The Collapse of Social Order in the South: Patriarchy and Female Subordination in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!

Patriarchy is a social organisation in which the father or the eldest male has absolute authority over the family members—women as well as children—and oftentimes, the clan. Marked by male supremacy, patriarchy as an institution of male-rule, and as a society dominated by men, depends heavily on female subordination. The antebellum American South was a typically patriarchal society where women were often subjected to cruel impositions, restricting their freedom of thought and choices to act. In the novel Absalom, Absalom! Faulkner examines how the patriarchal social order in the South, where women were usually treated as a nonentity and so much power was vested in men, collapsed as a result of the Civil War and Confederate defeat.