Unnamed Negroes Near Sutpen's Hundred

The "clientele" of the "little crossroads store" that Thomas Sutpen opens after the Civil War includes, according to Shreve McCannon, "freed niggers" who live in the area (147). Shreve uses the adjective "freed" because the historical context is the immediate aftermath of the Civil War and Emancipation. He uses that derogatory noun to describe these former slaves because Negroes are considered inferior - though it's interesting to note that in this same passage Shreve reveals how, as a Canadian, he is with the equally derogatory term "white trash" (147). As the larger story of Absalom, Absalom tragically reveals, racism is more deeply rooted in the (white) psyche than class consciousness.