Light in August

Joe Christmas's past experiences with dealing with his biracial identity, being mistreated by women at an early age, and normalization of violence by his adoptive family give Faulkner's audience an insight into his future behavior.

Light in August

After Christmas is whipped, he is described as, "not flinch[ing], no quiver passed over his face. He was looking straight ahead, with a rapt, calm expression like a monk in a picture." (Chapter 7)

Throughout chapter 7, Christmas is beaten by his adoptive father. His childhood was normalized by violence and erratic behavior, leading him to act on those same impulses as an adult.

Burdens of the Past

Joanna's efforts to reform Christmas by encouraging him to explore his racial identity (as a black man) remind him of Mr. McEachern's effort to convert him to Christianity. Except, instead of being the victim of violence, he becomes the instigator of violence. His struggle with his identity and growing frustration with Joanna lead him to killing her.

Due to Christmas's unhealthy relationship with Mr.McEachern, he becomes instinctively violent in his relationships.

"Once he had owned garments with intact buttons. A woman had sewed them on. That was for a time, during a time. Then the time passed. After that he would purloin his own garments from the family wash before she could get to them and replace the missing buttons. When she foiled him he set himself deliberately to learn and remember which buttons were missing and had been restored. With his pocket knife and with the cold and bloodless deliberation of a surgeon he would cut off the buttons which she had just replaced." (Chapter 5)

Christmas is unable to deal with the kindness of women. Even an act as slight as a woman sewing buttons for him makes him angry enough to cut them off with a knife. He is repulsed by the affection of women.

"He never acted like either a n---- or a white man. That was it. That was what made the folks so mad. For him to be a murderer and 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. It was like he never even knew he was a murderer, let alone a n---- too." (Chapter 15)

"He had nothing in his nature of reticence or of chivalry toward women." (Chapter 12)

Christmas remains unaware of his identity and is conflicted about where to place himself. Similarly, society is inclined to impose racial stereotypes to him, despite the ignorance surrounding his ancestry.

Christmas is not only blatantly disrespectful towards women, but he is unable to express any form of reverence or chivalry towards them. He will never see women as his equal.

Christmas's unpleasant interactions with women during his childhood lead him to act on misogynistic impulses as an adult.

Light In August

By William Faulkner

Joe Christmas is burdened with ignorance of his racial ancestry. Growing up in the early twentieth century, being biracial was far from easy. Christmas often struggled with not finding a place for himself in a community.

In Light In August, Faulkner uses the character of Joe Christmas to display the impact past burdens have on a person, effects such as racism, misogyny, and violence.

"But his blood would not be quiet, let him save it. It would not be either one or the other and let his body save itself. Because the black blood drove him first to the negro cabin. And then the white blood drove him out of there, as it was the black blood which snatched up the pistol and the white blood which would not let him fire it." (Chapter 19)

Christmas is driven to place himself in a community and to belong somewhere. He is torn between his "black blood" and "white blood." This shows his internalized battle with himself.