Charles Bon

E562718

Charles Bon is a pivotal, enigmatic figure in William Faulkner’s Southern Gothic novel "Absalom, Absalom!", whose mixed-race heritage and doomed relationship with the Sutpen family embody the book’s themes of race, identity, and historical guilt.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Charles Bon canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character
literary character
appearsIn Absalom, Absalom! NERFINISHED
associatedWithLocation Mississippi NERFINISHED
New Orleans NERFINISHED
centralThemeRelation family secrets
identity
miscegenation
race
the legacy of slavery
characterTrait charismatic
enigmatic
self-possessed
createdBy William Faulkner NERFINISHED
deathCause gunshot
deathContext American Civil War era NERFINISHED
educatedAt University of Mississippi NERFINISHED
familyName Bon NERFINISHED
fullName Charles Bon NERFINISHED
genre Southern Gothic
hasChild Charles Etienne Saint-Valery Bon NERFINISHED
hasEthnicity partly Black
partly white
hasHalfSibling Henry Sutpen NERFINISHED
Judith Sutpen NERFINISHED
hasHeritage mixed-race
hasParent Eulalia Bon NERFINISHED
Thomas Sutpen NERFINISHED
hasReligion nominally Christian (implied)
hasRoleInWork pivotal figure in Sutpen family tragedy
hasSocialStatus gentleman of ambiguous origin
hasSpouse Olivier’s octoroon mistress (New Orleans wife)
killedBy Henry Sutpen NERFINISHED
narratedBy Mr. Compson NERFINISHED
Quentin Compson NERFINISHED
Rosa Coldfield NERFINISHED
Shreve McCannon NERFINISHED
publicationContext first appeared in 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!
romanticallyInvolvedWith Judith Sutpen NERFINISHED
servedIn Confederate Army NERFINISHED
symbolizes historical guilt
incestuous and racial taboos
racial ambiguity in the American South
the limits of Southern honor

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Absalom, Absalom! mainCharacter Charles Bon
Sutpen family hasMember Charles Bon