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Charles Bon
Henry Sutpen is Thomas Sutpen’s son. He’s an impressionable young man who becomes close friends with Charles Bon (who, unbeknownst to Henry, is Sutpen’s illegitimate son) when the two meet while attending the University of Mississippi. Bon’s refined, cosmopolitan sensibilities enchant Henry, and he soon takes to imitating his style and dress—all the while failing to realize that Bon is his half-brother. In fact, Henry is so enamored of Bon that he goes out of his way to encourage Bon’s courtship of Judith, Henry’s sister—and Bon’s half-sister. In this way, Henry is involved in an incest conflict with Bon and Judith. There are hints throughout the book that Henry and Judith’s sibling relationship is closer than natural, and it’s possible that Henry’s initial enthusiasm for Bon and Judith’s engagement—even before he knows Bon is their half-sibling—could reflect Henry’s unconscious desire to wed his own sister. After Sutpen reveals to Henry the truth of Bon’s identity, Henry initially rejects his birthright, sides with Bon, and even comes to accept Bon and Judith’s incestuous engagement. However, Henry later betrays and murders Bon outside the gate to Sutpen’s Hundred after Sutpen discloses the truth of Bon’s mixed ancestry—apparently finding the idea of Judith marrying a Black man more horrifying than the prosect of incest. After the murder, Henry goes into hiding, only returning to Sutpen’s Hundred as an old man to die there. Clytie cares for him, hiding him away in the old house until Rosa and Quentin discover him there at the end of the story. When Rosa later returns to the house to bring Henry medical attention, Clytie mistakes the ambulance for the authorities come to finally hang Henry for Bon’s murder. She then lights the house on fire, killing herself and Henry.
Henry Sutpen Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Sutpen or refer to Henry Sutpen. 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.
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Chapter 4
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“[…] 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 8
Quotes
—Yes. What else can I do now? I gave him the choice. I have been giving him the choice for four years.
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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.”
“[…] Now I want you to tell me just one more thing. Why do you hate the South?”
“I dont hate it,” Quentin said, quickly, at once, immediately; “I dont hate it,” he said. I dont hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark: I dont. I dont! I dont hate it! I dont hate it!
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Henry Sutpen Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Sutpen or refer to Henry Sutpen. 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.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
“[…] 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 8
Quotes
—Yes. What else can I do now? I gave him the choice. I have been giving him the choice for four years.
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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.”
“[…] Now I want you to tell me just one more thing. Why do you hate the South?”
“I dont hate it,” Quentin said, quickly, at once, immediately; “I dont hate it,” he said. I dont hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark: I dont. I dont! I dont hate it! I dont hate it!
