Women In William Faulkner's Absalom !

William Faulkner’s literary classic, Absalom, Absalom! is, to say the least, a beautifully complex story of the south told through the interwoven narrative of many different narrators. What makes this great, American novel so commendable is not only how Faulkner tells the story, but the complicated characters he creates within it. There are very few authors who have mastered the complexity of women, and the juxtaposition between what is said about them, and what the truth is, quite like Faulkner. Women play a special role in the novel’s epic tale, for, although the men see them as objects, they offer unique insights throughout the novel, and are an integral part of the action that drives the narrative. At first glance, Absalom, Absalom! seems to portray women as nothing more than objects that are meant to be used as a means of getting something. For example, Thomas Sutpen is only interested in marrying Ellen Coldfield because of her father’s good reputation in the town. He knew that as a stranger, and a relatively disliked stranger at that, he had to marry the daughter of a man who held a lot of respect in the town to gain respect …show more content…
is a superbly written novel that juxtaposes the role of women in a complex, and surprising fashion. At a glance, women in the novel seem to be written as nothing more than objects for the men, but upon further inspection it is clear that the women have more power in the novel than first perceived. Faulkner allows the women of his novel to silently shape the actions of other characters and the views of the reader by giving the women in the town the power to declare who is an outcast and who is not, as they did with Thomas Sutpen, as well as by having much of the novel narrated through a woman’s point of view. Absalom, Absalom! is by no means the perfect example of the perfect southern, feminist, narrative of the twentieth century, however it does give a unique insight and complexity to women that most novels do