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Henry Sutpen
Judith Sutpen is Thomas Sutpen and Ellen Coldfield’s daughter. She becomes engaged to Henry’s college friend Charles Bon (who is actually their half-brother, unbeknownst to Judith or Henry) after Henry brings Bon to Sutpen’s Hundred for Christmas one year. It’s unclear whether Judith ever learns the truth about Bon’s identity. Throughout the book, it’s stated that Judith and Sutpen have an unspoken understanding of each other, so it’s possible that Judith senses—if only subconsciously—Bon’s connection to their family. Furthering the novel’s central incest plot, it’s also hinted that Judith and Henry are closer than siblings ought to be. Indeed, the book also loosely suggests that Henry’s eager enthusiasm for Judith and Bon’s engagement could be an expression of his unconscious wish to wed his own sister. After Henry discovers the truth about Bon’s mixed-race ancestry, he prohibits Bon from marrying Judith. In order to prevent the marriage, he shoots and kills Bon outside the gates to Sutpen’s Hundred as Judith looks on in her wedding dress. After Bon’s death, Judith discovers a photo of Bon’s mistress in the metal frame she gave him. In Quentin and Shreve’s imagined version of events, Bon planted the photo intentionally so that Judith would know not to grieve him. Judith continues to live at Sutpen’s Hundred with Clytie and Rosa after Bon’s death. Following Bon and his mistress’s deaths, Judith cares for Charles Etienne, the son Bon had with his mistress. She nurses Charles Etienne when he is sick with yellow fever before succumbing to the illness herself.
Judith Sutpen Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Judith Sutpen or refer to Judith 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 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 […].
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Chapter 5
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I waited for him exactly as Judith and Clytie waited for him: because now he was all we had, all that gave us any reason for continuing to exist, to eat food and sleep and wake and rise again: knowing that he would need us, knowing as we did (who knew him) that he would begin at once to salvage what was left of Sutpen’s Hundred and restore it.
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Chapter 8
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—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
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“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.”
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Judith Sutpen Quotes in Absalom, Absalom!
The Absalom, Absalom! quotes below are all either spoken by Judith Sutpen or refer to Judith 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 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 […].
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Chapter 5
Quotes
I waited for him exactly as Judith and Clytie waited for him: because now he was all we had, all that gave us any reason for continuing to exist, to eat food and sleep and wake and rise again: knowing that he would need us, knowing as we did (who knew him) that he would begin at once to salvage what was left of Sutpen’s Hundred and restore it.
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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
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“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.”
