Ghosts, Phantoms, and Voices of the Past
The three characters in the novel who are the most pre-occupied with the past are also the ones who seem to experience ghostly presences: Hightower refers to himself as growing up "among phantoms,...
The Street and The Road
The novel begins and ends on the road, and we see dozens of them in between. Interestingly, the street takes on two distinct meanings in the novel. For Joe Christmas, the street functions as a seri...
The Sheep
Christmas's murder of the sheep in his neighbor's field has at least two meanings (of course, in literature, there is always room for more!). First, the killing foreshadows the murder of Miss Burde...