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Thomas Sutpen
Charles Bon is Thomas Sutpen’s son with his first wife, Eulalia Bon. Sutpen rejects Bon and his mother after discovering Eulalia’s Black ancestry, though he continues to support them financially. Charles later enrolls at the University of Mississippi and befriends Sutpen’s legitimate son, Henry, who eventually invites him to accompany him to Sutpen’s Hundred over the holidays. It’s difficult to ascertain Bon’s true character and intentions with the Sutpen family, as readers only know him through other characters’ stories—and those characters are only describing what they know about Bon from others’ stories. Quentin and Shreve regard Bon as something of a tragic hero. But Mr. Compson—whose father, General Compson, was close friends with Sutpen and who therefore has more sympathy for Sutpen’s plight—views Bon as opportunistic and scheming. In most versions of the story, Bon reenters Sutpen’s life because he wants Sutpen to acknowledge him as his son. In some versions, Bon then knowingly pursues an incestuous relationship with Judith to punish Sutpen. In others, Bon pursues a relationship with Judith out of genuine (albeit still incestuous) love for her. After Sutpen tells Henry the truth about Bon’s identity, Henry rejects his birthright out of loyalty to Bon and even comes to accept Bon’s plan to marry Judith. But after Sutpen later reveals Bon’s mixed-race ancestry, Henry kills Bon to prevent the marriage. In a reading of the novel as an allegory for the South, Henry’s seeming acceptance of one social taboo (incest) but disgust at another (interracial relations) symbolizes the South’s inability to acknowledge the enduring legacy of slavery, the region’s great sin, and the inherent racism that underpins it.
Charles Bon Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Bon or refer to Charles Bon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3 Quotes
That’s what Miss Rosa heard. Nobody knows what she thought.
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While waiting for it to be time for him to return to Rosa Coldfield’s house, where she’ll tell Quentin more of her story about her longstanding grudge against Thomas Sutpen, Quentin listens to Mr. Compson tell his own story about Sutpen, which he’s pieced together through details his own father (General Compson) told him. At this point in the story, Mr. Compson has just gotten to the argument that Henry Sutpen and Thomas Sutpen get into one fateful Christmas Eve. People know what came of the argument—Henry Sutpen renounced his birthright and left Sutpen’s Hundred with his close friend Charles Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qu
Chapter 4 Quotes
There was no time, no interval, no niche in the crowded days when he could have courted Judith. You can not even imagine him and Judith alone together. Try to do it and the nearest you can come is a projection of them while the two actual people were doubtless separate and elsewhere—two shades pacing, serene and untroubled by flesh, in a summer garden […].
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This passage is told from Mr. Compson’s perspective as he continues his version of the Sutpen story as Quentin waits for it to be time to return to Miss Rosa’s house. Here, Mr. Compson expresses his doubts about the romance between Bon and Judith being genuine. According to Mr. Compson, there was simply no opportunity for any feelings of love to develop between Bon and Judith. They’d hardly had the chance to be alone together—or at least, Mr. Compson “can not even imagine [Bon] and Judith alone together.” Instead, one can only imagine “a projection of them while the two Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libe
“[…] Oh he was shrewd, this man whom for weeks now Henry was realising that he knew less and less, this stranger immersed and oblivious now in the formal, almost ritual, preparations for the visit, finicking almost like a woman over the fit of the new coat which he would have ordered for Henry, forced Henry to accept for this occasion, by means of which the entire impression which Henry was to receive from the visit would be established before they even left the house, before Henry ever saw the woman: and Henry, the countryman, the bewildered, with the subtle tide already setting beneath him toward the point where he must either betray himself and his entire upbringing and thinking, or deny the friend for whom he had already repudiated home and kin and all […].”
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In this passage, which is told from Mr. Compson’s perspective, Mr. Compson continues to relate to Quentin his version of Thomas Sutpen’s life and the tragedies that undid the Sutpen dynasty. Here, Mr. Compson speculates on what happened during the trip to Bon’s home in New Orleans that Bon and Henry took after Henry renounced his family and fled Sutpen’s Hundred following his argument with Sutpen on Christmas Eve. Mr. Compson crafts a narrative where Bon, following Henry’s break with his family, now has Henry in the palm of his hand: Henry rejected his family out of loyalty to Bon, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus.
Chapter 5 Quotes
Now you will ask me why I stayed there. I could say, I do not know, could give ten thousand paltry reasons, all untrue, and be believed:—
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In this quote, Miss Rosa tries to defend and explain her choice to stay at Sutpen’s Hundred following the death of her father (Goodhue Coldfield) and the murder of Charles Bon. This becomes a pattern across the sections she narrates. It was Rosa’s choice to stay at Sutpen’s Hundred that indirectly led to her brief engagement to Sutpen, which led to Sutpen insulting her, which led to her fleeing the estate and living out the rest of her years as an embittered shut-in. Thus, it makes sense that Rosa would simultaneously try to justify her choice and also berate herself Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut mi
Chapter 7 Quotes
“[…] ‘I found that she was not and could never be, through no fault of her own, adjunctive or incremental to the design which I had in mind, so I provided for her and put her aside.’ […]”
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This quote is Sutpen’s supposed explanation to General Compson for why he abandoned his first wife (Eulalia Bon) and their son (Charles Bon). Regardless, Sutpen’s explanation for his choice gives readers insight into Sutpen’s character, the way he interacts with others, his extreme ambition, and the core values his “design” rests upon. Sutpen’s description of why he chose to abandon Eulalia and Bon—an act that is cruel, racist, and morally reprehensible—is frank and emotionless. He doesn’t express anger at learning about Eulalia’s mixed-race ancestry, and he explicitly notes that he doesn’t blame or think ill of Eulalia for her ancestry—he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic
Chapter 8 Quotes
—Yes. What else can I do now? I gave him the choice. I have been giving him the choice for four years.
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This passage is Bon’s response to Henry after Henry pleads with Bon not to marry Judith—Henry’s sister and Bon’s half-sister. Despite Henry’s earlier acceptance of Bon’s plan to go through with the incestuous marriage (which, in this version of the story, he formulates in order to get back at Sutpen for abandoning him and then failing to acknowledge him as his son), Henry rescinds his approval after learning of Bon’s mixed-race ancestry. Here, Bon shifts the blame away from himself and toward Sutpen. For the past four years, ever since Henry first brought Bon home to visit Sutpen’s Hundred (at Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Excepturi ullam nobis. Ducimus odio quo. Ut autem harum. Omnis vel v
Chapter 9 Quotes
“Yes. I remember your grandpaw. You go up there and make her come down. Make her go away from here. Whatever he done, me and Judith and him have paid it out. You go and get her. Take her away from here.”
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Quentin has accompanied Miss Rosa to Sutpen’s derelict mansion, where Miss Rosa claims someone is hiding upstairs (that someone turns out to be the dying Henry Sutpen, who has been a fugitive for the past 43 years, ever since he murdered Charles Bon). Clytie, Sutpen’s daughter by one of his enslaved women, tries to stop Miss Rosa from walking upstairs to find (and, Clytie seems to fear, murder) Henry. She calls on Quentin to help her after a determined and scornful Rosa defies Clytie, knocking her to the ground when Clytie tries to stand in Rosa’s way. Clytie urges Quentin Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequ
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Charles Bon Character Timeline in Absalom, Absalom!
The timeline below shows where the character Charles Bon appears in Absalom, Absalom!. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...the year after Henry goes off to college and after he brought his friend Charles Bon, who is from New Orleans, home with him for the holidays. Sutpen is away in...
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Rosa didn’t see Henry the winter he and Charles Bon were home from school, though she heard of all the parties that took place at...
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Rosa hasn’t seen Charles Bon at this point. Bon is a few years older than Henry and a bit too...
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Hearing Ellen talk about Bon, Rosa—“the spinster doomed for life at sixteen”—isn’t jealous of Judith. Nor does she feel sorry...
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Ellen has been telling the town all about Judith’s engagement to Charles Bon. Then, one day, something happens: Bon and Henry leave without saying a word, and Ellen...
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...ride into town together and act normal, which means the argument can’t have been between Bon and Sutpen. The townspeople also assume the argument can’t have been between Henry and Sutpen,...
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...she knew that “Judith knew,” and “may have known for some time,” where Henry and Bon had gone and hadn’t told Rosa. And perhaps Judith didn’t tell Ellen before Ellen’s death,...
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Chapter 4
...he muses that Henry gave up his birthright and financial security out of love for Bon. Bon was “at least an intending bigamist even if not an out and out blackguard,”...
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...what happened in the study on Christmas Eve and wouldn’t know until they brought in Bon’s body and she saw the photograph of the woman and child. All she had to...
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Bon, like Sutpen, arrived seemingly without a past, and he mystifies Mr. Compson. Though he easily...
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Bon loved Judith—though, Mr. Compson adds, Sutpen would learn that Bon had professed his love to...
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Mr. Compson suggests that Henry witnessed the entirety of Judith and Bon’s courtship, for there was no time or opportunity for them to have been alone together...
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Mr. Compson continues his story. After Henry and Bon leave that Christmas morning, Judith doesn’t see Bon for four years. And during that time,...
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In June, after school wraps up, Bon and Henry arrive at Sutpen’s Hundred, planning to spend a couple days there before continuing...
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Mr. Compson speculates that if Henry had only gone with Bon to New Orleans instead of waiting until the next summer to join him, perhaps Bon...
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In Mr. Compson’s telling, after that Christmas, Judith starts sending letters to Bon, and Henry reads them “without jealousy,” and in the process he becomes “the body which...
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The Christmas of 1860, Bon and Henry return to Sutpen’s Hundred. By this point, Ellen has already told everyone in...
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Mr. Compson imagines how Bon would have come clean to Henry—all the “calculation” that went into it. It wouldn’t be...
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Mr. Compson imagines Bon leading Henry to a brothel in New Orleans, scandalizing Henry, and Bon trying gently to...
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What happened four years later, Mr. Compson argues, should have happened the day Bon brought Henry to the brothel. But it doesn’t happen that way. Instead, Henry waits four...
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Mr. Compson’s story continues. That spring, Bon and Henry return north to Mississippi. Bull Run has already been fought, and they join...
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In the present, Judith remains a mystery to Mr. Compson: it’s not as though Bon tried to “corrupt her to unchastity,” Mr. Compson argues. And she couldn’t have known the...
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Mr. Compson continues his story. Henry and Bon go off to war, and Bon is made lieutenant (though Mr. Compson doubts he even...
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...guesses). Miss Rosa declines the offer, apparently waiting for Judith to receive a letter from Bon (the very letter Mr. Compson now holds). Judith then asks Quentin’s grandmother to keep it—to...
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...Mr. Compson continues speaking. From reading the letter, he assures Quentin, Quentin will understand that Bon did love Judith, though the letters that came before this one were full of floral...
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The letter is undated, but from its contents Quentin learns it’s 1865. In the letter, Bon talks of the hardship and suffering he’s experienced serving in the war. Then he declares...
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Bon’s letter continues, restating that he can’t tell Judith when he’ll be back. He notes that...
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...gown after Judith received this letter. They made the veil from scraps of fabrics. Maybe Bon showed Henry the letter before sending it, Mr. Compson suggests. But maybe he didn’t. Maybe...
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Chapter 5
...to Rosa telling her story to Quentin, picking up after Wash Jones tells her about Bon being killed. Rosa describes how she gathered her meager belongings and traveled in the buggy...
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Rosa starts to head upstairs, where she believes she’ll find Bon’s bloodied corpse on “that sheetless bed.” Clytie urges her to stop, and Rosa feels it...
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...redirecting the story backward in time to the summer after the first Christmas Henry brought Bon home. In this memory, Mr. Coldfield sends Rosa to stay with Ellen. Sutpen is gone....
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In the present, Miss Rosa describes her sense of Bon as “a child’s vacant fairy-tale” and insists that she “did not love him,” and if...
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Rosa’s story flashes forward to the day she arrives at Sutpen’s Hundred following Bon’s murder. Judith encounters Rosa standing before “the closed door which [Rosa] was not to enter.”...
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...as she cooks and serves food. Meanwhile, Wash Jones and some other white man construct Bon’s coffin with planks they take from the carriage house. Later, Rosa, Clytie, and Judith carry...
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...“paltry reasons, all untrue, and be believed” for why Rosa stays at Sutpen’s Hundred following Bon’s death. They’ll say she stays for food, though she could easily have scrounged for or...
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...task” of rebuilding Sutpen’s Hundred. They talk about Henry, albeit “quietly.” They never speak of Bon, though Judith sometimes goes to clear the leaves from his grave.
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...in clipped sentences, with Judith filling Sutpen in on Henry’s disappearance following his murder of Bon. Then, for the first time, she bursts into tears. Sutpen hardly responds to the news...
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...“that door.” He imagines the interaction between Henry and Judith when Henry told Judith about Bon’s murder. Then Rosa interrupts Quentin’s daydreaming to tell him that “something” is living “in that...
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Chapter 6
...continues to clarify points of the story Quentin has told him. After turning Henry against Bon, prohibiting Bon’s marriage to Judith, poisoning Henry against Bon, and “doom[ing Judith] to spinsterhood” by...
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Quentin asks Mr. Compson about the other three gravestones, which belong to Charles Bon, Charles Etienne Saint-Valery Bon, and Judith Sutpen. Mr. Compson urges Quentin to think about it:...
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...summer Judith sold the store. In Mr. Compson’s telling, Quentin’s grandfather witnesses the arrival of Bon’s mistress—whom he assumes has come in response to Judith writing her in New Orleans to...
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After Bon’s widow and her child, Charles Etienne, return to New Orleans, Clytie (or maybe Judith) keeps...
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...The town knows of Charles Etienne’s arrival and thinks they now understand why Henry murdered Bon, though Quentin’s grandfather doesn’t quite connect the young boy with Bon’s widow, the mixed-race woman...
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...while Charles Etienne and Quentin’s grandfather speak. Quentin’s grandfather asks if Charles Etienne is Charles Bon’s son, and Charles Etienne curtly replies that he doesn’t know. Quentin’s grandfather tells Charles Etienne...
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Judith pleads with Charles Etienne to renounce his wife and child (Jim Bond) and go to the North, where he can start fresh and pass as white. She...
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...some other boys their age approaching the old cabin and seeing Charles Etienne’s son, Jim Bond, who is just a few years older than they are. Bond is wearing unwashed, ill-fitting...
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...that he’s gotten all the unbelievable details of the story correct. Shreve verifies that Jim Bond and “the old woman”—Clytie—lived in the cabin for 26 years. Quentin confirms that this is...
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Chapter 7
...he urges Quentin to pick up the story on the Christmas that Henry brought Charles Bon home to Sutpen’s Hundred for Christmas, during which Sutpen—“the demon”—recognized “the face he believed he...
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Quentin explains that General Compson thinks that Sutpen probably named Charles Bon himself, just as he’d named all his other children—“that entire fecundity of dragons’ teeth,” which...
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...that the fight between Sutpen and Henry (and the reason Sutpen prohibited the marriage between Bon and Judith) was about Bon’s relationship with his mistress (using an outdated racial term to...
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Quentin continues his story. Upon realizing that Bon is the son he abandoned in the West Indies, Sutpen doesn’t think of Bon’s arrival...
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After Christmas, Henry and Bon return to Oxford for school, and Bon’s letters to Judith start to arrive at Sutpen’s...
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Nobody even knows if Bon even knew that Sutpen was his father in the first place—and even if he did...
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Whatever Sutpen went to New Orleans to accomplish doesn’t work out, apparently, and Bon returns to Sutpen’s Hundred that Christmas. At this point, Sutpen realizes (in this telling of...
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...Sutpen leaves for Virginia following his discussion with Quentin’s grandfather about what to do about Bon’s reappearance and intentions with Judith.
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...as it describes Sutpen returning home from the war. He finds out that Henry murdered Bon, and he briefly cries before swiftly resuming his life. The problem he needed solved (Bon)...
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...still unclear perspective) then documents Quentin’s father’s thoughts on Sutpen’s actions in the aftermath of Bon’s death. Mr. Compson speculates that Sutpen wasn’t “concerned […] about the courage and the will,...
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Chapter 8
...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...
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...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...
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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...
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...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...
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...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...
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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...
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...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....
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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...
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Then Bon returns home to New Orleans. He never learns if Sutpen was actually there. In Shreve’s...
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Bon returns to school, where Henry is waiting for him. It’s at this point (Shreve guesses)...
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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...
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...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...
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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...
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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...
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...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...
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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...
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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...
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...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...
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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...
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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....
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...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...
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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....
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Bon is crushed that Sutpen didn’t even send for him. He says that all Sutpen needed...
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Bon pushes his pistol toward Henry and orders Henry to shoot him then. Henry refuses, claiming...
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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...
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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...
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Chapter 9
...and Quentin’s “blood surge[s] and r[uns] warmer, warmer.” Still discussing the story of Henry and Bon, Quentin remarks that Henry and Bon were in the University of Mississippi’s tenth graduating class....
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...doesn’t say this to Miss Rosa. Instead, he looks up at the gate—the same one Bon and Henry rode to that day.
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...then he hears a man’s voice. The man, who is Black, identifies himself as Jim Bond.
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...that has finally come to bring Henry into town to hang him for shooting Charles Bon. In the present, Quentin imagines Miss Rosa sitting between the ambulance driver and another man,...
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...the window for a moment, a look of “triumph” on her face.) And then Jim Bond, “the scion, the last of his race,” cries out from somewhere outside the house when...
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Shreve laments how each Sutpen met their end: Charles Bon and his mother killed “old Tom,” Charles Bon and Bon’s mistress killed Judith, and Charles...
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