NCHS AP English Language

chapter 4 LIA Kate Pennebaker

Chapter 4-LIA

Joe Christmas, a wanderer of the sorts, does not know where he came from or what his own heritage is. He comes off as reserved, quiet and unsure. I believe that Joe Christmas acts this way because, in a way, he has no past, nothing to remember or to look back upon. He is confused as to who he is. How is he supposed to open up to others, make friends and tell them about himself when he doesn’t know who he really is in the first place?
Joe Brown, i.e. Lucas Burch, fled to Jefferson for reasons I am not 100% sure about. It may have been because he got Lena Grove pregnant and did not want to take responsibility for his actions. If this is the case, Brown is a coward. While settling into the town of Jefferson , Lucas decides to change his name to Joe Brown. Obviously, Lucas has done something in his past that he regrets and is shameful of and he prefers to cut his ties with the past because why else would someone change their name?
Joanna Burden, an old woman who has lived in Jefferson for 60 years, was supposedly murdered by Joe Christmas, due to a secret affair. Joe Brown is the supplier of this information, and one is yet to know if it is actually true or not. Ms. Burden let Brown and Christmas live in the slave house in her backyard.
The past affects the way everyone acts in the present and no matter how hard one tries to escape the past, in my opinion, it is impossible. Although one can’t escape it, the past can be viewed as fictions because everyone recalls different events happening in different ways. It is highly unlikely that two people would recount one event in the same detail.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 9:53 AM