Light in August Themes
Race
The legacies of slavery and racism are central to Light in August. Joe Christmas spends his life haunted by his blackness, the status of which is never actually confirmed in the novel. The book sug...
Memory and the Past
Several characters in Light in August are haunted by history. Joanna Burden carries this in her name, as her family history is a burden that keeps her from ever being able to move out from under th...
Fate and Free Will
Characters in Light in August are distinguished from one another through how they perceive their free will. Christmas struggles with these concepts throughout the book, constantly referring to warr...
Society and Class
In a small town like Jefferson, everyone's up in everyone else's business, which makes privacy difficult. The town is also extremely judgmental, and Light in August is set in 1920s America, so thin...
Religion
Like other Faulkner novels, Light in August is kind of hard on religion. McEachern's strict Calvinistic beliefs leave no room for joy or fun, and seem to stifle individuality. The supposed gatekeep...
Foreignness and 'the Other'
Joe Christmas is like a litmus test for racial attitudes in Light in August. Some characters, like Joanna Burden, find themselves attracted to his difference, going so far as to turn it into a kink...
Gender
Women in Light in August tend to be meek and relatively powerless, living in the shadows of their husbands. That said, the women in the novel are also generally more kind and caring characters than...