Thomas Sutpen, what is your problem?

     When reading William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! one cannot help but be struck by the awful, disturbing character traits of Thomas Sutpen. He is truly a disgusting person and, therefore, makes the book interesting. His character made me angry but also gave me something to think about. In the end, I believe he deserved to die the way he did. With the life he led, he deserved to be murdered in a painful manner by Wash Jones. 
     Sutpen took advantage of numerous women and girls, yet was never satisfied. He left his first wife because she was one-eighth black. Only one-eighth. He couldn't tell by her appearance that she had African American heritage, so why did it matter so much to him? He disowned his own son because he found out Charles was one-sixteenth black. Then, he went to Mississippi and had a daughter with a slave woman. He simply took advantage of the woman then stopped caring; he never seemed to be concerned about anything having to do with his daughter except that he got to name her. He then married again and had a son and a daughter. Yet, he didn't seem to care about any of them, either. Having a wife was simply a technicality to him and, by his attitude towards women in general, I'm sure he did not care about having another daughter. 
     After the war and after Thomas Sutpen's life began to disintegrate just like the South, he became consumed with the need to have a son. Henry had denounced his birthright and was nowhere to be found after he killed Charles, so Sutpen was left without anyone to continue his lineage. Naturally, he felt it was perfectly fine to take advantage of a fifteen year old Milly Jones, even though he was in his sixties. Milly got pregnant, but had a daughter. So, Sutpen just did not care. He didn't care about women or his children, just that his lineage continue. Thomas Sutpen was a whore and a womanizer. There did not seem to be one woman in his life that he cared about whatsoever, no matter how much she had done for him. Wash Jones, Milly's grandfather, had every right to kill Sutpen after what he did to all of these women, particularly Milly. 
     Thomas Sutpen was an awful person but he was also living in the South at an awful time. Some of his actions can probably be blamed on the corrupt society of the South during the Civil War; however, that does not give him excuses for his actions. He could have led a good life, but got caught up in the need for money and to have his legacy passed down.