Study Questions

1. Where is the most contemporary action of Absalom, Absalom! taking place?

2. To whom do these words refer: “the two of them creating between them, out of the rag-tag and bob-ends of old tales and talking, people who perhaps had never existed at all anywhere….”?

3. At what university did Henry Sutpen meet Charles Bon?

4. What are the major differences between Henry Sutpen and Charles Bon?

5. How does Quentin further confuse his identity with that of the characters in the story?

6. How does Quentin describe the atmosphere in the Harvard sitting room?

7. How does Shreve describe the Harvard sitting room?

8. Who stopped Quentin from entering the mansion at Sutpen’s Hundred?

9. What is the major cause of the fall of the Sutpen empire?

10. Why does Faulkner think the American South is perverse?

Answers

1. The most contemporary action of Absalom, Absalom! is taking place in a New England sitting room.

2. These words refer to Quentin and Shreve talking in their sitting room.

3. Henry Sutpen met Charles Bon at the University of Missis¬sippi at Oxford.

4. Henry Sutpen is ten years younger than Charles Bon, and much more naive.

5. Quentin further confuses his identity with the character of Henry; he often notes it was “not two but four of them.”

6. Quentin describes the atmosphere in the Harvard sitting room as “tomblike.”

7. Shreve describes the Harvard sitting room as a “refrigerator.”

8. Clytie stopped Quentin from entering the mansion at Sutpen’s Hundred.

9. The major cause of the fall of the Sutpen empire is racism.

10. Faulkner thinks that the American South is perverse because of its history of racism.