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Ellen Coldfield
Clytie (short for Clytemnestra) is Thomas Sutpen’s daughter by an enslaved Black woman. She is born into slavery on Sutpen’s plantation but later lives there as a servant. Sutpen appears to treat Clytie relatively well, and Sutpen’s enslavement of her is portrayed less as a consequence of his inherent racism and more as a reflection of his ambition to gain respectability among Southern gentility. (Of course, Sutpen’s specific motives for enslaving his own daughter don’t make her enslavement any less cruel.) Clytie lives with Judith (and later Rosa) in Sutpen’s mansion following Bon’s murder, and she helps raise Charles Etienne. After Charles Etienne and his unnamed wife’s deaths, Clytie also raises Charles Etienne’s son, Jim Bond. Clytie cares for Henry Sutpen after he returns to Sutpen’s Hundred to die after living for years as a fugitive. At the end of the story, Rosa summons an ambulance to deliver medical care to Henry, and Rosa mistakes it for the police. In a panic, she lights the house on fire, killing herself and Henry and finally bringing Sutpen’s “design” to its long-awaited end.
Clytie Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Clytie or refer to Clytie. 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
He brought the two women deliberately; he probably chose them with the same care and shrewdness with which he chose the other livestock—the horses and mules and cattle—which he bought later on.
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While waiting for it to be time to return to Miss Rosa Coldfield’s house to continue listening to her tell her story, Quentin listens to his father, Mr. Compson, tell his own story about Sutpen. Mr. Compson has just noted that an enslaved girl, Clytie, who lived on Sutpen’s estate, was in fact Sutpen’s daughter with one of the enslaved women he brought with him when he first came to Jefferson, Mississippi. Mr. Compson specifies that Sutpen “deliberately” brought the women with him, speculating that he “chose them with the same care and shrewdness with which he chose the other 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.
Chapter 5 Quotes
I waited for him exactly as Judith and Clytie waited for him: because now he was all we had, all that gave us any reason for continuing to exist, to eat food and sleep and wake and rise again: knowing that he would need us, knowing as we did (who knew him) that he would begin at once to salvage what was left of Sutpen’s Hundred and restore it.
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This passage is an excerpt from one of Rosa’s longer monologues during which she relates to Quentin the story of Thomas Sutpen’s rise and fall and the havoc he wreaked on her family. Here, she describes how life went on after she started living at Sutpen’s Hundred following Henry’s murder of Charles Bon. At this point, Sutpen is still away serving in the Civil War, and his estate (like all the estates in the region) has suffered in his absence. Clytie, Judith, and Rosa make do the best they can in Sutpen’s absence, but they exist in a sort of 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 itaq
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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Clytie Character Timeline in Absalom, Absalom!
The timeline below shows where the character Clytie appears in Absalom, Absalom!. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...didn’t actually witness this scene—she wasn’t there to see Judith and a young Black girl (Clytie) watching the fights from the loft window above.
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Chapter 3
...Compson explains that Sutpen returned in 1866 to find Rosa living there with Judith and Clytie (short for Clytemnestra, the daughter Sutpen had with one of the enslaved women he brought...
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...the holidays. Sutpen is away in New Orleans on business, but only General Compson and Clytie ever figure out what he’s doing there.
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Chapter 4
...finally does send her a letter saying it’s time for them to marry, Judith and Clytie get straight to work making a wedding dress. It’s at this point that Sutpen sees...
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...it doesn’t happen that way. Instead, Henry waits four years for Bon to renounce the woman and child and dissolve the marriage—all the while knowing that the relationship isn’t a marriage...
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...known the truth about why Sutpen prohibited the marriage. Had she known about the other woman, she might have solved the problem by murdering her.
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...Ellen stays in bed all day, shut in and waiting to die while Judith and Clytie keep house. Wash Jones and his daughter live in the abandoned fishing camp in the...
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In the present, Quentin finishes reading the letter. Mr. Compson explains that Clytie and Judith got to work making Judith’s wedding gown after Judith received this letter. They...
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Chapter 5
...Sutpen’s mansion and yells out to Henry, demanding to know what he’s done. She sees Clytie, with her “Sutpen coffee-colored face,” like that of a “sphinx.” Then Rosa calls out to...
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...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 is the house itself, not Clytie, talking...
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...point that Rosa realizes what she “could not, would not, must not believe,” implying that Clytie, too, is a “sister.” She feels foolish for not seeing it before, and she also...
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...Rosa standing before “the closed door which [Rosa] was not to enter.” Then Judith tells Clytie that Rosa will be staying for dinner. Rosa never sees Bon’s body, and she never...
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Rosa, Judith, and Clytie carry the coffin out of the house that afternoon. Judith’s face is blank and unreadable...
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...for Sutpen to return—not to marry him, as the townspeople will say—but because for Judith, Clytie, and Rosa, he’s “the only reason for continuing to exist,” for the women know Sutpen...
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...to tell him that “something” is living “in that house.” Quentin assumes she’s talking about Clytie, but Rosa ominously corrects him: “No. Something living in it. Hidden in it. It has...
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Chapter 6
...response to Judith writing her in New Orleans to inform her of Bon’s death. The woman arrives with an 11-year-old boy, Charles Etienne. She’s dressed in an elaborate gown rather than...
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After Bon’s widow and her child, Charles Etienne, return to New Orleans, Clytie (or maybe Judith) keeps tabs on them and goes to New Orleans to fetch Charles...
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Quentin’s grandfather isn’t sure who—Judith or Clytie—tells Charles Etienne he must be Black. Before this, the concept of race was alien to...
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...after this, Charles Etienne leaves town for a time and returns with a dark-skinned Black woman he married while he was away. She comes from a “two dimensional backwater” place and...
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...eventually she catches the disease herself. Judith dies first, and Charles dies not long after. Clytie raises Charles Etienne’s son after Charles Etienne’s passing.
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...than they are. Bond is wearing unwashed, ill-fitting clothes. The boys don’t even notice the woman sitting on the porch at first. She’s old, small, and wrinkled, with a “coffee-colored face.”...
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...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 true. Shreve then expresses...
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Chapter 7
...was talking about, had he and the other boys not “been out there and see Clytie.” Quentin says yes to both questions and adds that his grandfather was Sutpen’s only friend....
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...all men of white skin”—are better dressed than him and his granddaughter. He’s bitter toward Clytie, who won’t even let him enter Sutpen’s house.
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...she could have guessed about Wash’s granddaughter’s condition or how much she discerned from what Clytie knew. When Sutpen doesn’t return by midafternoon, she pays a boy to go down to...
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Chapter 8
...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...
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...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...
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Chapter 9
...hears someone scrape a match behind him. Terrified, he turns around and sees an old woman with “coffee-colored” skin (Clytie).
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Quentin’s memory continues. The woman (Clytie) doesn’t say a single word to him. Instead, she calmly walks to the door...
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...the old house, Rosa calls an ambulance to transport Henry to town. Perhaps (Shreve speculates), Clytie has been watching for this all along. Maybe she thinks the ambulance is in fact...
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...and Shreve’s telling of the story, the ambulance can’t get to the house in time—and Clytie probably knew this before she started the fire. The three occupants of the ambulance rush...
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...mother killed “old Tom,” Charles Bon and Bon’s mistress killed Judith, and Charles Bon and Clytie killed Henry. Shreve notes that just one Sutpen remains now: Jim Bond. He asks if...
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