt Rosa” punching Clytie, who fell to the floor.
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The action returns to 1865, just after the colonel (Sutpen) has summoned Henry to his tent. It’s been four years since Henry has seen his father, and at first he doesn’t recognize him. Sutpen tells Henry he’s heard that he was shot down in Shiloh. Henry confirms this but doesn’t tell his father that Bon carried him to safety. After a pause, Sutpen tells Henry that he knows Henry has agreed to let Bon marry Judith. Henry says nothing. Sutpen tells Henry he can’t let the marriage happen—not because of the incest, but because Bon’s mother is part Black.
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At some point, Henry leaves the tent and returns to the tent he shares with Bon. Bon notices that Henry is cold and offers him his cloak, but Henry refuses it. Eventually they exit the tent, and presumably Henry fills Bon in on the conversation he had with Sutpen. Bon asks for clarification that it’s the idea of interracial marriage rather than incest that Henry condemns, but Henry says nothing in response.
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Bon is crushed that Sutpen didn’t even send for him. He says that all Sutpen needed to do was acknowledge him as his son. He would’ve stopped pursuing Judith right then and there; Sutpen didn’t need to disclose Bon’s Black ancestry to Henry to stop him. Henry, realizing that Bon still intends to go through with his plan, cries out in disbelief. But Bon stands firm. He gave Sutpen chance after chance to claim him, and yet Sutpen refused.
Bon pushes his pistol toward Henry and orders Henry to shoot him then. Henry refuses, claiming that Bon is his brother. To this, Bon replies, “No I’m not. I’m the nigger that’s going to sleep with your sister.” Henry then grabs Bon’s pistol as Bon pleads with him to shoot him. Henry pleads with Bon not to marry Judith, but Bon is adamant that Henry will have to stop him.
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In Shreve and Quentin’s retelling, it’s possible that Bon and Henry rode to Sutpen’s Hundred together, approaching the gate side by side. Judith and Clytie heard the shot ring out when Henry shot Bon. Wash Jones helped them carry the body into the house and then went to fetch Miss Rosa, who walked in on Judith crying as she clasped the metal case—containing not her picture but the picture of Bon’s mistress and Bon’s child—in her hand.
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Shreve, in the present, speculates that Bon was trying to protect Judith when he removed Judith’s picture from the metal case Judith had given him and replaced it with a picture of Bon’s mistress. For if Henry meant what he said—that it was Bon’s being part Black that was what made him disapprove of Bon’s marriage to Judith—then it would “be the only way I will have to say to her, I was no good; do not grieve for me.’” Quentin replies only, “Yes,” and then Shreve says it’s time for them to “get out of this refrigerator and go to bed.”
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