Thomas Sutpen's Mother
Character Key Number:
84
Display Name:
Thomas Sutpen's Mother
Sort Name:
Sutpen, Mother of Thomas
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?:
No
Biography:
As evoked in Absalom!, Thomas Sutpen's mother was "a mountain woman," "bred in the mountains," but in her case the mountains were in Scotland (195). According to Sutpen, she "never did quite learn to speak English" (195). Her husband calls her "a fine wearying woman," and it is suggested that she made him move from coastal Virginia to the mountains (180). Her death precipitates the husband's decision to return east; since there is an infant in the family when the move starts, it seems likely that she died in childbirth.