How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.[Part].Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Uncle Buddy didn't own a necktie at all; Uncle Buck said Uncle Buddy wouldn't take that chance even in a section like theirs, where ladies were so damn seldom thank God that a man could ride for days in a straight line without having to dodge a single one. (1.2.5)
Of course, this is supposed to be humorous, but it's humorous because it gets to the heart of how these men see women: as something to avoid if you can help it. Sophonsiba fulfills the stereotype that women are out to land a man at any cost, so watch out.
Quote #2
[Tomey's Turl said,] "I gonter tell you something to remember: anytime you wants to git something done, from hoeing out a crop to getting married, just get the womenfolks to working at it. Then all you needs to do is set down and wait. You remember that." (1.2.24)
Pearls of wisdom from Turl to the young'uns: If you need anything taken care of, get the ladies to do it. Here, we get two stereotypes in one: blacks are lazy, and women will do stupidly whatever you tell them.
Quote #3
[Mr. Hubert said,] "You come into bear-country of your own free will and accord. All right; you were a grown man and you knew it was bear-country and you knew the way back out like you knew the way in and you had your chance to take it. But no. You had to crawl into the den and lay down by the bear. And whether you did or didn't know the bear was in it dont make any difference. So if you got back out of that den without even a claw-mark on you, I would not only be unreasonable, I'd be a damned fool. After all, I'd like a little peace and quiet and freedom myself, now I got a chance for it. Yes sir. " (1.3.12)
Hubert Beauchamp's referring to his own sister here as "a bear." If you come close to bears, you'll have to accept the consequences. Hubert can't wait to get rid of the responsibility for her. Poor Sibbey—nobody seems to want her. But she gets her revenge.
Quote #4
"Maybe that's why you done it: because what you and your pa got from old Carothers had to come to you through a woman—a critter not responsible like men are responsible, not to be held like men are held." (2.1.2.28)
Lucas, ready to kill Zack, says that Zack's descended from a female McCaslin and is therefore morally weak and not capable of responsibility. Interesting how Lucas uses bloodlines to judge character, when exactly this way of thinking was used against blacks to justify their horrible treatment.
Quote #5
...and now this: breaking up after forty-five years the home of the woman who had been the only mother he, Edmonds, ever knew, who had raised him, fed him from her own breast as she was actually doing her own child, who had surrounded him always with care for his physical body and for his spirit too, teaching him his manners, behavior--to be gentle with his inferiors, honorable with his equals, generous to the weak and considerate of the aged, courteous, truthful and brave to all--who had given him, motherless, without stint or expectation of reward that constant and abiding devotion and love which existed nowhere else in this world for him... (2.3.1.66)
Many critics have seen this loving portrayal as also a stereotype of the self-sacrificing, kindly, motherly African American woman, that is, a "mammy." Thankfully, Faulkner later develops Molly's character beyond this stereotype.
Quote #6
[...] so there had been only the Saturday and Sunday dice and whiskey that had to be paid for until that day six months ago when he saw Mannie, whom he had known all his life, for the first time and said to himself, "Ah'm thru wid all dat," and they married and he rented the cabin from Carothers Edmonds and built a fire on the hearth on their wedding night as the tale told how Lucas Beauchamp, Edmonds' oldest tenant, had done on his forty-five years ago and which had burned ever since. (3.1.8)
Before he married Mannie, Rider was a hard-lovin', hard-partyin' guy who lived with his aunt and uncle and didn't have to pay for food or rent. Mannie changed that overnight. He plans to spend the rest of his life with her. This idea of the woman as a civilizing influence on a man contrasts pretty sharply with the description of Isaac's wife later in this section, who tries to corrupt his ideals using sex.
Quote #7
[…] the scrubbed table in the kitchen where his dinner simmered on the stove and the galvanized tub of hot water and the baking powder can of soft soap and the towel made of scalded flour sacks sewn together and his clean overalls and shirt waited […] (3.1.8)
This is what Rider finds every day when he gets home from work. Mannie made a warm and welcoming home despite their obvious poverty. Kind of reminds us of what Tomey's Turl told young McCaslin about how women can do it all. You can see how Mannie's death left a huge hole in his life and his heart. Come to think of it, all the women like this in this book are black. Think about it: Isaac's wife? Sophonsiba? The deputy's wife? Nope, nope, and nope.
Quote #8
She already knows more than I with all the man-listening in camps where there was nothing to read ever even heard of. They are born already bored with what a boy approaches only at fourteen or fifteen with blundering and aghast trembling. (5.4.200)
Isaac sees his wife, and women in general, as natural carnal beings who know about the power of sex from the day they're born. His wife (we never learn her name) supports this stereotype. She seduces him, he enjoys it, and she cuts him off sexually for the rest of their marriage. There's something, well…ewww, about this whole episode. But it has tons of importance for the rest of the story, because by refusing him sex forever, Isaac loses the chance to have a son to carry on the male McCaslin line.
Quote #9
"It's a good time to mention does," the old man said. "Does and fawns both. The only fighting anywhere that ever had anything of God's blessing on it has been when men fought to protect does and fawns. If it's going to come to fighting, it's a good thing to mention and remember too." (6.18)
We're sure old Isaac means well, but the idea that the only honorable reason to fight a war is to protect women and children—the helpless—is kind of patronizing.
Quote #10
"It was Roth Edmonds sold him," she said. "Sold him in Egypt. I don't know whar he is. I just knows Pharaoh got him. And you the Law. I wants to find my boy." (7.1.18)
Molly's intuition tells her that Samuel's in deep trouble, and Gavin Stevens believes her. Faulkner implies that women have such a deep emotional connection to their children and grandchildren that they know when something's wrong. Also, let's give it up for this frail old woman walking miles in the hot sun to demand what she wants. This is the second time we see her do this—the first being when she walks to Roth's house to demand a divorce. See? We promised you that Faulkner would make her more complex than a stereotype.