Previous
Thomas Sutpen
Charles Bon is Thomas Sutpen’s son with his first wife, Eulalia Bon. Sutpen rejects Bon and his mother after discovering Eulalia’s Black ancestry, though he continues to support them financially. Charles later enrolls at the University of Mississippi and befriends Sutpen’s legitimate son, Henry, who eventually invites him to accompany him to Sutpen’s Hundred over the holidays. It’s difficult to ascertain Bon’s true character and intentions with the Sutpen family, as readers only know him through other characters’ stories—and those characters are only describing what they know about Bon from others’ stories. Quentin and Shreve regard Bon as something of a tragic hero. But Mr. Compson—whose father, General Compson, was close friends with Sutpen and who therefore has more sympathy for Sutpen’s plight—views Bon as opportunistic and scheming. In most versions of the story, Bon reenters Sutpen’s life because he wants Sutpen to acknowledge him as his son. In some versions, Bon then knowingly pursues an incestuous relationship with Judith to punish Sutpen. In others, Bon pursues a relationship with Judith out of genuine (albeit still incestuous) love for her. After Sutpen tells Henry the truth about Bon’s identity, Henry rejects his birthright out of loyalty to Bon and even comes to accept Bon’s plan to marry Judith. But after Sutpen later reveals Bon’s mixed-race ancestry, Henry kills Bon to prevent the marriage. In a reading of the novel as an allegory for the South, Henry’s seeming acceptance of one social taboo (incest) but disgust at another (interracial relations) symbolizes the South’s inability to acknowledge the enduring legacy of slavery, the region’s great sin, and the inherent racism that underpins it.
Charles Bon Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Bon or refer to Charles Bon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
That’s what Miss Rosa heard. Nobody knows what she thought.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
There was no time, no interval, no niche in the crowded days when he could have courted Judith. You can not even imagine him and Judith alone together. Try to do it and the nearest you can come is a projection of them while the two actual people were doubtless separate and elsewhere—two shades pacing, serene and untroubled by flesh, in a summer garden […].
“[…] Oh he was shrewd, this man whom for weeks now Henry was realising that he knew less and less, this stranger immersed and oblivious now in the formal, almost ritual, preparations for the visit, finicking almost like a woman over the fit of the new coat which he would have ordered for Henry, forced Henry to accept for this occasion, by means of which the entire impression which Henry was to receive from the visit would be established before they even left the house, before Henry ever saw the woman: and Henry, the countryman, the bewildered, with the subtle tide already setting beneath him toward the point where he must either betray himself and his entire upbringing and thinking, or deny the friend for whom he had already repudiated home and kin and all […].”
Chapter 5
Quotes
Now you will ask me why I stayed there. I could say, I do not know, could give ten thousand paltry reasons, all untrue, and be believed:—
Chapter 7
Quotes
“[…] ‘I found that she was not and could never be, through no fault of her own, adjunctive or incremental to the design which I had in mind, so I provided for her and put her aside.’ […]”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8
Quotes
—Yes. What else can I do now? I gave him the choice. I have been giving him the choice for four years.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
“Yes. I remember your grandpaw. You go up there and make her come down. Make her go away from here. Whatever he done, me and Judith and him have paid it out. You go and get her. Take her away from here.”
Get the entire Absalom, Absalom! LitChart as a printable PDF.
Charles Bon Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Bon or refer to Charles Bon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
That’s what Miss Rosa heard. Nobody knows what she thought.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
There was no time, no interval, no niche in the crowded days when he could have courted Judith. You can not even imagine him and Judith alone together. Try to do it and the nearest you can come is a projection of them while the two actual people were doubtless separate and elsewhere—two shades pacing, serene and untroubled by flesh, in a summer garden […].
“[…] Oh he was shrewd, this man whom for weeks now Henry was realising that he knew less and less, this stranger immersed and oblivious now in the formal, almost ritual, preparations for the visit, finicking almost like a woman over the fit of the new coat which he would have ordered for Henry, forced Henry to accept for this occasion, by means of which the entire impression which Henry was to receive from the visit would be established before they even left the house, before Henry ever saw the woman: and Henry, the countryman, the bewildered, with the subtle tide already setting beneath him toward the point where he must either betray himself and his entire upbringing and thinking, or deny the friend for whom he had already repudiated home and kin and all […].”
Chapter 5
Quotes
Now you will ask me why I stayed there. I could say, I do not know, could give ten thousand paltry reasons, all untrue, and be believed:—
Chapter 7
Quotes
“[…] ‘I found that she was not and could never be, through no fault of her own, adjunctive or incremental to the design which I had in mind, so I provided for her and put her aside.’ […]”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8
Quotes
—Yes. What else can I do now? I gave him the choice. I have been giving him the choice for four years.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
“Yes. I remember your grandpaw. You go up there and make her come down. Make her go away from here. Whatever he done, me and Judith and him have paid it out. You go and get her. Take her away from here.”
