New Characters

I found it interesting that Faulkner decided to introduce new characters throughout his novel, Light in August, and proceed to write them out of his story. These cameos, performed by such characters as Grimm or the blonde behind the couter at the restaurant Christmas frequented, provided important insight into the thoughts of the people in town.

Grimm was introduced solely for the purpose of hunting down Christmas. Although Grimm held the same prejudices as the townspeople, he acted on his attitudes to an extreme that the citizens would never mimic. Grimm was introduced into Light in August in order to act out the private thoughts of the townspeople. Although the townspeople would never act on their prejudices in the extreme way that Grimm did, their prejudices were so passionate that they believed Grimm's actions to be necessary. Grimm acted in such a vicious way towards Christmas because the townspeople wished it to be done.

Comments

[Mal S.]

Also, don't forget about the furniture dealer who gives Byron and Lena a lift in chapter 21. I thought that his insights were eerily accurate about the characters of Byron and Lena. For example, I thought it was interesting how he described Byron as being the kind of guy who "would hold a job steady and work at the same job a long time, without bothering anybody about a raise neither, long as they let him keep on working."(pg. 496) I thought his ability to sort of predict what Byron would do, or the way that he seemed to understand Byron more in-depth showed how inexperienced and "green" Byron was in the world of love and relationships in contrast with Lena who had already birthed an illegitimate child. It's sort of what Hightower warned Lena about before she left with Byron, but I think the addition of this character's insights really shows the reality of Hightower's earlier insights as well.

[Katy O.]

I agree, there are many characters that are introduced for only a short time, yet almost all of them are important to the novel because they often reinforce stereotypes of society. For example, as you said, Grimm was introduced near the very end of the novel, but he held the values and beliefs that the entire town had towards Joe and the murder. In addition, Mrs. Hightower, who was never actually a real character in the novel, represented the impure woman who was a disgrace to her family and her town. Jefferson was appalled at both of the Hightower's because of Mrs. Hightower's actions. Finally, the man who picked up Byron and Lena reestablished the gender roles that society valued, which included the dominant, controlling man married to the inferior and acquiescent female.