Quentin and Homosexuality

In both The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom!, there are numerous thinly-veiled references to Quentin possibly being homosexual. In The Sound and the Fury, after Quentin is arrested, he sees his roommate Shreve and notices that “[h]e had on a pair of my flannel pants, like a glove. I didn't remember forgetting them. I didn't remember how many chins Mrs Bland had, either. The prettiest girl was with Gerald in front, too” (141). This passage is significant not only because Shreve is wearing Quentin's pants, but because Quentin notices how tightly the pants fit Shreve. To distract himself from thinking about Shreve in his pants, Quentin quickly turns his thoughts to Mrs Bland's chins and who the prettiest girl is, both stereotypically heterosexual observations. In Absalom, Absalom!, as they are lying together in their dark, cold room at Harvard, Shreve asks Quentin, “Do you want me to spread the overcoats on you?” This peculiarly maternal gesture, coming from a man, has been interpreted as having a homosexual subtext.