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Dramatic Irony
Key Examples in Absalom, Absalom!
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Murder:
Much of the novel is presented in the form of flashbacks by those, like General Compson and Rosa, who have some direct memory of the events surrounding the murders of Charles Bon and Thomas Sutpen. In one pivotal flashback, Rosa recounts her memory of Charles's death:
And how I traversed those same twelve miles once more after the two years since Ellen died [...] knowing nothing, able to learn nothing save this: a shot heard, faint and far away and even direction and source indeterminate, by two women, two young women alone in a rotting house [...] then feet, in the hall and then on the stairs, running, hurrying, the feet of a man: and Judith with just time to snatch up the unfinished dress and hold it before her as the door burst open upon her brother, the wild murderer [...]
Related Themes:
