Light In August

1. Saskia Schoeman Mary Lauren McMillon William Faulkner Light In August Third Period

2. 1 Felix Chan

3. Summary • Lena Grove is a country girl who is searching for Lucas Burch. Burch is the one who impregnated Lena. • She wants to go to Jefferson to find him. She hitch hiked on a wagon to get to Burch. She is from Doane's Mill, Alabama. This is a place where all the trees are cut down and the machines are rusted. Armstid is a man who helps females. He gave Lena a ride to his home and convinced his wife to let her stay. His wife Mrs. Armstid does not like Lena for she is not married to Burch and therefore is a symbol of major moral wrongdoing. She gives Lena a small porcelain bank if Lena leaves by morning. • The next day she arrives at a town near Jefferson for a ride to the city. When she arrive there a house is on fire. • Lena Grove is the main speaker of this chapter

4. Character Development • Lena Grove – A person who is pregnant with Lucas Burch child. She wants to travel to Jefferson to find Lucas. She is simple and refined. • Armstid – A person who is kind to the pregnant girl, he helps Lena to have shelter for a day and carries her to a nearest town to Jefferson. • Mrs. Armstid – Armstid’s wife she is strict but reassuring and doesn't allow moral corruption. • Lucas Burch – the one who impregnate Lena. In chapter one there is little about this character. • Faulkner unique style for putting original prose to reveal information of that character. He uses italics to show a character’s way of thinking. He is a modernist who creates a world where everything is a realistic place and through the view point of the character. The complexity of the character is achieved by looking inward at his/her action and inner thought.

5. “Other chunks” • Doane's Mill – a decayed place where all the trees are cut down. A place with evil intentions and dark wilted places. • Isolation – one of the main themes in the story. Lena is one of the character who is in isolation because of her unmarried status while having to mother her child. • Christian – a part of rules that is set by for all Christian for what is right and wrong. • “A man. All men. He will pass up a hundred chances to do good for one chance to meddle where meddling is not wanted. He will overlook and fail to see chances, opportunities, for riches and fame and well doing, and even sometimes for evil. But he won't fail to see a chance to meddle. “ • - Faulkner criticize that the mans fall is the mans desire to have and needs to meddle someone’s else place to get out of there same old place and wife all the time. To start somewhat a new person something different then what they usually do.

6. 2 Caroline Ciener

7. Main Points • Byron Bunch reminisces on when Joe Christmas first began to work in the mill as a tattered, lonely man. • Christmas moves onto the grounds of Miss Burden where he resides in a cottage in her backyard and sells whiskey illegally to make ends meat. • Bunch turns to Reverend Gail Hightower for help. • Christmas quit his job at the mill and Joe Christmas and Joe Brown became very close, very quickly. • A fire breaks out at the Burden house and Byron watches the smoke rise as he works and does nothing about it. • The burning of the house represents the death of Miss Burden. • Lena Grove disrupts Byron’s work when she comes in and says she is looking for a man named Lucas Burch • Byron falls in love with Lena Grove, love at first sight.

8. Setting • The men are found at the mill • The cottage on Miss Burden’s land • At Byron’s work watching the smoke billows

9. Themes • Burdens of past: Byron Bunch thinks back to Joe Christmas’ time at the mill. Whether these are good memories or bad, he seems to describe his time in a negative way using lots of angry diction. • Burning of the house:The burning of the house when Byron sees it is a clear representation and symbolism of Miss Burden’s death.

10. 3 Alex Fox

11. Significant Quotes • “It is because a fellow is more afraid of the trouble he might have than he ever is of the trouble he’s already got. He’ll cling to trouble he’s used to before he’ll risk a change.” -Byron Bunch • This quote spoken by Byron Bunch connects with Faulkner’s style in that it shows how insightful and real Faulkner is in his writing. This quote also helps to establish a connection between Bunch and Hightower as they both feel the same way. • “From a distance, quite faint though quite clear, he can hear the sonorous waves of massed voices from the church: a sound at once austere and rich, abject and rod, swelling and falling in the quiet summer darkness like a harmonic tide.” • This quote shows the very detailed and descriptive nature of Faulkner’s writing while also conveying Hightower’s feelings for the church and his former way of life. You see the theme of detachment with Hightower yet you understand that he feels as if he still belongs in the pulpit

12. Evident Themes • Solitude/outcast (Hightower has been ostracized by the community, is rarely seen) • Racism (beating of Hightower by KKK) • Remnants of war/heroic past (the evident presence of the grandfather, a Civil War cavalryman who was killed) Plot Development/Character Development • Chapter 3 is significant in that it fully introduces and explains the circumstance of Gail Hightower’s isolation and his true personality • You see the development of the relationship between Byron Bunch and Hightower and how the two are related in character

13. Point of View • The point of view is critical in this chapter in that it is told from the perspective of an observer of all these happenings. • Slightly biased • Some questions are left hanging out there, unanswered

14. 4 Catherine Hinshaw

15. Plot • Opening Scene: Byron Bunch and the Reverend Hightower sit facing each other in the Rev. Hightower’s office, Byron begins speaking to Hightower about his experience with Lena’s arrival • Hightower at first fails to see the connection between the burning house and Lena, Bunch then informs him that the burning house was “that old Burden house”. Hightower also was not aware of Brown and Christmas’s residence in the cabin behind Miss Burden’s house. • Bunch proceeds with his story as he tells the Hightower about Brown’s bootlegging. At this point, it is understood that Bunch had also told Lena this same information, revealing to both her and Hightower (at separate instances) that Brown is the man that Lena is actually looking for. • Bunch figured out a way to prevent Lena from continuing her search that evening. He sends her to the Beards who let her stay there for the evening. While talking to Hightower about his encounters with Lena, he mentions that Christmas is said to be “part negro.” • The next part of his story to Hightower focuses on Brown and Christmas as relating to the fire. A man saw Brown, drunk, in the burning house of Miss Burden, attempting to prevent him from going upstairs. Appearing suspicious once Miss Burden was found upstairs practically decapitated, Brown confesses that Christmas had made threats to kill Miss Burden and that he was “part negro.” • Closing Scene: Bunch and Hightower remain in the Reverend’s office as Bunch admits he has not yet told Lena about the situation Brown is in at the moment.

16. Themes/Quotes • “And then I looked up and there she was, with her face all fixed for smiling and with her mouth all fixed to say his name, when she saw I wasn’t him. And I never knowed any better than to blab the whole thing.” (pg 78) • “And then she says ‘Did he have a little white scar right here by his mouth?’” (pg 80) • “I reckon a woman in her shape (and having to find a husband named Burch at the same time she thought with dry irony) ain’t got no business…” (pg 86) • Isolation- especially evident through Lena in her pursuit for the man some take to be her husband • Identity (or lack thereof)- Lena searches for Lucas Burch, who has changed his name, and she wishes to change her identity by marrying Burch

17. Character Development/Point of View • Third Person- Omniscient • Third person tell the story Bunch conveys to Hightower about what he told Lena • Elastic narrative • Hightower is seen, through his reactions to Bunch’s story, as a thoughtful, almost wise man. This is extremely ironic when one takes into consideration Hightower’s past history with the community. • Although Brown presents himself through police questioning as an innocent man (at least concerning the incident regarding Miss Burden), his character as someone who cannot be entirely trusted is further developed. Taking into consideration what little background information exists about Christmas at this point, combined with Brown’s information to the police, Christmas’s character has a very negative connotation. • Lena, despite everything she should be overwhelmed with, lacks much concern or worry and thus is presented as somewhat naïve to her surroundings. • Bunch is oddly concerned with Lena’s story and possible future, as is revealed through his conversation with Hightower. Lena’s arrival may indicate a possible turning point for him as a character.

18. 5 Chad Hoskins

19. Main Points • -Joe Brown arrives home at their cabin late one night, stumbling and drunk. Out of annoyance, Joe Christmas proceeds to hold him down and hit him repeatedly. • -Christmas stays up late that night, thinking a lot about Miss Burden and how he wants to forgive her for lying to him. • -Christmas streaks in the middle of the road and eventually settles down in the barn outside. • -The next morning, Joe Christmas makes his way to a clearing where he baths and shaves in the river and eventually wanders through a black part of town. • -After meeting with a few black families, he goes back to Miss Burden’s with a sense of fear in what is about to happen.

20. Setting • Joe Brown and Joe Christmas at the cabin • Joe Christmas naked in the street and sleeping in the barn • Christmas shaving and wandering through the black community • Miss Burden's house

22. 6 Courtney Hudson

23. In this chapter we find out about Joe Christmas when he was a little boy. Around the age of five he is trying to steal toothpaste from a dietician. While he is trying to take the toothpaste the dietician and a younger male doctor come into the room to have sex.

24. Joe hides behind a curtain and tries not to get catch, but while the dietician and the man make love Joe gets sick from eating the toothpaste. He is then discovered and the dietician treats him horribly. Later on the dietician becomes paranoid that Joe will tell people about her and the other doctor having sex.

25. The dietician tries to get Joe switched into another orphanage because he is biracial. Learning this plan, the janitor of Joe’s present orphanage disappears with Joe in order to save him. But he is taken into custody for trying to steal the boy. Joe is then adopted by Mr. McEachern who is an unemotional, religious man.

26. 7 LeeAnna Kincaid

27. Summary • In the beginning of Chapter seven the narrative jumps to three years after Presbyterian preacher, Mr. McEachern adopts Joe Christmas. He is yelling at Joe for not having his catechism memorized and then proceeds to beat him until he passes out. After waking up McEachern forces Joe to kneel at the side of his bed and pray for forgiveness for not having his catechism memorized. While McEachern is gone, his “mother” brings him a tray of food but Joe reacting violently angrily throws it on the floor only later does he eat it off of the floor. The story then jumps to several years later at the age of fourteen now Joe Christmas and other farm boys lure a black woman to a shed to have sex. When it is Joe’s turn he beats the woman repetitively until stopped by the others. At seventeen Joe sells his calf to buy a suit which of course McEachern finds out about and beats him over.

28. Significance • In this chapter Joe is portrayed as an animal several different times. When he is eating the food off the floor he is compared to a “dog” or “pig.” When he is beating the black woman he is again an animal but this time it is not so vulnerable but even scary. These comparisons of Christmas comes back to the overwhelming theme of identity, he is unable to see who he is because he is trapped in a “cage.” He is not only imprisoned in the fact that Mr. McEachern keeps him locked up; he is unable to release his emotions without receiving consequences. His lack of identity causes many problems; he can’t explain why he does things or even why he can’t stop himself from doing these things. This chapter shows many different signs of Joe and his lack of identity showed through his vulnerable state.

29. Significant Quotes • “…Years after that night when, an hour later, he rose from the bed and went and knelt in the corner as he had not knelt on the rug, and above the outraged food kneeling, with his hands ate, like a savage, like a dog.” • Joe Christmas is often treated like a dog having to eat his dinner off the floor, being beaten for the smallest things, and constantly being watched. His search for identity becomes hard when there is always someone there to tell him he is doing something wrong. • “It was not the hard work which he hated, nor the punishment and injustice. He was used to that before he ever saw either of them. He expected no less, and so he was neither outraged nor surprised. It was the woman: that soft kindness which he believed himself doomed to be forever victim of and which he hated worse than he did the hard and ruthless justice of men.” • Joe Christmas reveals his severe hatred for women, at this point of the book it is evident this it true by his beatings of women. It is not yet revealed where this hatred began but this is a key element in understanding part of Joe’s identity. This is another characteristic he is slowly sharing.

30. 8 Kim Korzen

32. Summary: Chapter 8 details the majority of Joe Christmas’s affair with Bobbie, the waitress and prostitute. • Key characters: Joe Christmas, Bobbie, Mr. and Mrs. McEachern, Max and Mame and the boy who tells Joe about women • Repeated images: the rope, Joe’s dead watch, Bobbie’s big hands, eyes (Bobbie’s and Mr. McEachern’s), Mame’s blond hair, the forest and the urns in it, money, blood • Point of view: Third limited. Mostly the story is told from Joe’s perspective but it switches to Bobbie’s briefly.

33. Important Events • -Joe meets Bobbie, and becomes infatuated almost instantly • -After learning about periods, Joe kills a sheep and washes his hands in the blood • -Joe walks quickly away when Bobbie tells him about her illness, and sees urns in the forest • -Bobbie tells Joe she is a prostitute, and Joe cries • -Joe confides in Bobbie about the possibility he is part Negro, she doesn’t believe him

34. Literary Devices • -Flashback: The entire relationship is told as a flashback, because in the present Joe is sneaking out of the house to meet Bobbie. • -Tone: In the chapter’s beginning, the tone is mysterious because Joe knows his destination, but it is not yet clear in the story. • -Allusions: Joe washing his hands in the blood of a sheep (or lamb) alludes to the representation of Jesus as the Lamb of God; Mr. McEachern calls Joe Romeo. • -Imagery: Images are used throughout the chapter to convey or reinforce certain ideas or moods. For example, Bobbie’s big hands (and her name) make her appear masculine, and reaffirm the idea that Joe is disturbed by feminine things; he is drawn to Bobbie because of her masculinity, as shown by her hands.

35. 9 Morgan Malasky

36. Point of view • McEachern • Joe Christmas Themes • Rejection • Hurt • Truth • Obliviousness of listening and looking

37. Plot Development • Joe knocks out his stepfather, possibly killing him, after McEachern begins verbally abusing Bobbie. Joe takes the money Mrs. McEachern has been saving and leaves to get Bobbie, there he finds out the truth about Bobbie and is rejected and left beaten on the ground.

38. Character Development • Joe moves on from his old life, what he has done makes it final and he cannot go back to the way things were before, the truth of what Bobbie is and how she treated him afterwards has closed Joe, from this point on he never opens up to anyone else.

39. 10 Becca Martin

40. Recurring Themes in Chapter 10 Significance of memories • This theme is crucial in the novel considering the majority of it consists of the memories and recollections of Joe Christmas. These memories and history of Joe Christmas show to shape him as a character. • “Knowing not grieving remembers a thousand savage and lonely streets.” Pg. 220 Identity • The theme of identity is significant in this chapter with not only Joe’s continued quest, but with the introduction of Miss Burden. Throughout Chapter 10, Joe remains futile in his attempts to establish any form of identity by avoiding formality and permanence in any given situation. The reader also continues to see the inward struggle in Joe Christmas with his physical identity concerning race. • “He did not know the name of the town; he didn’t care what word it used for a name. He didn’t even see it, anyway.”

41. Faulkner’s Style • Faulkner’s style is most notable on page 221 with the stream of consciousness. The sense of abandonment and absolute solitude is portrayed best through the exact thoughts of Joe and exact recount of what was occurring around him.  By associating the reader with Joe’s surroundings, the reader is then able to somewhat understand Joe by hearing what he hears, and feeling what he feels, and putting themselves in the situation.   • “…for sweet jesus what does he want with it he doesn’t use money he doesn’t need it ask bobbie if he needs money they give it to him that the rest of us have to pay for it leave it there I said like hell this ain’t mine leave it to bobbies it ain’t yours neither unless sweet jesus you’re going to tell me he owes you jack too that he has been f.ing you too behind my back on credit and I said leave it go chase yourself it ain’t but five or six bucks…” Pg. 221

42. Character Analysis: Joanna Burden • Miss Burden is introduces in Chapter 10 as a reject of the town of Jefferson due to her family’s reputation as Yankees. She sponsors numerous All Black colleges, and was rumored to have had relations with numerous individuals in the Black community. • Joanna Burden represents the continued theme of Isolationism. Like Gail Hightower, Joanna is a victim of societal isolation versus personal isolation. • As she develops a complex relationship with Joe Christmas, the reader beings to understand the meaning behind her name, “Burden”. She is both an emotional and physically demanding burden on Joe Christmas in the she demands intimacy, which by learned behavior, Joe automatically rejects. She reflects all female relationships in Joe’s life.

43. 11 Kyle McGee

44. Point of view: Joe Christmas Summary: This chapter describes how the relationship between Joe Christmas and Ms. Burden begins. At the start of their relationship, they talk very little, even though they spend their nights together. Their relationship is at times turbulent, and at one point Christmas throws a meal Ms. Burden has prepared for him into a wall. Later, Ms. Burden comes to talk to Christmas, and she tells the story of the Burden’s. This includes how Nathaniel Burden, Ms. Burden’s father, went to Mexico, returned with a wife and child, and how Ms. Burden’s grandfather and brother were killed by the ex-Confederate Colonel Sartoris. After this, Christmas reveals that he believes himself to be part Black. Themes: The Nature of Womanhood Heritage and its Impact on the Present The Nature of Relationships Plot Development: In this chapter, we finally see more of Miss Burden besides being the silent host to Joe Christmas. Her background is revealed, as well as why she is referred to by the people of Jefferson as a “Yankee.” For Joe Christmas, he continues to fail to understand women, as well as showing an extremely violent side of his personality.

45. Quotes • “But beneath his hands the body might have been the body of a dead woman not yet stiffened. But he did not desist; though his hands were hard and urgent it was with rage alone. ‘At least I have made a woman of her at last,’ he thought. ‘Now she hates me. I have taught her that, at least.’” Page 236 • “He went to the kitchen door. He expected that to be locked also. But he did not realize until he found that it was open, that he had wanted it to be. When he found that it was not locked it was like an insult. It was as though some enemy upon whom he had wreaked his utmost of violence and contumely stood, unscathed and unscarred, and contemplated him with a musing and insufferable contempt.” Page 237 • “‘She’s trying to. I had expected it to have gray in it She’s trying to be a woman and she dont know how.’” Page 240

46. Quotes (cont’d) • “It was in play, in a sense: a kind of deadly play and smiling seriousness: the play of two lions that might or might not leave marks. They locked, the strap arrested: face to face and breast to breast they stood: the old man with his gaunt, grizzled face and his pale New England eyes, and the young one who bore no resemblance to him at all, with his beaked nose and white teeth smiling.” Page 246 • “‘Remember this. Your grandfather and brother are lying there, murdered not by one white man but by the curse which God put on a whole race before your grandfather or your brother or me or you were even thought of. A race doomed and cursed to be forever and ever a part of the white race’s doom and curse for its sins. Remember that.’” Page 252

47. 12 Jacqueline Walker

48. Joe Christmas enters what he refers to as the ‘second phase’ of his relationship with Ms. Burden in which she continued to cook for him but they avoided each other except late at night when he entered her bedroom (or the closet, sitting room, etc…). • This second phase faded into the third as the affair became too routine and Christmas felt too restricted and dependent. As Christmas realized he was too deeply involved with Ms. Burden, she was falling in love, and gaining an aura of femininity not present before in her “coldfaced, almost manlike” features. • Christmas gave in to her whims, such as climbing through the window to meet her and exchanging secret notes, but her new feminine promiscuity seemed to him more sinful than their escapades ever were before, as Christmas associated femininity and women with sin and weakness. He realized he must leave her, but he feels he cannot escape, they are “locked like sisters”.

49. Christmas observes that he keeps his bootlegging a secret not because Ms. Burden would have minded, but because he feels the need to keep secrets from the women around him. • Now Ms. Burden now wants to always meet in the bedroom, and talks of a child. She wants to tie herself to him permanently. Christmas begins to leave more frequently for ‘business trips’, in which he sleeps with prostitutes. Ms. Burden tells Xmas she is pregnant and that she wants him to take over her affairs and ties to the negro community, and she plans to will her things to him. • He avoided her for several months, when he finally goes to her he realizes she is old, and it was menopause, not a baby. He insults her and calls her worn out. As if in agreement, she says it would be better if “we both were dead”.

50. He meets her again soon after, late at night and finds her praying. She begs him to pray with her before he kills her but he refuses her final wishes As he stands over her kneeling body in the darkness he remembers the beginning of their affair, the first time they met in the dark.