Unnamed Mother of Sutpen's First Wife

Character Key Number: 
2432
Display Name: 
Unnamed Mother of Sutpen's First Wife
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Mother of Sutpen's First Wife
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
No
Biography: 

In Absalom! Sutpen tells General Compson that his first father-in-law's wife "had been a Spaniard" (203); much later in the novel he tells his son Henry that in fact, as he discovered after marrying, she "was part negro" (283). The Chronology at the end of the novel treats her mixed racial identity as a fact - "Sutpen learns his wife has negro blood" (305) - but the actual novel does not independently confirm it. This woman never appears in the novel herself, apparently having died before Sutpen gets involved with her husband and daughter.