Disjointed Characters of Faulkner's Light in August

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Disjointed Characters of A Light in August

In the novel, A Light in August, William Faulkner introduces us to a wide range of characters of various backgrounds and personalities. Common to all of them is the fact that each is type cast into a certain role in the novel and in society. Lena is the poor, white trash southern girl who serves to weave the story together. Hightower is the fanatic preacher who is the dark, shameful secret of Jefferson. Joanna Burden is the middle-aged maiden from the north who is often accused of being a “nigger-lover”. And Joe Christmas is the epitome of an outsider. None of them are conventional, everyday people. They are all in some way disjointed from society; they do not fit in with the crowd. That is what makes them intriguing and that is why Faulkner documents their story.

Percy Grimm is another such character and he plays a vital role in the novel. He is the one to finally terminate Joe Christmas, who has been suffering his entire life. Grimm is the enforcer, the one man who will uphold American pride at all costs. He also stands for everything in the world that has held Christmas back. He is the prototype of the ruthless enemy who is the source of all of Christmas¹ struggles. And Christmas can never escape him. He can run, as he has been doing all his life and as he does in his desperate attempt to escape. But he can never hide, as he tries to do at Hightower¹s and as he has been hiding his true self from the world he hates so much. Percy Grimm represents the unmerciful society that has restrained and persecuted Joe Christmas; it is only fitting that he should be the one to finally bring him down in the end. Percy Grimm was born into the American south and grew up to be a ...

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...anage after he has sabotaged his existence there. He kills McEachern and runs away from home. He gets beaten and robbed on his final night with Bobbie. And he finally snaps and kills Joanna Burden and runs away for the last time. As he runs through the woods during his final few moments on earth, he is relentlessly chased by Percy Grimm, his enemy and torturer. In one last desperate attempt to escape, he hides at Hightower¹s and is subsequently discovered and executed without mercy. But by this time, he is at peace with himself, knowing that he will no longer be forced to run and hide from anything. The society that holds him with such disdain has finally won their eternal battle. But he just does not care anymore. Joe Christmas surrenders to Percy Grimm with apathetic contentment.

Works Cited:

Faulkner, William. Light in August. 1932. New York: Vintage, 1987.

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