William Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!"

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the concept of intersectionality, which is the belief that systems of oppression reinforce each other. The author points out that William Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!" is a novel that demonstrates that race and class are not only important because of what they culturally represent but also because of how the labels, such as "black", can affect the way people view and treat one another. The paper also relates that this book illustrates how race, in both a social and a biological sense, and class cannot be looked at as two separate entities but, instead, must be viewed as concurrent and coexisting ideas. The author presents the novel from the view point of the protagonist Thomas Sutpen.

From the Paper:

"Thomas Sutpen experiences an intersection of race and class when he is a young boy. Sometime during his youth, his father asks him to deliver a message to one of the rich whites in town. He does, and when he gets to the front door, a black man answers. The man was a servant of some kind and asked Sutpen to come around to the back door. Before this incident, Sutpen's only "trouble was innocence." He had believed that white men were white and black men were black, and that automatically put the whites on top of the blacks."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Andersen, Margaret L., and Patricia H. Collins. "Why Race, Class, and Gender Still Matter." Race, Class, & Gender: an Anthology. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. 1-16.
• Callen, Shirley. "Planter and Poor White in Absalom, Absalom!, 'Wash,' and the Mind of the South." The South Central Bulletin 23 (1963): 24-36.
• Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom! Corrected ed. New York: Vintage International, 1986.
• Locke, Alain. "The Concept of Race as Applied to Social Culture." The Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renaissance and Beyond. 187-199.

More papers on William Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!":

• Book Review # 120407 : "Absalom, Absalom!": A Southern Gothic Novel"
• Comparison Essay # 124520 : "Ideals in "Absalom, Absalom!"
• Analytical Essay # 47406 : "Blocked Doors in "Absalom, Absalom!"

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