(Impressions from William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, A Light in August, and The Sound and The Fury.)
Among the many themes depicted through William Faulkner’s characters is that of obsession – the fixation by a character on a specific person or thing. Through Thomas Sutpen, Joe Christmas, and Quentin Compson, Faulkner reveals the tragic consequences of such manic behavior.
Thomas Sutpen is obsessed with his Design. After being sent to the backdoor as a child, Sutpen became aware of racial and social classifications. As a poor white child he was not fit to come to the front door and was sent around by the black man in the monkey suit. A wave of depression hit poor Thomas while sulking under a tree, and he vowed to himself to create an empire that would not treat a stranger so rudely. This event was the impetus for Sutpen’s Design – slaves, a plantation, male heirs, and incidentally a wife. The Design became Sutpen’s reason for living and the cause of many flawed decisions. When he discovered his first-wife was multiracial, he abandoned her and his son, Charles Bon, because they did not fit the socially acceptable models of wife and child required by the Design.
His Design drove him to Mississippi where, possessed by desire (a demonic desire by Rosa Coldfield’s account), he and his slaves built a plantation out of Indian land. After obtaining some respect, a wife, and two children – Henry and Judith – Sutpen’s kingdom became threatened by the return of Charles, Henry’s friend. Sutpen snuck away to New Orleans, stalking Charles. He tried to persuade Henry to abandon his friend, and he tried to prevent Charles from marrying Judith by telling Henry that Charles was not only his half-brother, but also Black. After losing both sons, Sutpen’s obsession for a male heir included an indecent proposal to his sister-in-law and an affair with the grandchild of a squatter, Wash. The first ostracized him from Rosa and the latter concluded with the loss of his life at the hands of Wash. His obsession to his Design both created and destroyed Thomas Sutpen.
Joe Christmas was obsessed with his identity. Unaware of the circumstances of his birth, Joe is given to an orphanage by his grandfather, Doc Hines. He wanders aimlessly trying to find a place where he belongs. Through the McEacherns he found hard work and harsh discipline, but he was unable to accept the love of his foster mother. Sexually confused as a teenager, he savagely beats the girl instead of making love to her. Not completely settled as a McEachern, Joe sneaks out of his home to try life in the fast lane. Romantically, he falls in love with Bobbie, who he does not know is a prostitute, and shares with her his questions about his racial identity. Betrayed by Bobbie, he takes to life on the road, moving in and out of communities both Black and White, but never feeling comfortable in either. Finally, Joe meets Joanna Burden, but their love affair ends when she offers to send him to a Black college and apprentice him to her Black lawyer in Memphis. Faced with a definite racial identity that he is unsure of, Joe kills Burden. Whether it is murder or self-defense, we do not know. Unsure of who he is and where he belongs, Joe’s lifelong search for himself ends without a definite conclusion.
Finally, Quentin Compson is obsessed with the systems of the past. Quentin, as ambassador of a new generation, is fixated with upholding the traditions of the old generation – family, honor, and chivalry. Unable to accept the Reconstructed South, Quentin wanders Boston in a state of depression. He is disillusioned by a father who does not share the same belief in codes, and he is broken by a sister whose poor conduct and lack of morality bring shame upon the family. Intelligent but misguided, Quentin tries to do the honorable thing and take the blame for Caddy’s indiscretions by claiming he was the perpetrator. He believes that by claiming he raped his sister he can restore the family’s honor. Failing, he pours all his frustration on Dalton Ames, the man he believes impregnated Caddy. Unable to face Dalton, he attacks instead Gerald Bland. He finally acknowledges that his moral codes belong to another time and place and believes suicide is the only way he can reclaim his family’s honor.
Through Thomas Sutpen, Joe Christmas, and Quentin Compson, Faulkner reveals the dangers of obsessive personalities. Sutpen’s lust for greatness ends at the hands of a common man. Joe’s search for identity concludes with his not knowing. Quentin’s quest for honor ends with the shame of suicide. Faulkner, then, not only presents the perils of obsession but also the paradox of losing the very thing you were looking for.
