Light in August, Ch. 9-10

1. pandemonium (page 204): the infernal regions; hell.



2. One day Mr. McEachern realizes that the suit that Joe bought has been worn, which leads him to believe that Joe has been sneaking out. So he follows Joe and ends up at the dance that he went to with Bobbie. McEachern beats Joe, and Joe smashes a chair on him and killing him. Christmas rides McEachern's horse back to the house and takes what is left of the money Mrs. McEachern had been saving. He then rides the horse to Max and Mame's house where Bobbie is packed and ready to leave. A strange man is at the house also, and he asks Joe if he thinks that he really killed his father. Bobbie is angry at Joe for putting her in this situation and compromising her business. He takes the stolen money and gives it to Bobbie as a proposal of marriage, she declines angrily and the men beat Joe, until Mame stops it. Joe eventually wakes up from unconsciousness and flees from town. He then works wherever he can find a job and has a habit of sleeping with prostitutes and making efforts to not pay for it. Soon he ends up in the town of Jefferson where he learns of Joanna Burden's land and decides to break into the kitchen to get something to eat. He is caught by Joanna, but instead of getting angry at him she tells him that it is okay to finish eating.



3. When I was reading this section I was reminded of the nature vs. nurture concept that I learned about in psychology. Is Faulkner trying to suggest that Joe Christmas' violent nature is due to his upbringing by Mr. McEachern or merely a result of living in the South at the time when blacks were treated so poorly? Mr. McEachern never hesitated to beat his adopted son whenever he saw fit, so therefore did Joe learn to result to violence when he felt threatened by watching McEachern? Also, he is very skittish around women, although I do not think that it is due to nurture. I think it all goes back to when he was a young child and he got caught in the closet by the dietician and he was expecting to get in trouble for stealing, but instead she rewards him. This confused him and lead to his belief that women are confusing and unpredictable, which scares him. Later on in his life when Mrs. McEachern brings him food, he tosses it to the ground thinking that everything that women do is evil, and has the intent to make him cry.

4. a) I know that Christmas is one of the main characters in the novel, but why does Faulkner choose to talk about him, and his past for several chapters?

b) Is Christmas a religious man? I know that he refuses to read the catechism when McEachern asks him to, is that him refusing religion or refusing his adoptive father?

c) Is Joe attracted to Bobbie because she is somewhat masculine, and not the stereotypical woman that he is skittish around?