Black and White

In a passage in Light in August, Faulkner uses imagery to differentiate Joe Christmas from the black community.  When Christmas passes through Freedom Town, Faulkner begins to contrast nearly everything.  There is contrast between black and white, light and dark, hot and cold, and even dry and wet.  Faulkner contrasts light and dark, " from street lamp to street lamp, the heavy shadows of oak and maple leaves..." and then goes on to contrast black and white "sliding like scraps of Black velvet across his white shirt."  Another interesting contrast I found is the contrast of hot and cold, dry and wet, and light and lightless between Joe Christmas when he starts to run and "his inbreath cold on his dry teeth and lips toward the next street lamp," and "the lightless hot wet primogenitive Female." These contrasting images in this passage suggest that Christmas contrasts himself with the black commuity.  In this way, he sets himself apart from this community.  

Comments

[Mal S.]

I think that Faulkner includes all of the contrasts to symbolize the social forces that are constantly pulling at him. Although Joe Christmas is very concerned with his mixed ancestry, he is particularly consumed by those concerns when he walks through Freedom Town. He feels the pressure from society that forces him to conform to black society while he desperately desires to be included in white society. Faulkner's use of contrasts in this passage emphasizes Christmas's desire to seperate himself from his black ancestry and to join the privileged ranks of white society.

[Katy O.]

This whole passage was very interesting. Joe is struggling to be accepted by either the white race or the black race, but can't find himself in either race. Although he knows of his black roots, he is very anxious and feels a sense of danger in the black community and people also see him as white. Therefore, Faulkner uses this contrast of black and white to demonstrate the internal struggle that Joe is finding so difficult throughout his life.