Light in August, Ch. 17-18

1. ludicrous (page 398) : amusing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration, or eccentricity.

2. In this section Lena is about to have her baby and Byron asks Hightower to assist Lena in labor. By the time that they arrive to the cabin, the baby is already being held by Mrs. Hines. Mrs. Hines is very confused and she mistakes Lena for her daughter Milly, and the baby is Joe Christmas as an infant. Byron realizes that he must tell Joe Brown everything that has happened, and Hightower decides to walk home, make breakfast and read when he dozes off. When he wakes up he decides to go to the cabin where he finds Lena alone with her baby. Hightower tells Lena that Byron has arranged for Brown to be released from jail for a day to see his newborn son. Hightower leaves the cabin to go to the mill, where he discovers that Byron has quit his job and he is probably at the courthouse. As promised by Hightower, Byron has arranged for Brown to see his son that evening. Byron watches as Brown is taken to the cabin and then packs his things to go start a new life. However, as he is leaving he turns to look at the cabin where he sees Brown running from the cabin to the woods and he heads back to the cabin. Then it switches to Brown's point of view and he reveals that he was scared and shocked at the sight of his child. He tells Lena that he sent money to her, but that he should have known better because the man he sent it through was shady. Brown leaps out the window, and leaves a man a note to give the sheriff about the reward money. Byron and Brown meet only to end up fighting, and after the fight Brown jumps on a train to town and a man passing by reveals to Byron that Christmas has been killed.

3. I mentioned briefly in one of the class blogs about how I find it very interesting that Lena's son does not have a name. In this novel, Faulkner has deliberately chosen the names for his characters. So then I was thinking that there must be a reason why he has not named Lena's child. Some characters such as Joanna Burden and Joe Christmas were hindered by their names or in Joe's case the lack of a name. The name Joanna Burden was chosen for the burden of her past and the duty that her family placed upon her to equalize blacks and whites. Joe Christmas has never really had a name or a true identity, and throughout the novel he struggles to figure out who he is which ultimately leads to his death. So perhaps Faulkner intentionally did not name the baby in order to give him a clean slate.

4. a) Is the scene where Brown leaps out the window after realizing the reality that he has a child Faulkner's way of posing a gender stereotype against men?

b) Is there a reason why Faulkner chose the names Byron Bunch or Joe Brown?

c) Prior to being the suspect for murder, most of the people in the community never paid any attention to Joe Christmas, but the second he is wanted for murder he is the talk of the town. Is this Faulkner's way of saying that community thrives on the drama?