Racial Discrimination in Absalom.
Absalom, Absalom is a world renowned novel of William Faulkner published in 1936. It is a tragic novel that revolves around a familys unfortunate demise because of their patriarchs ambitions and mainly racial discrimination and prejudice. Faulkner also presented in this novel the steady decline of the south which his plagued by corruption and discrimination. The novel also touched themes regarding incest, miscegenation and community values. This novel largely helped Faulkner win his Nobel Prize for Literature. Consequently, this is also one of the reasons why the author was called a pioneer of the modernist movement which was helpful in his publication of other novels. Absalom, Absalom also shows the family values that are important. However, it was also shown that these values are easily broken by the ambition and the want to uphold a good image instead of giving importance to family ties, ethics, and truth. The highlight of these themes in the novel is the main characters outlook on racial discrimination and racial prejudice which is most often the center of all the misfortunes of the family. Further analysis of this recurring theme in the novel will be done.
The novel Absalom, Absalom is set in the America South and is located in the Northeastern, Mississippi. The novel is headed by the main character in the name of Thomas Sutpen who comes from a poor family from Virginia and has the ambitions and dreams to be rich, to have a dynasty and to acquire Negro slaves. Thomas is center of the novel and all twists and turns and misfortunes come from him. Thomass son, Henry Sutpen is also an integral part of the novel it is from him that Thomas outlook to racial prejudice mostly flows into. Lastly, as part of the main characters, Judith Sutpen the daughter of Thomas doesnt have any strong significant part but towards the ending it is through her that the tragedy ends.
In this tragic novel, the protagonist of the story is Thomas Sutpen. However, he is also the antagonist. Sutpen was a victim to his desires of having a legacy. The misfortune arises from the wants of Sutpen to have a suitable heir to his legacy. He wants a son to be his heir and the term son means - of pure white blood. Thomas Sutpen regards purity of race as a very important value particularly of a white race. It is in this racial prejudice and discrimination that the conflicts start to arise. Sutpen married previously and had a son. On the other hand, he rejects and leaves his first family upon knowledge of the fact that his wife had Negro blood and that this means that his first son is not of pure white blood. This rejection flows through the whole story and haunts down Sutpen in the end. The recurring theme of racial prejudice exhibited in Thomas Sutpens character shows that interpretation of the author of the current social situation in the South.
This strong sense of racial prejudice and discrimination aroused from the fact that the predisposition of the Southern societies are grounded in advocating to an explicit form of caste system or stratification in the society. Racial discrimination in the Southern society also originated to the lack of self motivation to uphold what is right and what is appropriate. This was shown in the novel by Thomas that despite the fact that he knows all the right family values, he chose the path to his dynasty which utilized denying his own sons rights and giving more importance to his image. Faulkner used such line of thought of the main character to highlight the reality in the Southern culture that social prejudice and discrimination rules the communal minds and morality.
Similarly, the Southern culture also became known as a place of discovery and fulfillment. However, it was evident that the dreams and ambitions of most of the people who succeeded were attained by going against the flow of family values and morality by upholding selfishness, committing misdemeanors against their own people and family. Faulkner used the theme of racial prejudice to highlight the fact that exploitation happens in many ways to a post-war period that happened during the authors time. He used this theme to depict the state of mind of most of the people in the Southern areas during the Civil war and after the war which is materialistic. This is evident in the desire of Thomas Sutpen to acquire black slaves. Slavery as a materialistic desire integrates racial prejudice to the story and this also hubs the strong concept of desire to possess a thing during the 19th Century.
The portrayal of such racial prejudice and discrimination also helped Faulkner to give his novel a more concrete historical perspective the slavery, the black people and rights movement. The style of multiple narration from different characters helped gave the theme of discrimination a firmer grip on the novel by allowing different sources of opinions and view in the story to suggest to the reader their own beliefs and evaluations of what they have witnessed to have happened. The setting of the novel was also very important to the story as it gives a near real setup to the social and racial prejudice and discrimination that is happening. In the novel, Thomas Sutpens planned approach to reach his goals compels the reader to reexamine values and morals due to the debates that emanated from the slavery and discrimination of black people.
These violations of human rights urged Faulkner, who is also against this harsh treatment of black people to showcase the rejection of morals of Southern people to this harsh reality. This harsh treatment was embodied in the novel through Thomas Sutpen and Rosa recognized this and had her own distinct but similar narration Oh he was brave. I have never gainsaid that. But that our cause, our very life and future hopes and past pride, should have been thrown into the balance with men like that to buttress it - men with valor and strength but without pity or honor. Is it any wonder that Heaven saw fit to let us lose (Rosa, Absalom Absalom)
Rose contemplates the abilities of Thomas to accomplish his dreams but she also agrees that Sutpens valor and strength was wasted because of lack of honor and pity. Further analysis of the theme of racial prejudice will tell us that the Southern areas were interpreted by Faulkner to be of dishonest and inhumane status. Women were objects of sex and were mostly viewed as possessions just like the plan of Sutpen that he needs a wife to accomplish his design in mind. In addition, this also enhances the level of exploitation and lack of any human moral that guides the main character. Sutpen views the family and people around him as objects that can be used to accomplish his goals and ambitions.
You see, I had a design in my mind. Whether it was a good or a bad design is beside point the question is, Where did I make the mistake in it, what did I do or wrongly do in it, whom or what injure by it to the extent which this would indicate. I had a design. To accomplish it I should require money, a house, a plantation, slaves, a family - incidentally of course, a wife. I set out to acquire these, asking no favor of any man. (Thomas Sutpen, Absalom Absalom)
Sutpen aims for a perfect image with a perfect family and in doing so he upheld racial discrimination of people around him and even of his own son. He viewed black people as inferior and treated them like animals. Sutpens design reflected the most of the dreams and ambitions during the civil war of the people.
Often, materialistic and twisted these people also turned to black slaves for their entertainment. Cruel treatment can be imagined easily upon reading the novel and the highlight of this cruelty is the straightforward denial and rejection of Thomas Sutpen of Charles Bon who is his son. This scenario is a direct metaphor to the denunciation of black people in the South. Furthermore, since Faulkner designed Sutpens character as that of a typical southern person, it was evident that Sutpens goals and ambitions were the very foundations that he will go against in fulfillment of his approach and due to this his conceived design of his ambitions were fated to fall short of his expectations.
In order to further analyze the theme of racial prejudice and discrimination, it is important that Sutpens origin be looked upon.
Thomas Sutpen came from a low class white family in Virginia. Growing up, he realizes that he is not of great significance to the environment around him and started creating his plan. He had tragic experiences of discrimination and social prejudice also and from that experience he learned a lot. Similar to any ambitious person in the South, Faulkner showcased through the ideas and plans of Sutpen the usual plans of the Southern people which are to improve their current situation relative to the society and disregard any discrimination and inequality happening in the society. So basically, one of the origins of the harsh treatments of the black people was the initial attitudes of the Southern people to their own people. Social prejudice was already there before the Negroes came and when they came in it only got worse. Dividing the society between the upper class and lower class further gives enough backbone for any racial discrimination to keep on occurring.
Harsh treatment to a lower class person only adds up and highlights the differences that each class has. Analysis of these upper-lower class divisions in the novel will also lead us to the understanding that similar to the rejection done by Sutpen to his son with negro blood, the upper class in the South will by no means accept someone who is not a natural born to that high class. In the novel, this is exemplified when Sutpen, coming from a low class position follows his design and moves up the classes. Being on the upper class, he assumes he is completely assimilated and moves on to reject any low class person such as his son with Negro blood.
Finally, a good conversation between Compson and Sutpen will shed more light on the overall analogy of the recurring theme of racial prejudice and discrimination. Compson narrated that Sutpen has revised himself in a process of artificial learning. Sutpen copied the movement and behavior of upper class men and learned their accents.
Compson also pointed out that Sutpens design ignores the social elements and only focuses on the requirements that he setup and of course the materials things that he wants to achieve. In doing so, Compson concluded that Sutpen follows that idea of Machiavelli which is the end, justifies the means. More importantly, the clear-cut disregard for the long term effects of his actions led to his doom. Sutpens ignorance of the consequences like his disregard of his son, disregard of his family led to his greatest problems and eventually his death such an irony for a person who discriminates a black person when he himself came from a lower class family. The racial prejudice and discrimination showed by Sutpen eventually reveals his guilt about his origins, his shame of where he came from and ultimately his hunger for vengeance for all the suffering and shame he experienced.
The novel Absalom, Absalom is set in the America South and is located in the Northeastern, Mississippi. The novel is headed by the main character in the name of Thomas Sutpen who comes from a poor family from Virginia and has the ambitions and dreams to be rich, to have a dynasty and to acquire Negro slaves. Thomas is center of the novel and all twists and turns and misfortunes come from him. Thomass son, Henry Sutpen is also an integral part of the novel it is from him that Thomas outlook to racial prejudice mostly flows into. Lastly, as part of the main characters, Judith Sutpen the daughter of Thomas doesnt have any strong significant part but towards the ending it is through her that the tragedy ends.
In this tragic novel, the protagonist of the story is Thomas Sutpen. However, he is also the antagonist. Sutpen was a victim to his desires of having a legacy. The misfortune arises from the wants of Sutpen to have a suitable heir to his legacy. He wants a son to be his heir and the term son means - of pure white blood. Thomas Sutpen regards purity of race as a very important value particularly of a white race. It is in this racial prejudice and discrimination that the conflicts start to arise. Sutpen married previously and had a son. On the other hand, he rejects and leaves his first family upon knowledge of the fact that his wife had Negro blood and that this means that his first son is not of pure white blood. This rejection flows through the whole story and haunts down Sutpen in the end. The recurring theme of racial prejudice exhibited in Thomas Sutpens character shows that interpretation of the author of the current social situation in the South.
This strong sense of racial prejudice and discrimination aroused from the fact that the predisposition of the Southern societies are grounded in advocating to an explicit form of caste system or stratification in the society. Racial discrimination in the Southern society also originated to the lack of self motivation to uphold what is right and what is appropriate. This was shown in the novel by Thomas that despite the fact that he knows all the right family values, he chose the path to his dynasty which utilized denying his own sons rights and giving more importance to his image. Faulkner used such line of thought of the main character to highlight the reality in the Southern culture that social prejudice and discrimination rules the communal minds and morality.
Similarly, the Southern culture also became known as a place of discovery and fulfillment. However, it was evident that the dreams and ambitions of most of the people who succeeded were attained by going against the flow of family values and morality by upholding selfishness, committing misdemeanors against their own people and family. Faulkner used the theme of racial prejudice to highlight the fact that exploitation happens in many ways to a post-war period that happened during the authors time. He used this theme to depict the state of mind of most of the people in the Southern areas during the Civil war and after the war which is materialistic. This is evident in the desire of Thomas Sutpen to acquire black slaves. Slavery as a materialistic desire integrates racial prejudice to the story and this also hubs the strong concept of desire to possess a thing during the 19th Century.
The portrayal of such racial prejudice and discrimination also helped Faulkner to give his novel a more concrete historical perspective the slavery, the black people and rights movement. The style of multiple narration from different characters helped gave the theme of discrimination a firmer grip on the novel by allowing different sources of opinions and view in the story to suggest to the reader their own beliefs and evaluations of what they have witnessed to have happened. The setting of the novel was also very important to the story as it gives a near real setup to the social and racial prejudice and discrimination that is happening. In the novel, Thomas Sutpens planned approach to reach his goals compels the reader to reexamine values and morals due to the debates that emanated from the slavery and discrimination of black people.
These violations of human rights urged Faulkner, who is also against this harsh treatment of black people to showcase the rejection of morals of Southern people to this harsh reality. This harsh treatment was embodied in the novel through Thomas Sutpen and Rosa recognized this and had her own distinct but similar narration Oh he was brave. I have never gainsaid that. But that our cause, our very life and future hopes and past pride, should have been thrown into the balance with men like that to buttress it - men with valor and strength but without pity or honor. Is it any wonder that Heaven saw fit to let us lose (Rosa, Absalom Absalom)
Rose contemplates the abilities of Thomas to accomplish his dreams but she also agrees that Sutpens valor and strength was wasted because of lack of honor and pity. Further analysis of the theme of racial prejudice will tell us that the Southern areas were interpreted by Faulkner to be of dishonest and inhumane status. Women were objects of sex and were mostly viewed as possessions just like the plan of Sutpen that he needs a wife to accomplish his design in mind. In addition, this also enhances the level of exploitation and lack of any human moral that guides the main character. Sutpen views the family and people around him as objects that can be used to accomplish his goals and ambitions.
You see, I had a design in my mind. Whether it was a good or a bad design is beside point the question is, Where did I make the mistake in it, what did I do or wrongly do in it, whom or what injure by it to the extent which this would indicate. I had a design. To accomplish it I should require money, a house, a plantation, slaves, a family - incidentally of course, a wife. I set out to acquire these, asking no favor of any man. (Thomas Sutpen, Absalom Absalom)
Sutpen aims for a perfect image with a perfect family and in doing so he upheld racial discrimination of people around him and even of his own son. He viewed black people as inferior and treated them like animals. Sutpens design reflected the most of the dreams and ambitions during the civil war of the people.
Often, materialistic and twisted these people also turned to black slaves for their entertainment. Cruel treatment can be imagined easily upon reading the novel and the highlight of this cruelty is the straightforward denial and rejection of Thomas Sutpen of Charles Bon who is his son. This scenario is a direct metaphor to the denunciation of black people in the South. Furthermore, since Faulkner designed Sutpens character as that of a typical southern person, it was evident that Sutpens goals and ambitions were the very foundations that he will go against in fulfillment of his approach and due to this his conceived design of his ambitions were fated to fall short of his expectations.
In order to further analyze the theme of racial prejudice and discrimination, it is important that Sutpens origin be looked upon.
Thomas Sutpen came from a low class white family in Virginia. Growing up, he realizes that he is not of great significance to the environment around him and started creating his plan. He had tragic experiences of discrimination and social prejudice also and from that experience he learned a lot. Similar to any ambitious person in the South, Faulkner showcased through the ideas and plans of Sutpen the usual plans of the Southern people which are to improve their current situation relative to the society and disregard any discrimination and inequality happening in the society. So basically, one of the origins of the harsh treatments of the black people was the initial attitudes of the Southern people to their own people. Social prejudice was already there before the Negroes came and when they came in it only got worse. Dividing the society between the upper class and lower class further gives enough backbone for any racial discrimination to keep on occurring.
Harsh treatment to a lower class person only adds up and highlights the differences that each class has. Analysis of these upper-lower class divisions in the novel will also lead us to the understanding that similar to the rejection done by Sutpen to his son with negro blood, the upper class in the South will by no means accept someone who is not a natural born to that high class. In the novel, this is exemplified when Sutpen, coming from a low class position follows his design and moves up the classes. Being on the upper class, he assumes he is completely assimilated and moves on to reject any low class person such as his son with Negro blood.
Finally, a good conversation between Compson and Sutpen will shed more light on the overall analogy of the recurring theme of racial prejudice and discrimination. Compson narrated that Sutpen has revised himself in a process of artificial learning. Sutpen copied the movement and behavior of upper class men and learned their accents.
Compson also pointed out that Sutpens design ignores the social elements and only focuses on the requirements that he setup and of course the materials things that he wants to achieve. In doing so, Compson concluded that Sutpen follows that idea of Machiavelli which is the end, justifies the means. More importantly, the clear-cut disregard for the long term effects of his actions led to his doom. Sutpens ignorance of the consequences like his disregard of his son, disregard of his family led to his greatest problems and eventually his death such an irony for a person who discriminates a black person when he himself came from a lower class family. The racial prejudice and discrimination showed by Sutpen eventually reveals his guilt about his origins, his shame of where he came from and ultimately his hunger for vengeance for all the suffering and shame he experienced.
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