Quentin Compson was obsessed with his past and with the actions of Thomas Sutpen and his posterity. His past consumes him and eventually leads to his demise, and I cant help but think that the South and Southerners to some extent do the same thing. There are many people who are consumed with the South and with the pride and history that come with it, but where I think many Southerners mess up is they avoid the darker side of their past and they also try to defend the South to non-Southerners. The South does not need defending, mainly because I feel like it is something that a non-Southerner would understand. But people get caught up in the past and it can destroy them and the south from the inside out. It can hold us back and keep us from moving but then again it also allows us to retain that part of the soul that much of the country has lost due to "progress." So I guess we have to strive for a middle ground, or do like those that started the Southern Renassance and glance back to where we came from while continuing to walk forward.