Light in August (1932) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Byron Bunch: A mill worker in Jefferson and the man who is initially misidentified to Lena as Lucas Burch, the father of her baby. In his thirties, hardworking, and devout, Bunch leads a quietly regimented life.
• Joe Brown (a.k.a. Lucas Burch): A gambler, bootlegger, and con artist. Young and tall, with a distinctive white scar beside his mouth, Joe Brown first appears in dirty overalls in search of work at the mill. Lazy, yet alert to any situation he can turn to his advantage, Joe moves in a confident swagger but has the tendency to jerk his head to the side and to look periodically over his shoulder.
• Reverend Gail Hightower: A defrocked minister in Jefferson. Tall, overweight, with skin the color of “flour sacking,” Hightower was once the minister of one of the town’s major churches. He sought the post because his grandfather, a Confederate cavalryman, was gunned down in Jefferson while stealing chickens. Described as a “fifty-year-old outcast,” he was forced to step down after his promiscuous wife died in a fall from a hotel window in Memphis.
• Mrs. Mceachern: Add a description of this character.
• Joe Christmas: The novel’s protagonist, also known as Joe Hines or Joe McEachern. In his first appearance in the novel, Joe is a young man in his early thirties, dressed in creased serge trousers, a soiled white shirt and tie, and a stiff-brimmed straw hat. A wanderer, he has a rootless, overly independent quality to him that others frequently misinterpret as ruthlessness, loneliness, or pride. Biracial, he is often mistaken for—and “passes” for—a white man.
• Mr. Hines (a.k.a. Uncle Doc): Joe Christmas’s biological grandfather. Uncle Doc is an unkempt, angry, and spiteful man whose violence and extreme behavior have landed him in jail more than once. Infamous for his crazed ravings, he uses his religious fundamentalism to justify his implicit belief in white superiority.
• Jefferson
• Grimm
• Mooney
• Lena Grove: A pregnant teenager from Alabama. Orphaned at twelve, Lena comes to Jefferson on foot and by hitching rides on wagons along the way from her home outside Doane’s Mills.
• Max
• Calvin
• Mrs Armstid
• Lucas Burch: See Joe Brown.
• Roz
• Winterbottom
• Bobbie
• Stevens
• Varner
• Milly
• Metcalf
• Martha
• Joe Christmas: Biracial orphan raised in the south when racism was alive and strong; Lived his whole life as a rebellious misfit. Clearly he was a product of the ignorance of his time.
• Nathaniel
• Mottstown
• Jezebel
• Brother Bedenberry

Quotes edit see section history

• “"Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders."”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Memphis
• Alabama
• New England
• Mississippi
• Tennessee

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. William Faulkner (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Noel Polk (Editor)
2. Joseph Blotner - Notes
3. Dick Hill (Reader)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3511.A86 1932
• Dewey: 813.52

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › Classics › Faulkner, William
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › 20th Century
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( F ) › Faulkner, William
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics