2 SAMPLE RESPONSE PAPERS FOR LIGHT IN AUGUST

Although she is barefoot and pregnant throughout most of the book, Faulkner’s depiction of Lena in a Light in August is not sexist. However, his character’s attitudes towards the girl are. Each in turn looks upon the girl with scorn. As Armstid does thinking, “you just let one of them get married, or get into trouble without being married, and right then and there she secedes from the woman race and species and spends the balance of her life trying to get joined up with the man race.” This attitude is not limited to the men. Although with the women, their disdain seems to be for the girl’s unashamed demeanor and reluctance to accept that a man has tricked her. Martha gives her all of her egg money, pitying the girl but wanting to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Faulkner depicts Lena as a strong-minded girl who accepts whatever fate befalls her. At 12, she ungrudgingly takes care of her father and later her brother’s family because that is what is expected of her as 1) a female and 2) an orphan. If you compare her life with her brother to Joe Christmas’s time at the McEachern’s, the two have similar lives of toil, only Lena had children to help rear and Joe lived on a farm. Comparing the dialogue and actions of the other characters in the book with Lena’s reveals an equality of stubbornness, intelligence and thoughtfulness. Lena is depicted as serene, hopeful, determined and ultimately trusting. Not content to sit and wait, Lena goes in search of the father of her child. She accepts rides with gratitude, but we get the impression that she would walk the whole way unassisted if necessary. Lena is not depicted as inferior to men, only less fortunate and once she decides to get out of the kitchen and on the road it seems unlikely that she will be returning anytime soon.

I do not think the portrayal of Lena is sexist beyond the sexism the other characters exhibit towards her. In other words, Lena exists in a sexist world, but I think Faulkner’s representation is anything but. Lena is playing the role of the innocent girl who believes Burch is waiting for her. But I believe she is aware of the fact that he just ran away from her. The evidence for this is in the way she seems to avoid eye contact every time she tells the story. There is great emphasis on how she plays with her hands and such as she tells her story.

Why would Lena play this role, then? Because she knows that she will get some level of sympathy as an innocent, whereas if she were to demonstrate a total awareness of her situation, she would just be considered a whore who should have known better. She knows how to play off the sexism in her environment, and is therefore empowered by Faulkner.

The question then is: what does she hope to accomplish by actually seeking out Burch, if she knows he wants nothing to do with her? Again, I believe by playing the innocent, she can’t lose. Either Burch will be forced to marry her and take care of her, or if he does reject her, having told enough people about her situation along the way while playing dumb, they will now take pity on her. Also, there is a certain level of revenge on her part. If Burch does reject her again, he’ll have to run away to yet another town. He’ll never be able to settle down anywhere, which is what he has put her through as well.