Light In August Contrasting Passages

Jeremy Keeshin Light in August Contrasting Passages His turn came. He entered the shed. It was dark. At once he was overcome by a terrible haste. There was something in his trying to get out, like when he had used to think of toothpaste. But he could not move at once, standing there, smelling the woman smelling the negro all at once; enclosed by the womanshenegro and the haste, driven, having to wait until she spoke: a guiding sound that was no particular word and completely unaware. Then it seemed to him that he could see her—something, prone, abject; her eyes perhaps. Leaning, he seemed to look down into a black well and at the bottom saw two glints like reflections of dead stars. He was moving because his foot touched her. Then it touched her again because he kicked her. He kicked her hard, kicking into and through a choked wail of surprise and fear. She began to scream, he jerking her up, clutching her by the arm, hitting at her with wide, wild blows, striking at the voice perhaps, feeling her flesh anyway, enclosed by the womanshenegro and the haste (Faulkner 156-157). Again his direction is straight as a surveyor’s line, disregarding hill and valley and bog. Yet he is not hurrying. He is like a man who knows where he is and where he wants to go and how much time to the exact minute he has to get there in. It is as thought he desires to see his native earth in all its phases for the first or the last time. He had grown to manhood in the country, where like the unswimming sailor his physical shape and his thought had been molded by its compulsions without his learning anything about its actual shape and feel. For a week now he has lurked and crept among its secret places, yet he remained a foreigner to the very immutable laws which earth must obey. For some time as he walks steadily on, he thinks that this is what it is—the looking and seeing—which gives him peace and unhaste and quiet, until suddenly the true answer comes to him. He feels dry and light. ‘I don’t have to bother about having to eat anymore,’he thinks. ‘That’s what it is’ (338). These two selected passages from William Faulkner’s Light in August demonstrate a stark contrast and progression in the character of Joe Christmas. The first passage is taken from early on in the novel during Joe’s childhood when he violently beats up a girl in a shed instead of having sex with her like he was expected to do. In the second passage Joe is wandering away after the murder of Joanna Burden and becomes content with himself. These two contrasting images of Joe Christmas demonstrate that his character has progressed in the sense that he has been able to slowly come to terms with his violence, and he is beginning to reconcile his past and accept his actions. Joe Christmas has changed from a character whose violence and visceral actions have turned into one of thought and consideration. Faulkner uses specific diction to characterize

Jeremy Keeshin Christmas in each of the passages. In the first passage he describes Joe’s actions by repeating the word “haste” and “kicking” (156). Then in the second passage he uses calmer words such as “not hurrying” and “peace, unhaste, and quiet” to show how Joe is acting (338). Joe was the man who earlier in the novel, beat his girlfriend, killed his foster dad, killed his mistress, and beat up his friend. This is the same character that, now, “knows where he is and where he wants to go and how much time to the exact minute he has to get there in” (338). He was previously a man who lacked but yearned for order. Now he is a man who has lost everything, but found order. This complete transformation of character reveals that a drastic change has come about with Joe. Earlier he was a man who when he was confused resorted to violence, but he has become a man who has learned from his mistakes and can find peace in becoming content with himself. Joe’s younger character of sudden outbursts and outrages has turned into a character of greater composure and thoughtfulness. He was the same boy who, “with his hands ate, like a savage, like a dog” (155), but now he is “no longer hungry” (334). This change from aggressive savage to calm-no-longer-hungry person is immense. The concept of hunger that he has lost is not physical, but mental. He still needs to eat, but he has finally overcome the mental barrier of being constantly hungry and needing to capture food. Food, which once was a fight for him, is no longer of importance. He has grown from searching solely for material things through aggression to searching for peace and contentment. Joe Christmas has grown to become a more thoughtful person, and this has made a large contribution to the novel. Whereas, earlier he was solely a troublemaker, his new content nature lends for him to take a different turn in the novel. He was the violent and aggressive independent, but now he is the expiated thinker. He has found self-awareness, and has come to terms with his

Jeremy Keeshin past actions, and these are the first steps for his redemption. He was a character of a difficult past, but his growth keeps him open for a more optimistic future.