TrueLit Read-Along - June 19, 2021 (Absalom!, Absalom! Chapters 5-6)
Hey everyone! Welcome to this week’s analysis of chapters 5 and 6. Wow, had I known I was about to dive into the most crazy chapters yet…these were wild in the progression of the story. Don’t be afraid to correct any of my analysis…if I didn’t understand it fully let me know.
**Overview:**
Chapter 5 is mostly a monologue by Rosa to Quentin of the aftermath of Bon’s murder, the event to which she is called to and arrives by way of Wash Jones’ and the 12 mile drive. This chapter captures, in much detail, the scene of the arrival. Henry is gone. Upon entering, Rosa runs to find Judith, only to have a minor run in with Clytie on the stairs. It is here that is revealed to us that Rosa has an aversion to Clytie. When Judith finally presents herself, Rosa finds her to be in shock clutching a photo of herself. Judith proceeds to have Rosa stay for dinner, and Judith instructs Jones to make a coffin for the group to bury Bon in. After the burial, the household (Rosa, Judith, and Clytie) spend a length of a wait for Thomas Sutpen to arrive, and sometime after the war has ended…he does.
He reclaims and rebuilds the plantation as they expected he would. At some point, he notices Rosa as a woman, and proposes to her. They are (Edited to correct from *married) engaged not too long before Sutpen insults Rosa, at which she leaves back to her small house. Not able to take care of herself but too prideful to accept offers to help, she steals neighbor’s garden food.
While hearing all of this, Quentin becomes unable to concentrate on Rosa’s narrative any longer, thinking only of the scene in which Bon is killed. When he asks her to repeat herself after the thought, Rosa drops the bomb that she believes *someone* is still living in Sutpen’s Hundred, and has for the last four years. (What the HELL?)
In chapter 6, more bombs drop. There a new character, Shreve (Quentin’s Harvard roommate) who hands a letter to Quentin from his father. In it, he writes that Rosa is now dead. In Quentin’s narration…we now get a whole new perspective on the histories, as well as some recollections from Quentin’s childhood. At Shreve’s request Quentin recalls the years after Sutpen returned from the war. In a later timeframe, Sutpen had realized he wouldn’t be able to rebuild the plantation as he thought, and ended up opening a store. He drank often with Wash Jones, and then later had an affair with Jones’ granddaughter Milly. Milly had a child, and when her and child died, Wash Jones killed Sutpen.
Quentin recalling the gravesites of Sutpen and Ellen from his childhood also resurrected more memories. He remembers the grave of Charles Etienne de St. Valery Bon, Charles Bon’s son of his mistress in New Orleans. He came to live at Sutpen’s Hundred by the hand of Clytie, and grew to hate himself for his mixed heritage although he looked white. After an arrest at a gambling house and being relieved of it by General Compson, he left only to later return with a black wife. They had a child who was an ‘idiot’ named Jim Bond, and after his father’s (and Judith’s) death, Bond was raised by Clytie.
The last piece of the summary is that of Quentin’s and Rosa’s journey to Sutpen’s Hundred. There they only found Clytie and Jim…but Rosa was unconvinced that was all. When they pushed to find more…they found something…yet ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER.
**Questions:**
1. It is revealed that Rosa has an aversion to Clytie, and it is also revealed that she has felt this way about her even in childhood. What do you believe is the source of her aversion?
2. Is Rosa a reliable narrator? If not, what changes in her perspective/storytelling exemplify this?
3. At the beginning of our knowledge of Wash Jones and Sutpen, he wasn’t even allowed in the Sutpen house. After the war, they became companions of sorts. What changed?
4. Why do you think Charles Etienne de St. Valery Bon hated himself? What was the significance of Charles Etienne de St. Valero Bon leaving and returning with a black wife?
5. We now have a new narrator in Shreve. What is the value/purpose of his perspective as a narrator?
Sorry, I’m not yet good with literary analysis so my questions may be kind of weak. Feel free to offer your own questions, insight, and discussion in general!