Transcription
Light in August by William Faulkner: Characters, Summary, Analysis
Hello and welcome to the discourse. Light in August is a Southern Gothic and modernist novel by William Faulkner that was published in 1932. The novel is naturalistic, with a violent subject matter accompanied by death and the effects of the past. The Southern Gothic, Ian Ray, unlike the Gothic Henry, doesn't rely upon mystery, suspense, and the supernatural. Rather, Southern Gothic literature tells stories of dark humor, depicting the problems of society by developing complex characters. Southern Gothic literature typically focuses on the history of South America, racism, slavery, civil war, fear of the outside world and change, and violence. The novel is written in modernist style, telling many stories with acute polarities like good and evil, light and dark, the burden of the past, non-present, and fragmentation of individual identity. In parts, the novel tells stories of various alienated characters and their struggle against the puritanical rural society.
Characters of Light in August: Major
Lena Grove is a teen pregnant girl from Alabama who visits Jefferson, Yoknapatawpha County, in search of her lover who ran away after impregnating her. Byron Bunch is a young man working in a mill in Jefferson. Lana comes to know that a man named Bunch is working there, and she assumes that he is Burch, as the name sounds so similar, and goes to meet him. Bunch falls in love with her and tries to help in finding the father of her unborn child. Gail Hightower is a former minister of Jefferson who was forced to retire after his wife's affair was revealed in public and she committed suicide. Lukas Burch, who sounds similar to Byron Bunch, is the lover of Lena who abandoned her when he came to know that she is pregnant. He changes his name to Joe Brown and starts living in Jefferson and works in the mill. He is also a bootlegger. He is a young, tall, and has good looks to impress women, though his co-workers find him empty and useless. Joe Christmas is an orphan of ambiguous racial descent. He believes he has some black blood in him. He was raised at an orphanage until doubts of his black heritage forced the matron to set an adoption for Joe Christmas. His adopted father was strict and cruel. After killing his adopted father at age 18, he escaped and wandered from city to city till he ends up in Jefferson, where he somewhat settles with Joanna Burden. He is so tormented by his racial identity that he often becomes violent with others, though he hates women and rarely shows any emotion. He makes a relationship with Joanna. Joanna Burden is the sole survivor of the abolitionist family of Jefferson. Her family migrated from New England to Jefferson. She is unmarried, and the town people consider her a Yankee and thus an alien. She lives alone in a big villa outside the town. She sexually gets involved with Joe Christmas. She is murdered, presumably by Joe Christmas, at the beginning of the novel, and her house is burnt to ashes.
Minor
Eupheus, or Doc, Heinz is the grandfather of Joe Christmas who hates him and gives him to an orphanage when he is born, as Joe's mother, Miley Hines, died while giving birth to him as an unmarried teen pregnant girl. Eupheus believes that his father was not white. Miley claims that Joe's father was a Mexican, and she dies while giving birth as Eupheus declines to call a doctor. Mrs. Heinz is the grandmother of Joe who he saw only once at his birth. She doesn't hate Joe and wants to see him again. Manufacturers learn that Joe Christmas is being captive on suspicion of murdering Joanna Burden. He visits Jefferson with Mrs. Heinz and tries to incite a lynch mob against Joe Christmas. Mrs. Heinz tries to save him. Mr. and Mrs. McEachern are the adoptive parents of Joe Christmas. They are a Presbyterian couple. Mr. McEachern tries to instill religion in Joe Christmas. He is very strict and disapproves of Joe's growing disobedience. He is presumed to be killed by Joe. Mrs. McEachern is a kind woman who tries to protect Joe Christmas, but Joe hates her. Mrs. Armstrong and Mr. Armstrong are a couple who pick up Lena on her way to Jefferson and let her stay at their home at night. Later on, Mr. Armstrong gives her a ride to the city on his wagon. Mrs. Armstrong doesn't approve of Lena's teen pregnancy before marriage and sees her with disdain, yet she is helpful and gives some money to Lena to help her. Bobby is a waitress at a restaurant in Memphis. Joe Christmas falls in love with her, but his adopted father doesn't approve of it. Bobby leaves Joe as he is presumably killed. His father, Gavin Stevens, is the district attorney of Jefferson and offers his insight over some of the events at the end of the novel. Percy Grimm is the captain of the state national guard. He castrates Joe Christmas and kills him.
Summary of Light in August
There are many intertwined stories in Light in August, though the main stories are of Lena Grove and Joe Christmas. Lena is a teen pregnant who is traveling to Mississippi in search of her baby's father who left after impregnating her. She is going to Jefferson, where she heard that a man named Byron Bunch works at a mill. His name resembles the name of her lover, Lukas Burch, and she assumed that Lucas is hiding there in Jefferson with a changed name. In Jefferson, a brooding stranger with an ambiguous racial profile arrives at the mill in search of a job. He gets a job and starts living in Jefferson at the house of Joanna Burden, an unmarried woman, the lone survivor of an abolitionist family who lives on the outskirts of the town. Joe Brown is another stranger who gets a job at the mill. Joe Christmas and Joe Brown soon become friends, and they get involved in bootlegging. Later on, they leave their jobs at the mill and start selling liquor illegally. Meanwhile, Lena meets Byron Bunch and realizes that he is not the man she is seeking. Byron is intrigued by Lena and immediately falls in love with her, but he is a good, shy man and fails to express his feelings. Rather, he promises Lena to help her search for Lukas Burch. Byron informs Gail Hightower, disgraced former minister of Jefferson, about his intentions to help Lena Grove as he cares for her. Meanwhile, Lena comes to know that Lukas Burch is living as Joe Brown in Jefferson. Joe Brown is being held in jail as a suspected murderer of Joanna Burden, whose house was burned down after her murder. Another suspect of the murder is Joe Christmas, who is absconding. After describing the current scenario, the narrative changes to explain the past of various characters.
As a child, Gail Hightower was too much influenced by his grandfather, who was a Confederate soldier who was killed in that town during the civil war. As an adult, he secures a church and becomes a minister. However, his young and beautiful wife is unfaithful to him and suffers mental health problems. One day, she is found dead as she falls from the window of a balcony at a hotel in Memphis where she was staying with another man. The ensuing scandal results in the forced retirement of Gail Hightower. Joe Christmas was left in the footsteps of an orphanage. As he grows up, the dietitian of that orphanage mistakenly believes that he overheard her while she was having sex with a young doctor in her room. To avoid any scandal, she threatens Joe Christmas to keep shut, otherwise, she will reveal his biracial identity to other kids of the orphanage. She further discusses the plan with the janitor, Eupheus Heinz, to send Joe Christmas to a black orphanage. Eupheus, who is actually the grandfather of Joe, decides to kidnap him and take him to Little Rock. However, Joe is soon found and returned to the same orphanage. A couple of weeks later, he is adopted by a sternly religious man, Mr. McEachern. Mr. McEachern is a strict Presbyterian, and he cruelly beats Joe regularly for minor mistakes. His wife shows love to Joe, but because of his past experience with the orphanage's dietitian, Joe hates women and repels Mrs. McEachern. As he becomes an adult, he falls in love with Bobby, a local waitress at a Memphis hotel. One day, Mr. McEachern catches Joe Christmas with Bobby at a dance bar. They argue, and a fight erupts that results in the murder of Mr. McEachern. Bobby scorns Joe and leaves him to avoid jail. Joe runs away and wanders off from city to city. He reaches Jefferson and gets a job at the mill at Jefferson. Joe Christmas makes acquaintance with Joanna Burden and starts living with her at her manor in the outskirts. Gradually, he develops a sexual relationship with the lonely woman who wishes to have a baby. However, Joe Christmas doesn't want to become a father, and he is only interested in occasional sex with Joanna. Their relationship is full of passion, violence, and long periods when they ignored each other. At the mill, another new worker, Joe Brown, joins the workforce and becomes a friend of Joe Christmas. Gradually, they start producing and selling illegal liquor in Jefferson. Joe Christmas invites Brown to live with him at Joanna's manor. Joanna soon goes through menopause, and she loses all interest in sex, yet she wants to continue her relationship with Joe Christmas and forces him to adopt the religious path. One day, she forces Joe Christmas to pray with her at the gunpoint. In retaliation, Joe Christmas attacks her with a sharp razor and kills her. Later on, he burns her house with her dead body in it. Joe Brown is imprisoned as a suspect for the murder, though it becomes clear that Joe Christmas was the real murderer as he runs and becomes a fugitive. Joanna Burden's nephew in New Hampshire offers a dollar thousand reward for the capture of his aunt's killer. Joe Christmas avoids getting caught for many days, but eventually, he is apprehended on the streets of Mott's town and brought back to Jefferson. When Eupheus Heinz hears about Joe Christmas being caught as a culprit for murder, he decides to visit Jefferson with his wife. Eupheus tries to incite the crowd and instill anger to create a mob lynching to kill Joe Christmas. However, Mrs. Heinz wants to protect Joe Christmas. Byron and Mr. and Mrs. Heinz visit Gail Hightower, where it is revealed that Joe Christmas's father was a Mexican circus worker whom Eupheus Heinz shot dead when he tried to elope with his daughter, Miley Hines. Miley died while giving birth to Joe Christmas, and later on, Eupheus left the baby in the footsteps of the orphanage where he worked as a janitor. Byron and Mrs. Heinz request Gail Hightower to save Joe Christmas by offering a false alibi that Joe Christmas was with him at his house during the night when Joanna was murdered. Gail Hightower gets angry and asks them to leave. Lena Grove is suffering labor pain, and she decides to stay at the burnt manor where her lover used to live with Joe Christmas. Byron asks Hightower to help Lena while he goes to look for a doctor. By the time Byron returns with the doctor, Hightower manages to deliver the baby with the help of Mrs. Eupheus Heinz, who mistakenly believes that Lena is her long-lost daughter, Miley Hines, who already died. Byron arranges to have Joe Brown in the same room where Lena is staying with her newly born baby. When Joe Brown sees Lena, he is astonished to find her. When he notices the baby, he realizes that the newly born baby is his. He again decides to avoid responsibility and runs away by jumping off through the window. Byron confronts him in the path but is overpowered by Joe Brown, who beats him and runs away. Meanwhile, Joe Christmas also runs away from his captors. As he was taken across town square, he learns about his grandparents at Gail Hightower's house and reaches there. The bounty hunters follow him to catch him again. Percy Grimm, the captain of the state national guard, catches him in the kitchen of Hightower and shoots him down to death. Later on, he castrates him. Meanwhile, Gail Hightower is too astonished and sad by the happenings. He is too old, and he muses about his past. He prepares for his own death. A local furniture mover near Jefferson town reaches his home after a long road trip and tells his wife how he helped and picked off a couple with a newly born child. He says that the girl was in her teens, and the man accompanying her didn't look like the father of the child. The four mentioned couples were Lena and Byron, half-heartedly continuing their search for the biological father of the child.
Themes of Light in August
Alienation is a major theme of the novel. All the major characters of the novel are misfits and social outcasts, despised and disdained by the local society. Joe Christmas and Lena Grove are both orphans. While Joe Christmas gets into violence, distrain, and repulsion from society, Lena Grove is looked down upon yet gets assistance and help during her journey. Lena is still accepted because she continues to search for the biological father of her child and hence agreeing with the conventional norm that men are responsible for women's well-being. Lena represents nature and life. In a way, Faulkner suggests that though men have lost their instant connection with nature, women still possess it. Gail Hightower and Joanna Burden both belong to high-class society, though they are poor now. Both are despised by the local community who continues to try to make them run away. Byron Bunch is more acceptable in society, but he is a lonely and shy person by his own nature. Faulkner has used Christian allegory throughout the novel. Joe Christmas resembles the Passion of Christ. Lena Grove and her fatherless child remind of Mary and Christ. Byron Bunch is reminiscent of a Joseph figure. So this is it about Light in August. We will continue to discuss other major novels by William Faulkner. Please stay connected with the discourse. Thanks and regards.