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Mrs. Compson is the mother of Quentin, Caddy, and Jason, and the wife of Mr. Compson. Mrs. Compson comes across as spoiled, pampered, and petulant. She is jealous and suspicious of Nancy, whom Mrs. Compson likely knows works as a prostitute. Mrs. Compson dislikes her husband walking Nancy home even though, as Mr. Compson says, Mrs. Compson has less to fear than Nancy and knows that no one is “waiting outside with a razor” for her. In Mrs. Compson’s mind, even though she is not in real danger, her own comfort is more important than Nancy’s genuine fear for her life. Mrs. Compson views Nancy as unimportant in comparison to herself because Nancy is black, poor, and a servant, while Mrs. Compson is a respectable white woman—and therefore more valuable in the social hierarchies of the period.
Mrs. Compson Quotes in That Evening Sun
The That Evening Sun quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Compson or refer to Mrs. Compson. 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:
).
That Evening Sun Quotes
“Mother wants to know if you are through,” I said.
“Yes,” Nancy said. She looked at me. “I done finished.” She looked at me.
“What is it?” I said. “What is it?”
“I aint nothing but a nigger,” Nancy said. “It aint none of my fault.”
She looked at me, sitting in the chair before the cold stove, the sailor hat on her head. I went back to the library. It was the cold stove and all, when you think of a kitchen being warm and busy and cheerful. And with the cold stove and the dishes all put away, and nobody wanting to eat at that hour.
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One night, after she has finished her work, Nancy avoids going home from the Compson’s. Mrs. Compson sends Quentin to find out what is taking Nancy so long in the kitchen, and Quentin finds Nancy sitting by the cold stove. When Quentin questions Nancy, her response is extremely bleak. Nancy seems to feel hopeless about her situation and feels that there is nothing she can do about it because of her race, which leaves her powerless and unprotected in society. She views herself as society views her, as “nothing but a nigger,” suggesting that nobody will care what happens to 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.
“You'll leave me alone, to take Nancy home?” mother said. “Is her safety more precious to you than mine!”
“I won’t be long," father said.
“You'll leave these children unprotected, with that Negro about?”
“I'm going too," Caddy said. “Let me go, Father.”
“What would he do with them, if he were unfortunate enough to have them?" father said.
“I want to go, too,” Jason said.
“Jason!” mother said. She was speaking to father. You could tell that by the way she said the name. Like she believed that all day father had been trying to think of doing the thing she wouldn't like the most and that she knew all the time that after a while he would think of it.
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Mrs. Compson becomes irritated with her husband for offering to walk Nancy home, because Nancy is scared that Jesus is back and going to come after her for becoming pregnant with another man’s child. Mrs. Compson, however, trivializes the danger that Nancy could be in and makes the situation all about herself. Rather than empathizing with Nancy, who is genuinely terrified of Jesus, Mrs. Compson tries to guilt her husband into allowing Nancy to walk home alone by suggesting that, if he does so, he cares more about Nancy than his own wife and children. This is disingenuous and self-centered, 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
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Mrs. Compson Character Timeline in That Evening Sun
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Compson appears in That Evening Sun. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
That Evening Sun
...and Mr. Compson tells Jesus to stay away from the house. One evening, after supper, Mrs. Compson remarks that Nancy is taking a long time to wash and dry the dishes and...
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...going to walk Nancy home because Nancy thinks that Jesus has come back to town. Mrs. Compson asks if Nancy has seen Jesus, but Mr. Compson says she hasn’t. Mrs. Compson then...
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...family begin to walk Nancy home every night after she has finished her work. Eventually Mrs. Compson becomes annoyed that she is being “left alone in this big house” while Mr. Compson...
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...them like she did last time. She persuades the children to ask their mother, but Mrs. Compson says that she “can’t have Negroes sleeping in the bedrooms.” Caddy asks Mrs. Compson why...
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...have any fun, but Caddy reminds him that he was not there, but asleep in Mrs. Compson ’s room. Nancy says that if the children come home with her, they will have...
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