NCHS AP English Language

Intersections-Kyle Smith

The pasts of the characters in a Light in August all run into a crash course for each other. Each character's past has different dimensions that seem to all come together when Lena Grove comes to Jefferson to find the man (Lucas Burch) whom she conceived a child with. She knows Lucas Burch is the man who is the father of her baby, but she does not realize that he changed his name to Joe Brown, a change that could prevent Lena from coming back into his life. He works at a mill where nobody makes an effort to get to know him. His coworkers consider him a suspicious man as he was convicted of bootlegging whiskey with a man known as Joe Christmas. Christmas was half-white/half-black, and everyone considered him a foreigner. Joanna Burden's property in the back of her land is the house of Christmas for the past 6 years (his time in Jefferson). But the important thing to know about him is that he was accused of pushing Reverend Gail history's wife out a window which led to her death. Therefore, his past has greatly affected him since the whole society has shunned him for the crime. Joanna Burden doesn't play a huge role in Chapter 4/5, except for the fact that she has been accused of having affairs with black people.

So how do these 3 characters' pasts become intertwined? All three have been accused of something that the Jefferson community remembers. This creates a sense of ambiguity and restlessness in this couple of chapters.

Kyle Smith

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 7:00 PM