The Burden of the Past in 'Light in August' by William Faulkner

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,2, University of Stuttgart, language: English, abstract: As almost in all of William Faulkner's novels in 'Light in August' the past determines the present like nothing else in the whole story. Although the book is considered as primarily Christmas' story it is noticeable that the story of Christmas life from adolescence to his present age of thirty-three just takes a few pages in the whole novel. Therefore it is likely that another point in the novel is far more important than simply the story of Christmas' life: the past that determines the present and burdens its owners. The novel also explores issues of gender and race specifically, but these particular thematic currents intersect to become part of Faulkner's larger inquiry concerning the nature of identity and how it is influenced by ones' own history. The past is one of the most important facts in the whole story for half of the book is written in flashbacks, while the story itself seems to take just a small part from the whole large part. To understand Faulkner's characters actions in the present it is necessary to understand and know their history in the past, which determines their present greatly. Although the novel explores the issues of gender and race specifically, these particular thematic actions are part of Faulkner's larger, more all-encompassing inquiry concerning the nature of identity and how it is influenced by a families history, the society and individual lives of the protagonists. But not only the actions of the main protagonist Joe Christmas, are caused by the events in his past. Altogether there are three of Faulkner's protagonists in 'Light in August' which are prominent examples for how the past of a person can determine their actions in the present or their whole life in general. This three are for one Joe Christmas, whose troubled past determines his actions and his self-consciousness, Joanna Burden, who is namely affected by her ancestors religious beliefs and Gail Hightower, who is also affected by his ancestors history, but instead of Joanna not by religion, but the civil war. The townsfolk of Jefferson has resolved a acceptance of Reverend Hightower, Joanna Burden, and Joe Christmas, but each of these characters deliberately resists or abandons the distorting influence of a rigid social and moral order. They live their lives in solidarity because of the past, their ancestors left them as heritage and burden. [...]