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Flashbacks
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Sutpen and Coldfield :
Goodhue Colfield and Thomas Sutpen serve as foils for each other in the first chapters of the novel. Faulkner underscores the sharp contrast in their characters in his depiction of a scene in which Thomas Sutpen surprises the locals in Jefferson by attending church in an attempt to court Goodhue Coldfield's daughter, Ellen:
They watched in shocked amazement while he laid deliberate siege to the one man in the town with whom he could have had nothing in common, least of all, money—a man who obviously could do nothing under the sun for him save give him credit at a little crossroads store or cast a vote in his favor if he should ever seek ordination as a Methodist minister—a Methodist steward, a merchant not only of modest position and circumstances but who already had a wife and family of his own [...]
Sutpen has previously shown no interest in any of the churches in Jefferson, instead spending most of his time in his own estate. When he decides that he needs to marry in order to carry out his "design" or plan to gain social respectability, he picks Ellen Coldfield due to her family's good reputation, attending the Coldfields' church in order to ingratiate himself with the family. The town, Faulkner writes, "watched in shocked amazement while he laid deliberate siege to the one man in the town with whom he could have had nothing in common." This metaphor imagines Sutpen as laying "siege" to Goodhue in his attempt to impress the older man. The locals are particularly surprised because of the stark differences in the men's values and personalities. While Goodhue is a pious Methodist Christian and a "modest" merchant who is largely uninterested in riches, Sutpen hopes to join the wealthy planter class and will do anything in order to achieve his goals, regardless of morality.
