Sutpen and his intention of building the Sutpen’s Hundred
Thomas Sutpen is a mysterious man, in the sense that people never really understood him and his idea of building the Sutpen’s hundred was borne out of the fact that he realized while he was growing up that men are not equal and humans were respected based on the materialistic things they have. He consequently made a stern decision to attain a high social status by developing a plan and design that “orders personal existence in basically rigid ways” (Malin 11). His decision to stay atop the social stratification system led to the construction of a plantation that he called the Sutpen’s hundred, which would be built on a hundred square miles of virgin land in Yoknapatawpha County, which he obtained from a Native American clan (Faulkner). The plantation was built as Sutpen sought to create a perfect world.
Sutpen’s hundred was built by Sutpen in order to acquire wealth and to start a family dynasty, and he would be the family patriarch. Sutpen had a design that he planned to follow dutifully in order to achieve his goals and he sought to stick to these plans, giving no room to any form of modification after the implementation of the plan. Sutpen is driven by the self-belief that with a resolute mind and dexterity, he could achieve anything (Brooks 224) and this was part of what propelled him in building the Sutpen’s hundred. With the help of a group of Negroes and a French architect, Sutpen started the construction of his estate, the Sutpen’s Hundred in 1833 (Faulkner 6).
How the building of Sutpen’s Hundred relate to God’s creation of the world
The land that Sutpen bought from the Native American clan was a virgin land and was empty in the sense that there was nothing of importance on it and Sutpen saw the need to create a plantation and dynasty out of the virgin land, which he called the Sutpen’s hundred and quite in comparison to the creation of the world, which was borne out of the essence that God saw in creating and forming a well defined world out of a shapeless and void world (Genesis 1). The similarity in the building of Sutpen’s hundred with the creation of the world can also be drawn from the Novel “Absalom! Absalom”, when Quentin watched as the serene and barren hundred square miles land was astonishingly turned into the Sutpen’s hundred and creating a beautiful garden in the process (Faulkner 3), and in the second chapter of Genesis, we see God planting a garden and placing the first man to maintain the garden.
A sharp similarity also exists between God’s creation of the world and the building of the Sutpen’s hundred when Sutpen together with his French architect and the slave Negroes created the Sutpen’s Hundred and the void land evolved into being Sutpen’s Hundred (Faulkner 4), which is more like the Biblical be light. This analogy can be seen when God said “Let there be light” and there was light (Genesis 1:3), and he called the light day (Genesis 1:5). As Faulkner wrote of Sutpen’s evocative existence in Miss Rosa’s tone, “he would abrupt (man-horse-demon) upon a scene peaceful and decorous as a schoolprize water color, faint sulphur-reek still in hair clothes and beard, with grouped behind him his band of wild niggers like beasts half tamed to walk upright like men” (4). From Miss Rosa’s reference to the events that led to the building of the Sutpen’s hundred, we read how Sutpen came upon the “soundless Nothing” of earth like a creator of some sorts. The account of Sutpen’s enigmatic erection of a vast empire and plantation gives us an idea that he saw to the realization of his dreams and he called it into existence with the expression “Be Sutpen’s Hundred” (Faulkner 4). The correlation of the biblical account of the creation with Sutpen’s building of a dynasty tends to show an all-encompassing parallel between Sutpen and God’s creation of the world.
How the stages of Sutpen’s project corresponds to the seven days of Creation
The stages involved in the execution of Sutpen’s project draws another parallel with the seven days of creation. A relationship could be drawn when Sutpen obtained a virgin land from a Native American; the land was void and without anybody inhabiting it (Faulkner). This scenario relates to God’s creation of heaven and the earth, in which the earth was without form and void (Genesis 1:2).
Sutpen recognized the need to transform his barren land into a dynasty and a perfect plantation of some sort and he took bold steps towards achieving that dream. He knew he needed a home, money, slaves, a plantation, and a family unit which would require him having a wife. He started the material acquisition process and this led to the eventual construction of the Sutpen’s hundred. Just like the seven days of creation was in stages before the eventual creation of man on the sixth day, Sutpen acquired what he needed in establishing his dynasty in a step by step process before the eventual completion of the Sutpen’s hundred.
With money, he acquired the slaves that worked on the plantation and from there planned to build a family dynasty by having sons that he could he could truly call his heir and in doing this he was the only one making decisions and passing orders to see to the actualization of that dream. In the seven days creation of the world, God sought to transform the earth to a paradise of some sort by creating the Garden of Eden and placing Adam and Eve in the garden to till and maintain it, his main aim was to establish a Godly kingdom on earth as man was created in God’s image and likeness.
All the plants, animals, trees and every other thing that God created on the five days were placed under the control of Man that was created on the sixth day. This is quite similar to Sutpen’s idea of how the Sutpen’s Hundred would be run, the slaves and other things that were in the plantation were to be placed under the control of Sutpen and his descendants and this was not to be as disaster soon followed. The plantation he had built soon started crumbling and his children soon started dying one after the other showing the possibility of a divine curse on his family.
The reason Sutpen’s family was cursed
Sutpen was trying to set himself up as a God, and as a result of this, his family was cursed and this was the reason most of his children died mysteriously. Sutpen did not believe in being a mortal, he was of the opinion that he was an immortal being, far superior to his peers. Based on his perception, he tried to play God. He also did not believe in God, but rather relied on his strong personality traits (Snead).
He tried to be like God by planning to establish his own kingdom in the form of a dynasty and it is the event that leads to the realization of this wild dream that plays against him and just like the proverbial “you reap what you sow” adage, God pays him for all the atrocities that he had earlier committed. This was evident when in Faulkner’s narration that: Sutpen owed a debt not only to a creditor but to “The Creditor” himself (145), which is ultimately God. Due to the fact that most of Sutpen’s actions are immoral and subject to divine punitive measures, a higher system of justice had to take up his case which is God’s own justice (Brooks).
In building the Sutpen’s Hundred, Sutpen tries to stamp his authority on the people that worked on the plantation and establish a godly figure, and to a large extent he played God. He must surely face the consequences of his numerous sins, and according to the biblical generational curse, which meant that the son shall suffer for the sins of the father until the fourth generation. Sutpen’s family; his wives, children and all the families that participated in committing the crime either knowingly or unknowingly also pays for his sins and this played out when his children started dying mysteriously.
Conclusion
Sutpen devotes his time, energy and strong will in pursuit of his dream of establishing a dynasty. With the effective utilization of his creativity and craftiness, Sutpen achieves what ordinarily could not easily be achieved and in achieving this he played God and this act led to his downfall.
Works Cited
Brooks, Cleanth. William Faulkner : First Encounters. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1994.
Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom! New York: Vintage Books, 1990.
Life application study bible-NIV. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005.
Malin, Irving William Faulkner: An Interpretation. New York: Gordian Press, 1972.
Snead, James. Figures of Division: William Faulkner’s Major Novels. New York: Methuen, 1986.