Burden: The Name Says it All in Faulkners Light in August :: Light August Essays

centre The Name Says it All in Light in fearful Expecting parents put so much thought, time, and energy into the choosing of a soma for their baby. They turn to family trees and dictionaries of observes to help in their important decision. In galore(postnominal) ways, a childs name can determine who they leave behind become and what soft of person they will be. Then there is the last name. Its automatic no one has a choice in it. The last name maybe has more of an impact on determining who a person will become, because the last name carries generations of ideals, memories, and pride. William Faulkner chose genuinely significant last names for the characters in the novel Light in August (1932). Light in August is a story about Joe Christmas, a man shunned from society because of his manageable black heritage. The novel describes parts of his youth with a very grim and religious adopted family, his struggle with himself, and his life in Jefferson, Mississippi. There he bec omes involved with and eventually murders Joanna Burden, a so-called nigger lover. Joanna is a very odd woman with a rather unusual past. Her last name represents generations of self-imposed struggle and despair. Faulkner gave her and her family the last name of Burden to further illustrate, explain, and qualify Joanna and her nature. Joanna is first mentioned in Chapter Two by a townsman-type narrator as, a woman of middleage. She has lived in the house since she was born, yet she is still a stranger, a foreigner whose people moved in from the North during Reconstruction. A Yankee, a lover of negroes, about whom in the town there is still talking of queer relations with negroes in the town (33). It is clearly evident that Joanna Burden has no sense of community with the townsmen, nor they with her. In fact, in regards to the fire at her home, one man says, My pappy says he can remember how fifty geezerhood ago sept said it ought to be burned, and with a little piece fat meat t o start it good (35). Furthermore, another character elaborates by saying, They say she is still mixed up with niggers. Visits them when they are sick, like they was white. . . . common people say she claims that niggers are the same as white folks. Thats why folks dont never go out there (38).