Light In August Essay

In the novel, Light in August, Joe Christmas is depicted as enduring an ongoing formation, into a
more complete character and person through Faulkner's use of hemes of denial and flight in order to
provide insight into universal life lessons.
Joe Christmas, the protagonist, is forced into isolation early in his life by outside forces and
attitudes. Part of his plight in life comes from the fact that he can never accept anything but partial
responsibility for his actions, but simultaneously attempts to disclaim all responsibility for them.
Prior to murdering Joanna Burden, he thinks: "Something is going to happen to me," this suggests
that Christmas views his violent actions as being appropriate responses to exterior forces, which
...show more content...
Therefore, during the rest of his life when the pattern or order of existence is broken, the result is
usually disastrous. When he breaks McEachern 's rules he expects and receives punishment,
which follows his idea of the order of things. This is again why he detests the interference of Mrs.
McEachern. She, like the dietitian, represents a threat to the settled order of human existence that
would be tested a multitude of times in his life. For example, with each prostitute during his years
on the road, he would tell her that he was a Negro, which always brought one reaction, following
this idea of the order; until this pattern is broken by the prostitute who did not care whether he
was Negro or not, which evokes a violent reaction, in the form of a brutal beating. His violent
outburst stems from his unconscious desire to punish the dietitian who had first violated his
pattern of order; the same reaction is seen in his relationship with Joanna Burden. A relationship
between the two flourished long enough to develop a pattern, but when Joanna broke this pattern
with her demands that Christmas take over her finances, go to a black school, and finally that he
pray with her in order to be saved, he again reacted violently to this violation of his concept of an
ordered existence. Christmas ' need for order is violated in turn by each of the
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

William Faulkner's Light in August Essay
William Faulkner's Light in August
William Faulkner's study of 20th century's man search for self, in the novel Light in August, shows
us the darker side of humanity – the sense of being alienated. Among many of his books, he uses
alienation as one of his major themes. Alienation occurs in humans when there is a sense of
isolation, depersonalization, disenchantment, estrangement, or powerlessness. Alienation has been
considered an especially important issue during the twentieth century. It's often noted as being at the
heart of modern dissatisfactions–– especially of youths, women and racial minorities. (Artlex, al–am)
In Light in August, Faulkner presents us with the major theme of alienation through several
techniques....show more content...
The house, the brown, unpainted and unobtrusive bungalow is small too and by bushing crape
myrtle and syringa and Althea almost hidden save for the gap through which from the study
window he watches the street. So hidden it is that the light from the corner street lamp scarcely
touches it." (pg. 52) Faulkner's description emphasizes Hightower's alienation in the town of
Jefferson as we are told that the house is hidden from the rest of the community. The reader gets a
sense of Hightower's current life, as he watches the community of Jefferson he is not included in,
from the secluded "box" he calls home. We are also presented with another secluded area in
Jefferson, the Burden house. As Christmas first drifted into town, he had described the house, "It
was a big house set in a grove of trees; obviously a place of some pretensions at one time. But now
the trees needed pruning and the house had not been painted in years." (pg. 213) The description
of the landscape, "the trees needed pruning and the house had not been painted in years", paints
the reader a picture of a secluded house hidden from the community of Jefferson. Not only was the
house poorly cared for, it was also situated deep into the woods, right beside a Negro community.
The Burden house and Hightower's cabin in the woods are both described as mysterious places
hidden from the community of Jefferson. The setting gives the reader a sense of loneliness in both
characters as they are

Faulkner's Light In August By Joanna Burden
His real books written in 1930's, denied his prior perspective about the Blacks individuals. Surely
Faulkner's work can offend. Racist dialect fills Faulkner's books, however not on account of he is
a racist. Maybe, he is citing, precisely, his white society's most awful terms for pondering and
talking about (and to) blacks. Light in August (1932) recounts the tale of a man who does not know
whether he is white or dark, yet who is in the end maimed and killed as a "nigger raptist." Attentive
perusing of the novel uncovers that we can't know whether he is dark; and that his executing of
Joanna Burden happens at an extreme snippet of self–preservation (she is discharging a gun at him
at point clear range). Since we are allowed to know this, we

Light In August Research Paper
Race can be defined as individuals who are classified into different groups based on the similar
viewable and tangible characteristics they possess. It is one of the various components that
determine a person's identity and how one is presented as an individual. Ultimately, race is a vehicle
that creates a strong, distinctive basis in order to distinguish oneself amongst the alike community.
In William Faulkner's novel, Light in August, the main character, Joe Christmas, grapples with this
concept. For the entirety of the years that Christmas lives in Jefferson, the community defines him
solely as a white man, and therefore even though he is an enigma, he is allowed to live peacefully.
However, major events in his early childhood, from getting put up for adoption as an infant to being
called a nigger at five years old, have negatively impacted his subsequent years. Christmas was not
brought up with a sturdy foundation and knowledge of his past, which in turn altered his entire
future. Once the town...show more content...
The whites degrade Christmas' laborious work when they say, "but a nigger wouldn't last till the
noon whistle, working on this job like some of the white folks do" (44). This geographic component
of the South ultimately determines how one will be regarded (Stayton). Although racism was
accepted the in the Old South, times have drastically changed. In the New South, any occasion when
a white man embellishes a difference or wrongdoing about a black man it is automatically
considered racism, even if the conversation did not involve harsh racial remarks. The New South is
overly engrossed about equal treatment of both races that by pointing out everything as racism is
racist itself. Faulkner makes this comparison between the two contrasting time periods in order to
convey the message that the cruel treatment during the Old South was due to

The Theme Of Nature In Light In August
Nature is everywhere; it is not only animals and trees. Nature is strength, care, power, peace and
freedom. Even though it might be hard to see, if one plays close attention, one will find nature
hidden in the smallest things. When discussing William Falkner's book, Light In August, nature is
not the first theme that runs through the reader's mind. However, the essence nature's details add to
the story is truly grandiose. The reader learns that nature is a neutral force. It is unstoppable,
uncontrollable and extremely unpredictable. The lives of two main characters, Lena Grove and Joe
Christmas, highlight the fact that one might feel nurtured by nature, as much as one might feel
defied by it.
The novel begins by describing a young pregnant...show more content...
However, William Faulkner alludes to nature's supportive side while describing how it
foreshadows significant and precarious events. For example, Faulkner describes, " The grass was
aloud, alive with the crickets. Against the dewgray earth and the dark bands of trees fireflies drifted
and faded, erratic and random. A mockingbird sang in a tree beside the house. Behind him, in the
woods beyond the spring, two whippoorwills whistled. Beyond them, as though beyond some
ultimate horizon of summer, a hound howled"(159). This quote describes how, while Joe walks
through the pasture, nature suddenly turns frantic, predicting something is about to happen, and
nature never lies. Joe Christmas finds Mr. McEachern, his tough foster parent, sits motionless next
to the cows, which Joe did not milk. For this, he gets punished and whipped. That night, Joe "felt
like an eagle: hard, sufficient, potent, remorseless, strong. But that passed, though he did not then
know that, like the eagle, his own flesh as well as space was still a cage"(160). This quote is
linked directly to the theme of nature, because by comparing himself with an caged eagle, Joe
portrays how he lacks freedom and happiness. Also, nature is seen as comforting because when Joe's
traditional environment seems to fail, he relates nature with his goal of running

Light in August Essay
In the novel Light in August, Joe Christmas and Joanna Burden are extremely damaged individuals.
Both characters were raised in turbulent environments with an emphasis on religion. The sins they
committed had a profound impact on them. They knew that their behavior was wrong but they
were compelled to continue. Religion became a mental prison for them. A prison that they created
but that they would never escape alive. Although Joe and Joanna viewed religion in completely
different ways, they both lacked the capacity to forgive themselves because of their upbringing. For
Joanna, religion was a source of comfort that was pushed on her by her father. Joanna was raised by
puritans and she lives her life with a constant subconscious fear of...show more content...
(Lackey 66) McEachern was a tyrant who perverted the true meaning of religion for Joe
Christmas. He saw it as his duty to convert Christmas to Christianity and to force him away from a
sinful life. Christmas was essentially raised to hate what he became. His sin becomes a way for
him to resist McEachern's oppression but it also traps him. Joe Christmas was conditioned to
believe that sin is wrong and by committing sins he was fighting everything that he had ever been
taught. Joe was also subconsciously taught to distrust women. From his first experience with the
dietician, all he knew was betrayal by the women in his life. His foster mother betrayed his foster
father by attempting to help him. In his eyes, women were not to be trusted. The breaking point
for Joe was Joanna's pregnancy scare. To him it was the ultimate betrayal. "You haven't got any
baby, you never had one. There is not anything wrong with you except being old. You just got old
and it happened to you and now you are not any good anymore". (Faulkner 277) Joanna did not
know what was happening to her body because she had never been taught. Joe however saw her
mistake as an attempt at control. Her age made her useless to him and this realization destroyed
her will to live. "Maybe it would be better if we were both dead". (Faulkner 278) If she could not
have Joe then she would kill him and then herself. Joe resolved to kill Joanna in order to escape her.
"He believed with calm paradox that he was the

Light In August
William Faulkner weaves a interconnected tale of three characters in his novel "Light in August",
through a text filled with the mastery of his riveting story–telling and raw dialogue. Belonging to
their roles as the three main characters, Lena Grove, Joe Christmas, and Gail Hightower are
unorthodox in their individual ways and as such, are thrust out of their respective communities, cast
out as "loners" by their very humanity. Faulkner employs these outcasts in his novel because they all
share a human conviction to set out on their paths, facing head–on, the harsh criticism of their deep
south society. Each of the three souls are haunted by their pasts and must confront their inner
turmoil, before it consumes them in the process. Unwed but...show more content...
It was like he never even knew he was a murderer, let alone a nigger too" (Faulkner 350). It is
ultimately up to the audience to interpret Christmas as a victim at the mercy of his past, made as the
scapegoat for the ugly racism of his community, or a self–guided monster that continues to abandon
morals in favor of his indulgence. To the townsfolk, his race is both culturally and socially
constructed, and their hatred that they cannot define or control him devours them. On the other
hand, Hightower is swallowed up by the ghosts of his past and his destructive fixation on his
grandfather's Confederate legacy. Despite his grandfather coming to pass before he had even met
him, Hightower is a loner and is a representation of the past's grip and its burden on humans who
cannot adapt to its powerful presence. He stays long in Jefferson despite his mental and social
decline after the suicide of his wife, punishing himself with a life where he is isolated by not being
able to come to terms with his memories. Hightower wallows in his grandfather's shadow, in the
image of his grandfather being shot from a galloping horse that consistently makes an appearance
throughout the book (Faulkner

People will move in and out of other another person's life, and some effect that life more than
others. In the life of Joe Christmas, every female he encounters changes him a little more, furthering
his dislike for all women. Since he was a child in the orphanage women have mistreated him and
fueled his bias against all women. Christmas sees all women as conniving, greedy, irrational, and
puzzling. In William Faulkner's book, Light In August, Joe Christmas's life and personality were
shaped by every encounter he had with women. Joe Christmas's distain for women began in the
orphanage or even a little before. Joe most likely had abandonment issues because he never knew
his mother and believed that she did not want him. Milly tried to run away with her Mexican lover
and her unborn child to get away from her father (Faulkner 354–355). Christmas never did find out
that Milly Hines, his mother, did want him, before his grandfather let her die. When Christmas
arrived at the orphanage, made a friend named Alice, who he grew up with. She was a mother
figure to him, she used to help him get dressed as a child. (Faulkner 156) Then one day in the
middle of the night she left him abruptly. He never knew where she went or why she left, all
Christmas knew was that she left him. These women gave Christmas the thought that every woman
that he cared about or could care about will eventually abandon him. The dietician caused the most
problems to Christmas's development of women as a

Light In August Isolation
The most talked about character in the story is Joe Christmas, as he was the first isolated
individual to be acknowledged. Joe is considered one of the most debated characters because he
does not fit in any culture or society. Joe's isolation begins back when he stayed at an orphanage
until the age of five under of the impression that he was black However, since Joe is neither
definitely black or white, people of the town use derogatory words when they address him, and
naturally, he retreats into his own world and becomes isolated. The feeling of non–belonging creates
a sense of inadequacy and Joe begins to suffer from social remoteness, and this happens with all the
other characters that will be outcast as well. Joe Christmas best demonstrates...show more content...
For example, Joanna Burden reflects the consequences of being against traditional roles; she is the
isolated female individual, who is trapped in her thoughts as well. Joanna's tribulations mostly arise
from inner–self conflict. Although the basic causes of the both Joe's and Joanna's isolation is
similar, there are still noticeable differences in how they are viewed by the others and the way they
solve their situations. Also throughout Light in August, many references are made to race that
reveal the roots of one man's disrespect for another man: "She [Joanna] has lived in the house since
that she was birthed in, yet she is still an outsider whose people moved in from the North during
Reconstruction... and there is still talk of unexpected relations with negroes, despite the fact that it
is now sixty years since her grandfather and her brother were killed on the square by an
ex–slave–owner over a question of Negro votes in a state election." (Faulkner 39) The community
only considers a person according to criteria that they cannot even control. In addition to isolation
within the town, there is loneliness. For example, "She is a Yankee. Her folks

Spring Author Report: Joe Christmas William Faulkner 's novel, Light in August, is set in his
fictional town of Yoknapatawpha County, depicting the rural South in the early 1900's. It is a novel
about humanity where Faulkner uses his characters to establish the necessity for human connection.
Joe Christmas, the main character, experiences a tragic journey toward self–identity. Faulkner uses
the character of Joe Christmas to expose how conflict with society and oneself unchains a darkness.
Joe Christmas is alienated from a young age after being dumped at an orphanage, where his
unknown racial identity begins an inner turmoil. Joe is left in an orphanage with no sense of
identity, and ignorant of his mixed ancestry. While in the...show more content...
After leaving the orphanage, Christmas is thrown into a disturbed family that is void of
connection and love. The family environment he is exposed to is one of fear and cruelty. He gains
no acceptance on account of religious values. When Joe sins by lying to his father about what he
did with the money he gained from selling a cow "[Mr. McEachern strikes] Joe with his fist"
(Faulkner 164). Mr. McEachern beats Joe for sinning – lying – and uses religion as a justification of
abuse, thus creating Christmas's warped view of religion. This complex relationship with religion
places Joe in conflict with the societal norm. In his critical essay on Light in August, B. R.
McElderry Jr.t analyzes the role of religion in the novel, highlighting how it leads to the brutalities
in the novel. Christmas is exposed to "a religion of dynamic hatred, intolerance, and frustration"
(Gale McElderry). Mr. McEachern provides Joe Christmas with a religious outlook that is the
antithesis of religion. This fuels Joe's conflict with society by placing him in further isolation from
the town.
Christmas forges his first connection with a young prostitute named Bobbie Allen, where his first
instance of violence is seen. He begins having sexual relations with her, and soon tells her that he
"thinks [he has] some nigger blood in [him]" (Faulkner 196). She is the only person Christmas has a
remotely personal

The Light In August Literary Analysis
The Light in August is a classic novel written by William Faulkner, whom's writings are often
meditative in nature, the novel also shows a powerful but grim meditation on racism, religious
intolerance, the class struggle of the time period, and the endeavor of women in the Depression–era
Mississippi. The Marxist Theory is the theory and practice of socialism including the labor theory of
value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat until the
establishment of a classless society. The author of the novel William Faulkner set the story in
Southern America where there were many racial, class, and gender conflicts. Faulkner well
understood the social structure of his society, which include class. gender, and race– wealthy
landowners, middle class whites, poor whites, and then blacks who were very much separate
from the "ladder" of society. The "old" south was build on a very conservative and social and
economical system. During this time the newfound president Franklin D. Roosevelt created a bill
known as the New Deal. This helped the American people get jobs so that they were able to care
for their families. The New Deal consisted of the three Rs, relief, recovery, and reform. The deal
was designed to relieve Americans of the short–term effects of the Depression. Faulkner brings these
themes to life through the characters such as Lena Grove and Byron Bunch. Lena, although
pregnant, is a determined young woman that sets out to find the

"I decline to accept the end of man...I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He
is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a
soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance." –William Faulkner, Nobel Prize
Acceptance Speech, 1949
William Faulkner illustrates many dimensions of prayer in Light in August: his characters avoid it,
abuse it, embrace it, and blame it. In every case, Faulkner portrays prayer's power on the psyche.
His fictional world seems Godless, yet his characters' struggle to prevail through prayer. Joanna
Burden, Gail Hightower, and Joe Christmas exemplify three different approaches to prayer....show
more content...
A short time later, Faulkner notes that Joanna is resisting this urge: " 'I'm not ready to pray yet,' "
she admits aloud, " 'Dear God, let me be damned a little longer, a little while' " (264). This, her
first prayer, remains her most honest; in fact, it is one of the most poignant prayers of the novel.
She confesses to a human impulse that few articulate: the desire to sin now and be saved later.
She wants to believe in Christmas' concept of "a life of healthy and normal sin" but deep down,
she knows sin is detrimental (Faulkner 260). In asking her Creator for a little more damnation,
she stumbles upon her latent longing to create. But this burst of fervor fades when she is forced
to confront reality: her pregnancy and her unstable relationship with Christmas. She cannot afford
to prolong her damnation, so Joanna reverts to her old self, lecturing her lover on his need to
attend law school and urging him to repent (Brooks 90). Her old self is tainted by her father's
racist doctrine and it poisons her attempts to serve blacks (Brooks 88). That poisoned childhood
surfaces when she kneels to pray the second time, speaking only in the "symbolwords" she has been
taught (Faulkner, 280). Faulkner's compound word indicates that Joanna's prayer stands for
something else but is empty at the core. The words do not come from her heart, but from her mind,
recalling what she has been taught. Twice, Faulkner uses the words "abjectness" and "pride"

Racial Theme in Faulkner's Light in August
One theme that I really noticed was stressed throughout Faulkner's Light in August was the theme
of race. Joe Christmas' mixed race is a central issue all through the novel. The reader is continually
brought back to the fact that he is half black, especially during his affair with Johanna Burden.
Johanna (and Faulkner) always makes his racial status known while Johanna and Joe are making
love by Johanna's gasping "Negro! Negro! Negro!" (260). It is intriguing that while Johanna's father
believed that the white race was cursed by the 'White Man's Burden', the duty to help lift the black
race to a higher status, and that blacks would never be on the same level as whites, and yet she lost
her...show more content...
I think at least part of the reason is because he aroused something in her and she was tired of being
alone and wanted to explore those feelings with him. It is confusing, though, that Faulkner makes
sure the reader understands that it was not Joe who caused the change in her, he only took advantage
of the fact that this change had occurred, "It could not be said that he corrupted her" (260). Instead,
Faulkner asserts that the corruption came practically from nowhere and that she ended up
corrupting him. An interesting side note: I have noticed that in most cases when Faulkner gives a
woman power in his novels it is of a sexual nature and that this power is never used for good. Here
Johanna's sexual power is used to corrupt an otherwise mostly decent man who has led a
'conventional' life, even though he does cheat on her with prostitutes when he is 'on business.'
Another example of the theme of race in this novel is the reaction to Johanna's murder. The town
just assumes that a Negro raped and killed her because, who else but a black man would do such a
horrible thing to a woman?? Everyone automatically presumes that Johanna was raped, and that her
murder and this rape that has not been proven yet has been perpetrated by a black man. This way of
thinking is prominent in Faulkner's novels. We saw it in "Dry September" where the townsmen went
on a lynching rampage because Minnie suggested Willy had raped her. The town

Light in August by William Faulkner
During the early 1900s, there was significant tension between African Americans and whites in the
United States, especially in the South. African Americans were seen as a threat to whites and were
not welcomed into society. Hostility ran deep towards African Americans and eventually escalated to
physical harm to demonstrate who held the power. Violence is a distinctive motif found reoccurring
in themes of race. There is a double standard in which African Americans who are provoked by
oppression are dangerous while whites who administer the violence are justified as being a
protector. In my paper, I will first introduce examples of violence that were results of racial tensions
in William Faulkner's Light in August. I will discuss that the reasoning behind violence is due to
both internal and external pressures, by examining the motives of Joe Christmas and Percy Grimm.
Additionally, I will address the misconception that violence is associated with the African American
race during the time period. Then I will relate the examples of violence to ideas of how racism
developed from Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism. I will elaborate further by
discussing how these ways of thinking act as justification for violence. Using concepts presented
from The Origins of Totalitarianism as a lens for analysis, I will argue that racism induces violence
as illustrated in Light in August.
Joe Christmas is the recipient of the town's enmity due to his biracialism,

Essay on Isolation in Faulkner's Light in August
Isolation in Light In August
In William Faulkner's Light In August, most characters seem isolated from each other and from
society. It is often argued that Lena Grove is an exception to this, but I have found that I cannot
agree with this view. Consequently, this essay will show thatLena is lonely too, and that the message
in Faulkner's work on the issue of human contact is that everyone is essentially alone, either by
voluntary recession from company or by involuntary exclusion, and the only escape from this
loneliness is to have a proper family to comfort you.
As a child, Lena was involuntarily isolated from a society she wanted to be a part of. We are told
that "six or eight times a year she went to town on...show more content...
This is normally one of the main supports for saying that Lena is not isolated; however, the
confrontation with Mr. and Mrs. Armstid, assuming it follows a typical pattern for Lena's
encounters in the course of her travels, shows that being treated kindly does not necessarily mean
being accepted as a member of society. Armstid treats Lena well but avoids getting personal
contact with her; he does not even look at her directly at any time: "Apparently Armstid has never
once looked full at her... he does not look at her now... she does not look at him either... he can see
her hands... from the corner of his eye he sees it" (p. 11). Eye contact is often used by authors to
indicate intimacy, honesty or openness; here, we have none of the above. Note, however, that Lena
does not look at Armstid either. The closed nature of their relationship is a product of Lena's
unwillingness to open herself to other people as much as of their unwillingness to accept an
obviously pregnant, unmarried woman among themselves.
An interesting question that arises is why Lena, who wants to be a part of society, consciously
avoids human contact along her way to Jefferson. The obvious answer is that she is devoted to
finding Burch and getting her family started, which precludes any involvement with other people,
since she might run into someone who falls in love with her and wants her for himself. This is
exactly what happens in

Light In August Essay
William Faulkner's Light in August portrays the social alienation of African Americans in the South
during the 20th century. The novel was based in the American South, during the 1930s, when racial
tensions continued to surge. Faulkner exploited Joe Christmas, a biracial orphan, to represent the
social prejudices African Americans faced. Christmas continuously struggled with his racial identity
throughout the novel. Along with the internal conflict, Christmas also faced an external conflict
with Jefferson's townspeople. Since he was a child, Christmas experienced racial slurs and
discrimination, which illustrated the emotional abuse he faced. In William Faulkner's Light in
August, the segregation and discrimination that was demonstrated throughout...show more content...
The white community of Jefferson believes "every Negro is worthless" and the Presbyterians
believe, "every person who doesn't work hard and advance materially is destined for Hell."
(Anderson 20). During this time period the K.K.K. was still prominent. Gail Hightower is a citizen
of Jefferson that was often brutalized by the K.K.K. Hightower used to be the priest, but lost his
church through a rumor of him having an affair with his African American cook. Hightower was one
of Jefferson's citizens that accepted African Americans for who they were, but constantly suffered
emotionally and physically because of it. In chapter twenty of Light in August, Hightower
introduces how his family's past has haunted him. Hightower's life was shaped by the stories of
his grandfather, a former slave owner, and his dad who had abolitionist views. Constantly
searching for his father's approval, Hightower's father went and fought on the wrong side of the
Civil War for four years. In his years of service, Hightower's father never fired a gun. As, he grew up
Hightower struggled with living in the shadow of his dead ancestors racial

Religious Symbolism in Light in August
William Faulkner's, "Light in August" has many references to Christianity. He employs a great deal
of religious symbolism in all of his characters. These parallels seem very intentional, even though,
Faulkner himself says he did not do it purposely. The Christ story is one of the most popular stories
invented and it seems right that at some point someone is going to write similar to it. William
Faulkner says he did not put the Christian parallels in intentionally. Many critics argue that there is
no religious symbolism in this novel and that other critics are looking too deep into the novel. After
reading Faulkners' novel, it is hard not to make some connections to Christianity. The most...show
more content...
There is the name of Joe Christmas, with its initials of J.C. There is the fact of his uncertain paternity
and his appearance at the orphanage on Christmas day. Joe is approximately thirty–three years of age
at his lynching, which is the same as a Jesus at his death. Christmas was an infant of three months
when abandoned at the doorways of the orphanage (Faulkner, 332,335). He spent five years in the
home of his foster parents' (125). From five through eighteen he lived on the farm of the
McEacherns (180, 186). He was a drifter for fifteen years after that. He spent the last three years
of his life in Jefferson (Faulkner, 81). The reader of William Faulkner's novel is asked to see
Christmas's death as a crucifixion despite the fact that Christmas is in every imaginable way
different from Jesus.
Joseph Christmas and Jesus Christ have some parallels. Like for instance, the cross. The post
images identify Christmas with the post, which Christ carried to Calvary. In the novel, Christmas
is sleeping with his back to a tree and he rises "stretching his cramped and stiffened back, waking
his tingling muscles" (96). He is walking through the streets of Jefferson, looking "more lonely that
a lone telephone pole in the middle of a desert" (99). Christmas is again sitting with his back to a
tree. He heard eleven strikes, but he was still sitting with his back against a tree inside the broken
gate. According to William

Essay on Light in August by William Faulkner
Light in August by William Faulkner
Light in August, a novel written by the well–known author, William Faulkner, can definitely be
interpreted in many ways. However, one fairly obvious prospective is through a religious standpoint.
It is difficult, nearly impossible, to construe Light in August without noting the Christian parallels.
Faulkner gives us proof that a Christian symbolic interpretation is valid. Certain facts of these
parallels are inescapable and there are many guideposts to this idea.
For instance, there is Joe Christmas, one of the main characters in the novel. His initials are J.C.,
which can be an acronym for the name Jesus Christ. There is the fact of his uncertain paternity and
his appearance at the orphanage...show more content...
Christ, of course, is also identified with the wooden manger and cross. Faulkner didn't need to stray
far from the truth to give the appearance of distorting the imagery presented in the Gospel.
Repeatedly, images and comparisons foreshadow Christmas' crucifixion by alluding to Christ's
"post". Christmas sleeps by a spring, his back to a tree, and he rises, "stretching his cramped and
stiffened back, waking his tingling muscles". Later, Christmas walks through the streets of
Jefferson "looking more lonely than a lone telephone pole in the middle of a desert". Then, once
again, he is found: "when he heard eleven strike tonight he was sitting with his back against a tree
inside the broken gate". These post images identify Christmas with the post that Christ carried to
Calvary. Even when one of the narrations takes us into Christmas' past, there is a suggestion of posts
with the "yearly adjacent chimneys streaked like black tears".
Another encounter of imagery is through Christmas' relationship with McEachern. When
McEachern checks to see if Joe has learned his catechism, McEachern "found that the boy was
clinging to the catechism book as if it were a rope or post. When McEachern took the book forcibly
from his hands, the boy fell at full length to the floor and did not move again". Post imagery is
scattered throughout the remainder of Christmas' section with clear comparisons. An example would
be

Light In August Symbolism
American businessman Clement Stone once uttered, "You are a product of your environment. So,
choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective" (Stone). Free will
represents an internal battleground constantly testing one's acceptance of their actions. William
Faulkner explores the extent to which deterministic forces sway free will among individuals in his
novel Light in August. Joe Christmas faces an array of challenges in his childhood environment,
resulting in patterns of abuse and self–destruction throughout his adult life. Hightower represents the
dangers of holding onto the past, procuring a false existence of fate. Faulkner portrays two
perceptions of free will. One through Hightower, who initially blames his family...show more
content...
When the angry mob chases Joe Christmas to Hightower's house, Hightower responds with, "Listen
to me. He was here that night. He was with me the night of the murder. I swear to God" (464). Of
course, this is a blatant lie, however because Hightower is now using his own moral compass, it can
be reasonably assumed that he has returned to living in the present. When he lives in the present,
Hightower clearly takes ownership of his free will. The first–time Hightower opposes fate he states,
"Perhaps in the moment when I revealed to her not only the depth of my hunger but the fact that
never and never would she have any part in the assuaging of it; perhaps at that moment I became
her seducer and her murderer, author and instrument of her shame and death" (470). As a direct
result of Hightower living in the present, he sees how he contributes to his own actions. He
assumes responsibility for his lack of affection for his wife which leads to her committing adultery,
and eventually her death. His hunger to skip a generation and his deluded relationship with free
will are further illustrated where Faulkner says, "He seems to watch himself, alert, patient, skillful,
playing his cards well, making it appear that he was being driven, uncomplaining, into that which he
did not even then admit had been his desire since before he entered the seminar" (489). Hightower
is coming to the realization that in fact is wasn't fate that brought him to Jefferson, but rather his
desire to live his grandfather's legacy in the town where he died. Hightower doesn't want to feel the
pain of the new generation thus he constructed a fantasy life based on "the old south". Ultimately,
Hightower frees himself from the past and constructs a light to follow for

Light In August: Joe Christmas And Miss Burden
As the novel, Light in August, approaches the end, we are told that Joe Christmas and Miss
Burden have officially become lovers. This relationship, at first, shows signs of feminism to a point
where these lovers meet at night to have sex. As there relationship reaches a climax, their passion
begins to become more intense which eventually leads to sex on the outside ground. The mark of
fall, represents a change in their relationship. One can assume that their romance was based on the
time of year as well as the time of day, summer representing their peak romance and night
representing their sexual drive. This part of the affair demonstrates a part of feminism to the point
where the affair shows, at this time, more dominantly on passion, love,

Light In August Essay

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

More from Paper Writing Service Reviews

More from Paper Writing Service Reviews (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Light In August Essay