Absalom, Absalom!, 148 (Event)

For the next five pages (through page 152), the novel provides another a-chronological rehearsal of many of the events in the Sutpen saga. The source of this recapitulation cannot be definitively established. As it begins it seems Quentin is "thinking" about the last years of the Sutpen story. The entire passage is in italics, which often signifies 'thinking' in Faulkner. But on page 150, in the middle of the account, Quentin replies to it, making it seem that it is Shreve who has been voicing them. We will attribute this summary to the two young men jointly, to "Quentin-Shreve." The first event related in the passage is how, in the aftermath of the Civil War, Sutpen struggles as an "old man" against time and circumstance to achieve his design (149). [SOURCE: Quentin-Shreve; Narrator]