Warren is somewhat indebted to American fiction of the twenties and thirties, especially that of F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner. Sue Murdock is perhaps reminiscent of Temple Drake in Faulkner's Sanctuary (1931; see separate entry): Both are rebellious young Southern women who come from a background of wealth only to fall among men who take advantage of them. However, Sue is more intellectual and more sympathetic than Temple, a circumstance which makes her death seem more tragic than Temple's retreat into a doll-like passivity.

Moreover the story of Jerry Calhoun, a poor boy from a rural background, setting out to become a robber baron like Bogan Murdock, has parallels in Faulkner's depiction of the rise of Flem Snopes in The Hamlet (1940) and The Town (1957). However, Flem Snopes lacks the conscience Warren gives Calhoun; in this respect, Calhoun is closer to Flem's brother, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, the...