Hey Joe

Joe Christmas is an interesting character in the novel. At first, my reaction was that of the townspeople who thought he was a funny foreigner. He seemed a bit sketchy to me at first, but as the novel progressed I tended to favor his character over the others in the novel. In the beginning it was difficult to understand why he was the way he is,but then we get a flashback of his childhood which shows us that he is of "negro blood" and had an awful crazy Christian bible quoting father who would beat him for not knowing his catechism. I ultimately felt sorry for Joe. He was clearly in search of acceptance and belonging, but was never truly successful in finding this. Joe is a battered and tortured soul.

Faulkner clearly has issues with the Christian way of life, maybe more so, the Southern Christian way of life. Perhaps in his own life, he found it to be stressful and full of hypocrisy. His writings are his way of expressing his anger. Also, in terms of anger, Faulkner has a hatred for women, and it's hard to understand why.....

I must say that A Light in August was a decent read, maybe better than Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. It was easy to follow and understand. If there was a point to the story(which is diffficult to find in a lot of Faulkner's work), I guess it would be the road to self-identity and acceptance.

On another note, I'm not sure why, but Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix came to mind when I read this story,especially Joe Christmas' character.