Comparing Faulkner's Light in August and James' Portrait of a Lady

Each and every person on this Earth today has an identity. Over the years, each individual creates their identity through past experiences, family, race, and many other factors. Race, which continues to cause problems in today’s world, places individuals into certain categories. Based on their race, people are designated to be part of a larger, or group identity instead of being viewed as a person with a unique identity. Throughout Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Richard is on a search for his true identity. Throughout Black Boy, one can see that Richard’s racial background assigns him with a certain identity or a certain way in which some

11). Due to his recent revelation to the reality of his identity, he encountered a series of plateaus during which he contemplated whether he should associate with the “colored” race or with the white race. He was now aware of his true identity: partially African-American and partially white. From this point onward, he endeavored to understand whether he is black or white. He did not know where he belonged in society. He contemplated his responsibility to his race versus his responsibility to himself. He tried to embrace life as a ““colored”” man at times, and other times he chose to pass as white. His life was full of contradictions and he could not decide which racial community to assimilate in. He eventually realized that his personal identity did not align with the pre-established racial boundaries.

Tom discovers his real identity which changes his life drastically. He is finally aware of the fact that he is not white and it become noticeable in various ways. “It was the ‘nigger’ in him asserting its humility, and he blushed and was abashed. And the ‘nigger’ in him was surprised when the white friend put out his hand for a shake with him” P.56 Tom’s behavior is innate and raises the question of nature and nurture, and racial heritage.

Today’s America contains a wide variety of racially-mixed or racially-ambiguous individuals, making Light in August just as relevant as it was in 1932. Because of the assumptions Christmas and others made about his biracial identity, Joe Christmas’ life engulfs itself with bitterness, racism, and tragedy. Christmas’ story showcases the significance and fragility of one’s view of their racial identity. In this novel, William Faulkner uses the character Joe Christmas to express the theme that people’s assumptions about a person’s race can deeply affect how that person view’s their racial identity and how this view propels their actions.

In America, people of color are expected to be less successful than whites. People of color were originally forced to come to the United States as slaves, and as a result, an attitude that people of color are inferior to whites was created. This attitude led people of color to be trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and disadvantages. Fighting for survival, kids from families of color were sent to work and support their family instead of investing in their education and future. With no basic education the work opportunities available for these kids while growing up were limited. With those many families remaining at the lower income levels of society, prejudice and racism flourished. In chapter 8, St John introduces Chika Chime, a black immigrant

In James W. Johnson “The Autobiography of an Ex- colored man” he recounts the story of a nameless young boy who lives a more comfortable, aristocratic life than most African Americans at this time. While cultivating his interest in music and art throughout the years, suddenly he has an identity crisis and comes to terms that he’s not viewed the same by society as white. He has a self-revelation that he’s different. He shares the skin tone of white people but he doesn’t share a strong cultural connection to other African Americans. This since of loneliness thus causes him to delve into this studies and flourish into a well-rounded young man. The Narrator of this story, is at first a tad bit mysterious.” I am divulging the great secret of my life, the secret for which for some years.

Many times we do not feel like we are an individual, but another piece of a giant puzzle of other pieces just like each other. This is similar the story of the narrator in Invisible Man who is a young African American Man living in 1930s American society. After he is expelled from school, the narrator is forced to go to the north in search of employment to work and then return to school. However, life is not as easy as he thought it was going to be and is forced to confront the reality that he is black and many different things come along with that. On his journey, it becomes clear to him that there are many stereotypes that are associated with his race, which then translates into racists ideologies that forces him to realize that all along he has been an invisible man, hidden amongst other people and forced to be just like all the other black people, rather than take on his own identity

Nigger: The Folklore of His Life” describes the threat that a Black man who does not conform to the racial confinements in a socially constructed racist society. Wiggins says, “There are at least four ways in which the life style of Jack Johnson and the ' 'bad nigger" agree: (1) an utter disregard of death and danger; (2) a great concentration on sexual virility; (3) a great extravagance in buying cars, clothing, etc.; and (4) an insatiable love of having a good time.” (Wiggins 36).

When Richard moves to Chicago, it is clearly seen how living in the South has affected him. He recalls, “I looked about to see if there were signs saying: FOR WHITE-FOR COLORED” (Wright 262). When he works for the Jewish couple, he feels the need to lie to them because “[he] had met so many white faces that would have violently disapproved of …taking the examination that [he] could not have risked telling Mr. Hoffman the truth” (Wright 269). The he has always seen blacks and whites interact with each other has influenced his thinking and perception of the world around him. Richard assumes he will be treated the same because in his experience all whites were the same. However, Richard’s introspective and inquisitive nature allows him to process his new environment and the feelings that derive from it. Reflecting on the sense of anxiety and uncertainty Richard feels when arriving in the North, he is able to understand blacks, like Shorty, who lower their standards and submit to the white people in the South. While reflecting on his current position in society, Richard is able to come to the conclusion that he does not desire to write fantasy stories or mystery novellas, but describes his longing to write as a “hunger for insight into my own life and the lives about me” (Wright 282). He wants to use his “fiercely indrawn nature” to the advantage of his

For example, Joanna Burden reflects the consequences of being against traditional roles; she is the isolated female individual, who is trapped in her thoughts as well. Joanna’s tribulations mostly arise from inner-self conflict. Although the basic causes of the both Joe’s and Joanna’s isolation is similar, there are still noticeable differences in how they are viewed by the others and the way they solve their situations. Also throughout Light in August, many references are made to race that reveal the roots of one man’s disrespect for another man: “She [Joanna] has lived in the house since that she was birthed in, yet she is still an outsider whose people moved in from the North during Reconstruction… and there is still talk of unexpected relations with negroes, despite the fact that it is now sixty years since her grandfather and her brother were killed on the square by an ex-slave-owner over a question of Negro votes in a state election.” (Faulkner 39) The community only considers a person according to criteria that they cannot even control. In addition to isolation within the town, there is loneliness. For example, “She is a Yankee. Her folks

When hate is engraved in someone’s heart they start to do things they don’t want to do, but what is driving them is forcing them to. This is the case of Guitar Baines, Milkman’s best friend, is very conscious of where he stands in society and what people of another race see him as. Guitar is hate driven and sees white people as his ultimate enemy. The novel starts off has Robert Smith jumping off the roof of a hospital. Smith was part of a group named The Seven Days. This organization is a group of African Americans who kill white people. If a black male or female were to be killed by the hands of a white person then the Seven Days would be in charge of a killing a white person the exact same way. Only seven members are allowed to be apart of this group. After Smith died, this organization needed a new member and this new member was Guitar. Milkman did

The McEachern’s, an older southern couple who raise Joe Christmas, are similar to Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Light in August by William Faulkner was written in the style of Sothern gothic and this painting is entitled American Gothic. The McEachern’s live on a farm similar to the family in the painting. Similar to the look the farmer man in the painting has, Mr. McEachern looks at a young, orphaned Joe Christmas whom he is about to adopt “with a stare cold and intent and yet not deliberately harsh. It was the same stare with which he might have examined a horse or a second hand plow.” Mr. McEachern relationship with Mrs. McEachern is one where he had all the power and “she had been hammered stubbornly thinner and thinner like some passive

“She thinks she knows a great deal of it [the world]-like most American girls; but like most American girls she's ridiculously mistaken,” said Lydia Touchett, a character in Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady, when she described her niece, Isabel Archer (56). Throughout this novel James wrote Ms. Archer as an extremely dynamic character, he allowed for the reader to feel as if they stood next to her in her best times and her worst and through all the obstacles she encountered and all the experiences that matured her. He used his connotation in a way that vividly illustrated what occurred and created a tone that developed and changed, and in doing so James was able to brilliantly depict Isabel Archer maturing from a young naive American

Race can be defined as individuals who are classified into different groups based on the similar viewable and tangible characteristics they possess. It is one of the various components that determine a person’s identity and how one is presented as an individual. Ultimately, race is a vehicle that creates a strong, distinctive basis in order to distinguish oneself amongst the alike community. In William Faulkner’s novel, Light in August, the main character, Joe Christmas, grapples with this concept. For the entirety of the years that Christmas lives in Jefferson, the community defines him solely as a white man, and therefore even though he is an enigma, he is allowed to live peacefully. However, major events in his early childhood, from getting put up for adoption as an infant to being called a nigger at five years old, have negatively impacted his subsequent years. Christmas was not brought up with a sturdy foundation and knowledge of his past, which in turn altered his entire future. Once the town

In the novel, Light in August, Joe Christmas is depicted as enduring an ongoing formation, into a more complete character and person through Faulkner’s use of hemes of denial and flight in order to provide insight into universal life lessons.