Working-Class Elements in A Middle-Class Writer: William Faulkner
Chiara Bucaria
English 6923: Working Class Literature
Fall 2003
1
Introduction
Commenting on Faulkner’s death, The New York Times
(July 7, 1962) stressed that "Mr. Faulkner's writings
showed an obsession with murder, rape, incest, suicide,
greed and general depravity that did not exist anywhere but
in the author's mind." This sentence well summarizes most
critics’ reception of the writer’s works when they were first
published. Although both literary critics and general public
have subsequently come to appreciate the importance of the
author’s works and their audacity in terms of both form and
content, not many have succeeded in analyzing Faulkner’s
literary production in terms of the equally prominent
working-class aspects that it clearly contains. Failure to
appreciate Faulkner’s prominence in the working-class
literature panorama is probably due in part to the writer’s
family background, which could hardly be considered
working-class, in terms of both economic opportunities,
and of the general cultural milieu by which the author was
surrounded growing up. If anything, Faulkner’s background
was more middle-class than working-class. Nevertheless, it
is interesting to notice how this writer achieved literary
fame thanks to his portrayals of lower- and working-class
people from the rural South of the United States, and how
working-class themes are evident throughout his works.
Particularly in what is known as his Yoknapatawpha cycle,
that includes such novels as Sartoris (1929, later reissued
as Flags in the Dust), The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I
Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), and Absalom!
Absalom! (1936), Faulkner describes the lives of lowerclass outcasts and farm laborers, which are often
characterized by the general lack of economic stability and
social status. Other themes are the close but often
problematic family relationships, the characters’
predisposition to be subjected to discrimination and
injustice on behalf of the higher social classes, and the
intersection of these aspects with other elements such as
gender and sexuality. It is reasonable to hypothesize that
Faulkner’s focus on these themes and on this kind of
2
characters came, among other things, from his being
directly exposed to the culture of the South at the turn of
the century, and from his direct experience of economic
hardship at the beginning of his literary career. The
following section will address some the most evident
working-class aspects in Faulkner’s production, in an
attempt to show how a stress on the writer’s working-class
sensitivity could contribute to a better understanding of his
works.
Discussion of author's work
In the above-mentioned imaginary Southern Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, where
many of Faulkner’s works are set, the author creates a microcosm of recurring characters and
families (the Sutpens, the Snopes, the Bundrens, etc.) who come together to form a
community that gives unity to Faulkner’s production over many years. The prominence of
community and family in Faulkner’s works is probably a reflection of the importance that
family relationships had for the writer when he was growing up. He came from a very united
family that lived in the shadow of the great Civil War Colonel William Falkner, Faulkner’s
grandfather. Both the closeness of these relationships and the inevitable tensions that almost
certainly were present in the family because of the constant comparison with the beloved
grandfather are reflected in the way the writer describes the interplay between the individual
and community and family. In a sense, it could be argued that in some of Faulkner’s works
family is actually the most important form of community. Even if Yoknapatawpha County
clearly provides unity to the action of these works, the people who inhabit it differ in their
socio-economic background. Within the family, on the other hand, the lower-class characters
seem to find their real dimension, some sort of common ground or homogeneity that is not
available to them in the larger, small-town community. This sense of belonging makes them
similar in their being different, brings them together, even though this does not mean that
their family relationships are perfect. If we consider the Bundren family in As I Lay Dying,
for example, we can see how far they are from being perfect, and how their jealousies and pat
traumas make them dysfunctional from many points of view. Yet, they manage to go through
hardship united, for example at the time of the loss of their mother and during the family’s
subsequent hazardous journey to Jefferson. This duality of family relationships, which are at
the same time inevitable and dramatically difficult, shows similarities with the works of other
working-class authors and exemplifies the focus on smaller communities rather than on
single individuals that characterizes much working-class literature.
3
The tensions between the individual and society, of which Faulkner certainly had direct
experience, often take the form of discrimination toward the outcasts and their families, when
they have one. Given their lack of social status and economic stability, many Faulknerian
characters appear to be at the mercy not only of their own poverty and of external conditions,
such as the forces of nature that threaten the lives of the Bundrens during their journey in As I
Lay Dying, but, also, of the behavior of people belonging to higher social classes. In other
words, when the outcasts go into society they almost always have to face some sort of class
conflict. In the incident of the cakes, at the very beginning of As I Lay Dying, for instance,
one cannot help but noticing Cora and Kate’s disappointment when the lady that was
supposed to buy Cora’s cakes suddenly fails to do so, thus frustrating her attempt to earn
some extra money. The incident is just one of the many instances that show how in
Faulkner’s universe richer people are often allowed some sort of freedom and power over
lower-class people, who, in turn, cannot but comply with what others decide for them.
As noted above, the issues of class conflict and social injustice are often intertwined with the
aspects of gender and sexuality. Examples of Faulkner’s focus on issues of social disparity in
connection with gender and sexuality range from simple hints to more complex situations
where the interaction of these aspects is more prominent. Two examples of the latter kind
involve two female figures, Dewey Dell Bundren in As I Lay Dying and Lena Grove in Light
in August. They are poor, white, pregnant teenagers who are in some way abused, partly
because of the way their sexuality interacts with their social status. In the first case, the
Bundrens’ pregnant and unmarried daughter, Dewey Dell, is sexually abused by the
pharmacist who is supposed to help her get an abortion. The pharmacist finds himself in a
position of power in comparison to a young lower-class girl who desperately needs his help.
Moreover, as a pregnant, unmarried teenager, her illicit sexuality contributes to lower her
social status and provides grounds for the injustice, which in this case takes the form of
sexual harassment. Lena Grove, too, is a young, visibly pregnant girl who is traveling from
Alabama to Jefferson, Mississippi, in an attempt to find the father of her child. In this case,
too, the girl’s pregnancy, as a clear sign of her sexuality, brings her status further down in the
eyes of the rural community of Jefferson. Especially the women in the community feel
morally superior to Lena, who scandalously got pregnant out of wedlock. On the other hand,
it is Mr. Armstid, a man, who first offers help to the girl by bringing her home to his not
exactly welcoming wife. Specifically, the women’s moral judgment of Lena’s situation and
the power they have over helping her or not shows how some sort of social power may be
exercised not only on behalf of one sex on the other, but also among people of the same sex
and even within the same social class.
Both instances show how Faulkner was particularly concerned with the way in which social
and economic power interact with gender and sexuality, a recurring subject in working class
4
literature. Also, the example from Light in August hints at the fact that the author was aware
of how the interplay of these elements carries even deeper nuances than one would expect.
This, in turn, shows that Faulkner’s successful portrayal of lower-class characters is rooted in
his sensitivity toward these topics and his careful observation of social dynamics. It should
then be clear from these and other examples made above that a more in depth analysis of
Faulkner’s production in terms of working-class themes cannot but improve the readers’
understanding of his fictional universe.
5
Light in August - Themes
/1. RACISM
The Southern concern with racial identity is one of Light in August's central
themes. When people think that Joe Christmas has even a trace of black ancestry,
they treat him completely differently from the way they treat white people. Many
of the characters in Light in August seem twisted by their preoccupation with race.
Joe Christmas, Joanna Burden, Nathaniel Burden, Doc Hines, and, ultimately,
Percy Grimm are among these. But even many of the characters who don't share
this mania assume that treating blacks inhumanly is acceptable. The Jefferson
sheriff, Watt Kennedy, seems a decent man, yet he whips a randomly chosen black
in an interrogation that was unnecessary in the first place.
2. THE SOUTHERN PAST
Two of Light in August's five major characters live in the shadow of their dead
ancestors. But you could interpret their relation to these forebears in different
ways. On the one hand, you could point to a pattern of decline and say that the
present doesn't live up to the heroic days of yesteryear. On the other hand, you
could say that the problems of the present come from a failure to shake off the
burdensome grip of the past. Here is how you could argue each point of view.
a. The Heroic Past
Gail Hightower's grandfather was a robust lover of life, and his father was a helper
of his fellow human beings. But Hightower fails both his wife and his congregation
and spends the rest of his life cut off from other people.
Though Joanna Burden's forefathers were not originally from the South, their
emigration to Jefferson makes them part of the Souths history too. And like Gail
Hightower, Joanna compares badly to both her father and grandfather. They were
rebellious wanderers and vigorous family men. She spends most of her time in her
house, feels homesick whenever she leaves Jefferson, and never marries or has
children.
6
b. The Burdensome Past
Gail Hightower's problems stem from his obsession with his grandfather, who was
not even worth this worship. After all, he died stealing chickens. Likewise, Joanna
Burden is the victim of the stern religion and patronizing racism that her father
taught her and that he learned from his father before him. Interestingly, the freest
character in the novel may be Lena Grove, who seems to live entirely in the
present.
3. CHRISTIANITY
Light in August seems to indict a harsh and punitive strain in Christianity, from the
orthodox Calvinism of Simon McEachern to the ravings of Doc Hines and the
unusual religious amalgam preached by Calvin Burden. In much of Light in
August, the Christian religion is self-righteous and vindictive, and even racist and
misogynist (antiwoman). Do you yourself know people whose religious views
become an excuse for their personal prejudices?
But you could argue that Faulkner counterposes these distorted forms of religion to
a more genuine religiosity. Gail Hightower's minister father refuses to own slaves
and works as a doctor after the Civil War. Is Byron Bunch's Sunday choir an
indication of his underlying piety or only one of his empty routines? Does the
Reverend Gail Hightower retain any religious faith and, if so, is this faith
responsible for whatever compassion he still shows?
Light in August also features much Christian symbolism. Does this symbolism
suggest that Faulkner wants the Joe Christmas story to convey a Christian
message? Or, on the other hand, is this juxtaposition of Christian symbolism with
the life of a violent man meant to be one additional way of criticizing Christianity?
Most readers think that the Christian symbolism emphasizes Joe's suffering and
sacrifice without necessarily conveying a specifically religious message.
4. COMMUNITY
a. Community as Conformity
7
One way of interpreting characters like Joe Christmas, Joanna Burden, and Gail
Hightower is as scapegoats. You could argue that the town of Jefferson punishes
them for not conforming. Joe Christmas obeys neither the accepted code of
behavior for whites nor the one for blacks. Joanna Burden acts like a Northerner by
associating with and trying to help blacks. And Gail Hightower is unable to
restrain his wife from behaving sinfully. Consequently the community has to
punish them in order to reconfirm its own self-image as properly white, Southern,
and Protestant.
b. Community vs. Isolation
But you could also argue that Faulkner is showing the perils of isolation from the
community. All three of these characters seem warped. None tries to integrate into
the community, so is their exclusion the community's fault? Moreover, Jefferson
ultimately accepts Hightower; it never does anything worse to Joanna than ignore
her; and it accepts Joe Christmas until he kills someone. And Joe Christmas's
ultimate executioner is another outsider.
When you think about this theme, consider whether you yourself have ever felt
torn between the perils of isolation and the danger of submerging your
individuality in a group.
5. MALE-FEMALE RELATIONS
Joe Christmas is hostile to women. Lucas Burch flees women. Until Lena's arrival,
Byron Bunch lives alone and tries to organize his life in such a way that he will
continue living alone. Gail Hightower drives his wife to suicide. Joanna Burden
never marries. But Faulkner doesn't contrast the solitary lives of these troubled
characters with any happy, "normal" love relationships until his last chapter.
Certainly the Hines and McEachern marriages are miserable, and the Armstids
hardly seem loving. Even when Byron Bunch finally goes off with Lena Grove in
what might have been a happy, romantic ending, she doesn't let him into her bed.
Nonetheless, the relationship of the anonymous furniture dealer and his wife seems
to suggest the possibility of happier love matches.
8
6. IDENTITY
Joe Christmas doesn't know who he is. His uncertain racial identity affects every
aspect of his life. Sometimes he claims to be white, sometimes black, but he rebels
against both categories. Christmas roams the North and the South, the cities and
the countryside, without ever settling into a fixed abode or a long-lasting human
relationship. By contrast, Lena Grove never doubts her identity. Even when
wandering alone among strangers, she is confident of her purpose, her destination,
and even of her relationship with the shiftless Lucas Burch. She reveals a moment
of doubt only when old Mrs. Hines confuses Lena's baby with Joe Christmas. Gail
Hightower and Joanna Burden are neither as sure of their identities as Lena, nor as
doubtful as Joe. Joanna is a Northern abolitionist who feels homesick whenever
she leaves Jefferson, Mississippi. For two years she is cool and rational by day,
while wildly passionate by night. Then she veers from the extremes of sensuality to
those of self-denial. Hightower wants to do good in the world, while he also wants
to ignore the world and to live in solitude. He lives in the past but often seems
acutely concerned about the events of the present.
7. OTHER THEMES
Light in August has a number of subsidiary themes. Faulkner contrasts the
characters' different attitudes to time: Hightower's life is frozen in the past, while
Lena lives only in the present. Nature is an issue in the novel: the planing mills are
gradually destroying the natural world of forests around them, and different
individuals are defined by their differing attitudes to nature. For example, Lena
Grove is the character most in touch with the natural. Fate seems to play a role in
the lives of characters like Percy Grimm and Joe Christmas. Do any of the
characters control their own destinies? Certainly Byron Bunch seems to take
charge of his own life. Light in August touches on the problem of evil. The novel
portrays widespread bigotry and violence. But Faulkner shows compassion for
many of his evil-doing characters and counterposes them to good people like
Byron Bunch. Martyrdom is another theme. Among the novel's martyrs are Joe
Christmas, Gail Hightower, Joanna Burden, and possibly even Byron Bunch (who
suffers and sacrifices for Lena Grove). And, finally, Light in August is concerned
with the difficulty of establishing communication between people. Joe Christmas,
9
for example, misunderstands the feelings of both Bobbie Allen and Joanna Burden
and is surprised when they turn against him.
10
Criticism
Wendy Perkins
Perkins is a professor of American and English literature and film. In this essay,
she examines the tensions between community and individual in the novel.
Byron Bunch, the inconspicuous mill worker in William Faulkner's Light in
August, becomes the moral conscience of the novel as he observes the townspeople
of Jefferson City and declares, "people everywhere are about the same." Byron not
only offers astute judgments of the citizens of the city; he also notes their harsh,
even brutal treatment of individuals who do not fit into their notions of community.
Revealing his understanding of group dynamics, he insists that for those who live
in a small town like Jefferson "evil is harder to accomplish." As a result, "people
can invent more of it in other people's names. Because that was all it required: that
idea, that single idle word blown from mind to mind." This type of group response
becomes an important agency in Light in August as Faulkner explores the
disastrous effects the community can have on the individual who tries to establish a
sense of independence.
Donald M. Kartiganer, in an article on Faulkner for The Columbia Literary History
of the United States, concludes that in the community of Jefferson, which is the
setting for Light in August as well as that of many of Faulkner's works, "the codes
of honor and courage, the respect for an old frontier individualism, give way to
rules of propriety and a crushing conformity." This conformity, he argues causes "a
fundamental split within Jefferson's social fabric between white and black, group
and individual The violence that inevitably ensues, [claims] its nonconformist
victims." The victims of this intolerance in Light in August are Joe Christmas,
Joanna Burden, and Gail Hightower.
An ideal community could create a sense of wholeness by recognizing and
sustaining each individual's separate identity. Jefferson, however, with its
seemingly inescapable ties to its southern past, is far from that ideal. The tensions
that arise between the individual and the community in this city are the result of
deep-seated racism and Calvinistic righteousness. These factors cause the
townspeople to view those who do not conform to their values and rules as
members of another group, either of blacks or of sinners. The townspeople see Joe
as a black man and a sinner. This otherness convicts the nonconformist, who must
be marginalized and/or punished.
11
Joe's exclusion from the community begins as a result of a combination of racism
and righteousness when his grandfather takes him to the orphanage. Eupheus
Hines's refusal to accept a grandson born out of wedlock and fathered by a darkskinned man initiates a pattern of isolation that Joe is forced to endure for the rest
of his life.
The sense of separation he experiences as an orphan is heightened in the orphanage
where the other children shun and taunt him with racial epithets, believing him to
be of mixed blood. In order to save her reputation after Joe discovers her sexual
indiscretion, Miss Atkins plays on the communal racism when she spreads the
rumor that he is black and thus effectively precipitates his removal from the
orphanage and into the hands of the brutally self-righteous Simon McEachern.
After he kills McEachern and is rejected by Bobbie, Joe tries unsuccessfully to
become a part of white and black communities, but after he arrives in Jefferson, he
appears to have accepted his role as an outsider. Prior to Joanna Burden's murder,
the townspeople regard Joe as a stranger but leave him alone because they assume
he is white and they are put off by his imperious and often menacing demeanor.
After Brown insists that Joe is of mixed race and has killed Joanna, however, their
attitude changes dramatically. The fact that a murder has been committed,
heightened by rumors of the crime of a black man engaging in a sexual relationship
with a white woman and his arrogant disregard of his socially abhorrent behavior,
all convince local people that Joe must be destroyed.
Faulkner illustrates the townspeople's attitude when Joe is captured after walking
in plain sight in the center of Mottstown. The community is appalled that he is "all
dressed up and walking the town like he dared them to touch him, when he ought
to have been skulking and hiding in the woods, muddy and dirty and running." Joe
acts, they argue, "like he never even knew he was a murderer, let alone a n― too."
Jefferson's rampant racism fosters a hatred in Percy Grimm so intense that he feels
justified in castrating the dying Joe.
Joanna Burden, another marginalized citizen of Jefferson, is not the victim of
violent intolerance, but her ancestors were when they stood up for black voting
rights in town. As a result of her grandfather and brother's actions and her own
work with blacks in the area, she has become an outcast. Joanna understands that
the community feared her family's and her own support of black rights would stir
up "the negroes to murder and rape" and threaten "white supremacy." As a result,
they call her "N―lover" in town and refuse to "[allow] their wives to call on her."
Joanna, like Byron, understands group dynamics and so is more generous toward
12
her neighbors, insisting that her father "respect[ed] anybody's love for the land
where he and his people were born and [understood] that a man would have to act
as the land where he was born had trained him to act."
The intensity of their animosity toward Joanna, however, emerges after her murder
when the townspeople swarm to the site of the fire: they "knew, believed, and
hoped that she had been ravished too: at least once before her throat was cut and at
least once afterward." Yet, "even though she had supplied them at last with an
emotional barbecue, a Roman holiday almost, they would never forgive her and let
her be dead in peace and quiet." And so, hearing rumors that a black man had
killed her, "some of them with pistols already in their pockets began to canvass
about for someone to crucify."
Ironically, Joanna's fate is sealed by her own participation in group mentality. Like
the members of her community, she sees blacks not as individuals but as a group.
Influenced by the religious dogma of her ancestors, Joanna regards Joe only as one
of a doomed race and ultimately as a sinner who refuses to kneel down with her
and pray for absolution. As a result of this limited view, and her own belief that
she too has sinned, she tries to kill them both. In a violent reaction to her attempts
to control him, Joe kills her.
In another observation of group dynamics, Byron suggests that often "what folks
tells on other folks aint true to begin with." The town's treatment of Reverend Gail
Hightower proves his point. After Hightower's wife returned from the sanatorium,
the righteous women in Jefferson began to spread disparaging rumors concerning
Hightower's relationship with his wife and "the town believed that the ladies knew
the truth."
The rumors intensify after Hightower's wife dies under suspicious circumstances to
the point that no one in town attends his Sunday sermons, which eventually forces
him to give up his ministry. The town's response to Hightower turns violent when
he determines to keep his black cook. After stories spread about the two, the
community agrees that Hightower "had made his wife go bad and commit suicide
because he was not a natural husband and that the negro woman was the reason."
As a result, Hightower was viciously beaten.
After Hightower refuses to leave Jefferson, eventually "the whole thing seemed to
blow away, like an evil wind," and the community decided to let him be: "it was as
though the town realized at last that he would be a part of its life until he died, and
that they might as well become reconciled." Byron analyzes the community's
13
treatment of Hightower when he likens the situation to "a lot of people performing
a play and that now and at last they had all played out the parts which had been
allotted them and now they could live quietly with one another."
While the narrow-minded bigotry and righteousness of the community of Jefferson
damages or destroys the lives of many of the novel's central characters, the
townspeople do offer some support to Lena as she searches for the father of her
unborn child. They do not try to ostracize her for her illegitimate pregnancy, most
likely because she is trying, in their view, to rectify her sin by marrying Brown.
However, she and Byron eventually leave Jefferson, more perhaps to get away
from the restrictive values of the community than to find Brown.
Joe's violent death at the end of the novel appears to force the community to
recognize the effects of its rigid codes. As the people who have followed Joe to
Hightower's home witness his last breath, Joe "seemed to rise soaring into their
memories forever and ever." The narrator insists, "They are not to lose it, in
whatever peaceful valleys, beside whatever placid and reassuring streams of old
age, in the mirroring faces of whatever children they will contemplate old disasters
and newer hopes." In this sense then, Joe becomes a Christlike figure, who begins
the process of redemption for a community that has allowed its prejudices and
fears to repress its sense of humanity.
Source: Wendy Perkins, Critical Essay on Light in August, in Novels for Students,
Thomson Gale, 2007.
14
Critical Essays
Faulkner's Style
Faulkner's style in this novel is not the typical Faulknerian style. Usually, his
style has a complexity and an involved sentence structure. But essentially, he
uses a more straightforward narrative style here. But the main stylistic
achievement lies in Faulkner's ability to capture the essential qualities of his
characters through his style. He changes or modulates his style according to the
character of subject matter about which he is writing.
Thus, the chapters handling Lena Grove are presented in the simplest prose and
in rather straightforward narration. This type of style blends with Lena's
personality, since she is seen as an uncomplex person with one single aim.
Faulkner employs a lot of dialect in narrating Lena's section and this use of
dialect seems to capture the earthy nature of Lena Grove.
But with Hightower the style varies. There is no use of dialect in the Hightower
sections. Instead, in these chapters handling the Hightower narration and
episodes, the style is the most complex, and by Chapter 20, in which Hightower
examines his past life, the style changes to one of severe complexity and
difficulty. This is because Hightower is going into a complex and difficult re examination of his past life.
With Hightower, Faulkner also uses the technique of the "stream-ofconsciousness." This is a technique whereby the author writes as though he is
inside the mind of the characters. Since the ordinary person's mind jumps from
one event to another, stream-of-consciousness tries to capture this
phenomenon. Thus Hightower, in re-examining his past life, juxtaposes many
events of the past into one timeless collection of events, and in his mind
removes all time barriers so as to see his life in one clear moment. This is a
difficult task and Faulkner employed a rather difficult and complex style in
order to convey this difficulty.
With Joe Christmas, Faulkner again varied his style. In some of the transitional
passages where Joe is in the process of returning back to the past, the style is
extremely complex. For example, before he returns to the episode in the
orphanage, the style is difficult: "Memory believes before knowing remembers.
15
Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders. Knows
remembers believes a corridor . . ."
This complexity then suggests the difficulty of returning to the past through the
memory. But once this transition back into the past is effected, the style
becomes relatively simple. For example, the actual narration of Joe's affair with
Bobbie Allen presents no special difficulties.
Thus part of Faulkner's greatness lies in his style and the way he is able to
adjust this style to fit the subject under narration. The style will always shift in
order to lend additional support to his subject matter.
16