Absalom, Absalom! Summary

In the year 1833, an enigmatic and imposing figure, Thomas Sutpen, establishes his presence in Jefferson, Mississippi. He arrives with an entourage composed of slaves and a French architect, and promptly purchases a vast expanse of land stretching a hundred square miles from a local native tribe. He builds a mansion, cultivates cotton, weds the offspring of a nearby trader, and rapidly climbs the social hierarchy, establishing himself firmly within the local elite. He has two children - Henry and Judith - who enjoy a life of effortless affluence in the Mississippi countryside. Henry, while studying at the University of Mississippi, befriends a refined peer named Charles Bon, who eventually forms a romantic attachment with Judith. In a shocking revelation, Sutpen identifies Bon as his son from a past marriage which he abandoned upon discovering his wife's African ancestry. This prompts Henry to renounce his family ties and he, along with Bon, escapes to New Orleans. On the outbreak of the Civil War, they both join the Confederate forces.

The knowledge of Bon’s partial African heritage leads Henry to react vehemently, culminating in him killing Bon on the supposed day of Bon and Judith's wedding. Post-war, Sutpen returns to his ruined home and spirals into alcoholism. He also starts an illicit relationship with Milly, a fifteen-year-old white girl. This illicit relationship results in the birth of a daughter and subsequently leads to Sutpen's murder by Milly’s grandfather, Wash Jones, in 1869.

Many years later, in 1909, a young man of twenty named Quentin Compson, the grandson of General Compson, Sutpen's initial confidante in the area, is preparing to depart Jefferson for Harvard. He finds himself entangled in the Sutpen saga after being summoned by Miss Rosa Coldfield, the sibling of Sutpen's spouse Ellen and briefly Sutpen's betrothed, to hear about how Sutpen caused the downfall of her family along with his own. The narrative of the Sutpen tragedy becomes embedded in Quentin's mind, causing him to revisit it frequently, even sharing it with his Harvard roommate Shreve. The tale reaches its climax when Quentin accompanies Miss Rosa to the Sutpen estate, where they find an elderly and dying Henry. Rosa's attempt to return for Henry ends in disaster when Clytie, Sutpen’s daughter with a slave woman, sets the mansion ablaze, ending her life and Henry's, and marking the tragic end of the Sutpen bloodline.