Two of the most significant topics discussed in William Faulkner’s Light in August are gender roles and race, or racism. The setting of the story is in the South, so race has always been a topic for discussion, mostly in a negative sense. One of the most controversial characters that Faulkner introduces is Joe Christmas; he is white in appearance, but he has Negro blood in him. Therefore, he does not actually belong to either group—he is isolated.
Joe Christmas has faced both internal and external conflict throughout his entire life. Although he is a white man from his appearance, he has Negro blood running through his veins. When this knowledge became public, neither the white people accepted him, nor the black people. Christmas was forced to live alone and fend for himself. His internal conflict consisted mostly of his actions; i.e. the good actions versus the evil and violent. Christmas takes advantage of women and is involved in many violent actions that seem to be beyond his control—it is caused by the black blood. Before he decides he is going to kill her “He began to curse her. He stood beneath the dark window, cursing her with slow and calculated obscenity” (107). A white man would not use this type of language without cause, according to social roles. His motives for murdering Mrs. Burden are completely unclear. He suffers the internal conflict of whether or not he should kill her to save himself; now he must live with the burden bearing on his shoulders.
Christmas’ upbringing was also not filled with the love and care that he yearned for. Instead, his father whipped every time he did wrong and his mother did not show him affection, except in the absence of her husband—the mother’s character proves that men are superior to women. Before running away from his home, Joe hits his father with a chair and knocks him unconscious, but he thinks he has killed him and is actually proud of his deed. He screams, “‘Stand back! I said I would kill him one day! I told him so!” (206). Although he does not realize it, in some instances, it is his own actions that cause others to turn away from him—when the townspeople discovered his crime, they began to turn away from him, and he lost the girl that he loved and planned to run away with. All in all, Christmas seems to use his violent acts to either seek revenge on those who were cruel or to simply occupy his mind. He faces no guilt, but maintains to a high level of pride.
The primary difference between Joe Christmas and another man who commits wrongdoings is Christmas does not try to hide himself from society. As an example, when comparing Joe Christmas to Joe Brown, Christmas does not hide his identity; Brown, on the other hand, moves away and changes his name with the hopes of beginning a new life. Christmas leaves and goes to Mottstown after killing Mrs. Burden, but when someone notices him and asks if he is Joe Christmas, he replies the affirmative. On the contrary, Joe Brown (Lucas Burch) has relations with a woman and is the father of her child; however, instead of accepting responsibility for his actions, he runs away and changes his name. The main difference between these two characters is courage, or even identity. Joe Christmas does not fully know who he is, so he thinks that he has nothing to lose. Burch still wants to keep a strong reputation, which he cannot maintain, and be accepted by his community.
The debate about race is one of the most recurring themes in Faulkner’s Light in August. He creates Joe Christmas as the man who represents both sides of the battle; due to his background, he is not accepted by either community. In the end, it could be his isolation from society that primarily leads to his violent nature. After all, it is human nature to seek human contact and communication; if one is not able to have communication with other beings, it can drive one to insanity. Christmas manages to keep his sanity, but only through his ability to overlook the seriousness of the actions that he has committed. He has always been an outcast and, like everyone else in society, only wishes to fit in with the crowd.
No comments:
Post a Comment