The history of the South, and especially of the Civil War, forms a compelling backdrop to the book.

Memory plays an important role in the plotline of the book as well: Thomas Sutpen's memories of Charles Bon stir him to follow the young man back to New Orleans and make crucial discoveries, Miss Rosa has lived her whole life obsessed by memories, and Quentin is attempting to escape his own memories by fleeing to the North, and Harvard. Compson omit important details from their stories and the implication is that Quentin does as well. Each character tells the Sutpen legend from his or her own memory each character exercises selective memory. This theme is weaved into the very structure of the book. Faulkner recognizes that race is the central problem for the South in the post-Civil War period, and that without a healthy discussion of this topic, the South will never move forward. Race is a central theme in many Faulkner works, including his famed A Light in August. Faulkner leaves room for some ambiguity as to whether or not Charles Bon actually had black blood, thereby making it clear that the even the suggestion of black blood is enough to put someone in the South beyond the pale in a horribly destructive way. This revelation makes it clear how the values of the South have affected not only Henry Sutpen, but also the narrator of the story, Quentin Compson. According to the final and most complete Sutpen legend, Henry Sutpen killed Charles Bon and brought down his father's dynasty to prevent him from marrying Judith-not because Charles was their half-brother, but because Charles had a bit of black blood. This comes to be the central theme of the 'house' of Sutpen and the 'house' of the South.

Faulkner absalom absalom