Joe Christmas has to be one of my favorite characters in any Faulkner novel right now. Christmas has so many character qualities that I don't even know where to begin. Faulkner presents us with a multifaceted protagonist that has plenty to offer. It doesn't matter how much you extract from Christmas because I think there will always be something missing. Needless to say, I can't wait for the discussion.
What I find interesting about Joe Christmas is his placement in the novel. Christmas is going through the worst possible conundrum, for he is not quite white, or black. This leaves him in a constant limbo, and alienated from two different communities who do not accept him. Racially, Joe Christmas is ahead of his time, a time that condemns the person that he is. In a way, Yoknawpatawpha County and Jefferson, Mississippi are the two worst places for Christmas to live in. This predicament only contributes to his misanthropic tendencies, and brooding qualities, that stem from his lack of identity. Not only is he mixed, but he is a bastard child with no origin.
Faulkner initially presents Joe Christmas as a character just looking for his way to thrive in such a harsh environment, and the reader may or may not be empathetic for him. As the novel develops, we see Christmas' true colors. His nature is partly fueled by his struggle, but primarily due to the violence that characterized his life. By the end of the novel, there is no possible way that you can feel sorry for Christmas. Although some characters that he inflicts harm on are conflicted, Christmas is mostly apathetic to human life, because said humans never gave him a real chance. What Christmas doesn't know though, is that he eliminated the people that symbolized his way out, the good path. He does the damage to himself, and as you finish the novel, you can conclude that Faulkner created a monster for a monstrous setting like Yoknapatawpha County, a place in which we rarely see any good.
Light in August, compared to the other novels, explores racism thoroughly. Granted, racism is present in every novel because they all take place in the American South. However, racism as a major theme, had not been explored by Faulkner yet. I was marveled at Faulkner's impeccable presentation of racism in the early 30's is polished, and too informed. Faulkner does not really assume a white man's perspective, even though he is a white author, from a good background. Rather, his style lacks bias, and to me, is devoid intentional racism or disdain for African Americans. If Faulkner penned a novel about Amazonian Indians, he could definitely pull it off.
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This is an interesting concept, Faulkner creating a monster. It's similar, or at least reminds me, to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Maybe we can go deeper and consider the novel itself to be Faulkner's monster, just as Mary Shelley considered her own novel to be a monster as well. Also, is it possible that Joe Christmas might have been shaped into a monster not just because of Faulkner deciding for his character develop in this way, but because of the reactions of every single character, especially those that affected his early life?
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