Charles Bon Timeline and Summary

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This character timeline is in chronological order. This isn't how things go down in the book, but we wanted to make it a little easier to follow. Even Faulkner wanted it that way (he includes a chronology in the book itself), so we feel okay about it.

• 1829: Charles Bon is born in Haiti; our main/mean guy, Sutpen, is his dad.
• c. 1850: He marries an octoroon woman and has a son – Charles Etienne – with her.
• c. 1857: Charles attends the University of Mississippi, where he meets Henry Sutpen. Spoiler alert: this won't end well.
• 1859: Charles goes with Henry to Sutpen's Hundred for Christmas, where he falls in love with Judith Sutpen, Henry's sister.
• 1860: The next year, he goes to Sutpen's Hundred for Christmas again. This time, he gets engaged to Judith, and eventually leaves with Henry, who has repudiated his father.
• 1861: Charles leaves to fight in the Civil War. (Yep, there is a historical background here!)
• 1865: He writes to Judith to say he is coming home to marry her.
• May 3, 1865: Charles rides back to Sutpen's Hundred with Henry, who, instead of inviting him in, shoots and kills him. Judith buries him next to her mother.