Light in August

by

William Faulkner

Light in August: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Byron tries to see the sheriff, who is busy until noon with the Grand Jury. He stands by the courthouse, watching the men assembled to conduct Christmas’s trial. Previously, he would have felt self-conscious about people seeing him there, and particularly the judgments they would pass regarding his involvement with Lena. He is calmed by the thought that he will soon leave Jefferson. He walks through the crowd of people, straight to the boarding house. He greets Mrs. Beard and tries to pay the rent for Lena’s room, but she says it has already been paid. She predicts that Brown will get the $1000 reward and then marry Lena, and that Byron will then leave Jefferson. Byron agrees that he probably will.
In a way, the events that have recently taken place in Jefferson appear to have set Byron free. Where before he worried about other people’s judgments, he now doesn’t mind. Moreover, it’s now revealed that he proposed to Lena, which indicates that he isn’t repressing his own feelings to the extent that it may have initially appeared.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon
Strangers, Outcasts, and Belonging Theme Icon
Byron then goes to the sheriff and explains the whole story about Lena and Brown, saying it’s time for Brown to go see her. He says that he personally will probably travel up to Memphis, reflecting: “their aint nothing in these little towns.” The sheriff replies that this sounds like a good idea for someone like Byron, who isn’t weighed down by a family. He thinks Byron may indeed be better off there. The sheriff says that he will send Brown with his deputy to see Lena at 4 pm. Byron thanks him. The sheriff says he’s sure Byron will be back sometime, because no one leaves Jefferson for good, and that he hopes the town can treat him better next time.
This passage illustrates the strange convergence between legal authority and ordinary social life. While it is clearly wrong that Brown abandoned Lena and his baby, it is still striking that the sheriff is brought in to force Brown to reunite with her. This highlights the legalistic way of thinking prevalent in Jefferson, even in matters as ambiguous as romance.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon
Strangers, Outcasts, and Belonging Theme Icon
Haunting and the Past Theme Icon
Byron rides off. He sees the sea for the first time, and is astonished by its look of emptiness. He thinks about how anonymous he is outside Jefferson, with no one knowing or caring who he is. However, he then sees a man running through the woods near where he is riding. At first he sits still, but then a force comes over him like a wind, compelling him to move. He knows the man is Brown, although he will not quite admit that to himself. Although he knows he cannot force Brown to marry Lena, and that he might not even catch him, he is determined to try.
For a moment, Byron has a moment of possible self-reinvention and freedom, as he leaves behind the claustrophobic community in Jefferson for the anonymous expansiveness of the outside world. However, his immediate encounter with Brown again emphasizes the impossibility of leaving the past behind.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon
Strangers, Outcasts, and Belonging Theme Icon
Haunting and the Past Theme Icon
Earlier, Burford came to get Brown from jail, telling him they were going to visit someone. Brown insisted he had no one to visit, as he was a “stranger” in Jefferson. Burford teases him by saying that he is about to get his “reward,” telling him it is in his and Christmas’s old cabin. When Brown enters and sees Lena lying in the cot with the baby, he freezes in shock. Brown begins making excuses about why he didn’t call for her, but she just beckons him to come over and look at the baby. She asks him when they will start living together as a family, and he assures her it will be soon, just as soon as he gets his money.
There is something satisfying about witnessing Burford force Brown to see Lena while sarcastically calling this reunion a “reward” (of course, for most people, meeting their own child would be seen as a reward). At the same time, this reunion is clearly destined to end in disaster, as it is obvious that Brown does not want to be with Lena and has no interest in the baby.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon
Strangers, Outcasts, and Belonging Theme Icon
Haunting and the Past Theme Icon
Quotes
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Lena says she always knew she could depend on him. Brown starts talking about the “bastards” in Jefferson, saying that he has “enemies” who want to keep him from the money he earned. He tells her there is a man outside waiting for him and disappears without saying goodbye. At this moment, he runs. He covers almost two miles in twenty minutes, his body resembling that of a “fleeing animal.” He finally slows down and sees a group of “negro cabins.”
The news that he has a child barely makes an impact on Brown, who instead remains fixated on getting the money. Indeed, he is so obsessed with the reward that he loses all sense, forgetting that running away from Lena (and, by extension, Burford) will automatically be grounds for punishment and will likely disqualify him from receiving any of the money.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon
Approaching the cabins, Brown sees an old black woman sitting on a porch. Calling her “aunty,” he stops and asks her if there’s anyone around who will deliver a message to town for him, promising he’ll pay a dollar. She is tentatively intrigued, although warns him that the only people in the cabin are her and two children, who are likely too young for the task. Brown then mentions that the message is for the sheriff, at which point the woman immediately refuses. She says she knows of a black man who visited the sheriff once and never came back. Brown walks away before she has even finished talking.
This passage shows that the extreme, brutal, and unjust behavior of law enforcement toward black people in this society makes even something like giving a message to the sheriff too dangerous for most black people to want to do. The old woman is clearly tempted by the money, but as soon as she hears that the task involves seeing the sheriff, she decides it is not worth it.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon
As Brown is walking away, the old woman shouts after him, saying she has found a young man who will go. Brown scribbles a misspelled note in which he asks the recipient to give his reward to the “barer” so it can be returned to him. Instead of signing it, he writes: “You no who.” Brown gives the man $1, promising to give $5 if he is back within the hour. The old woman, who is still nearby, urges the young man to go quick. A few moments later, Byron comes across the young man and asks him to direct him to Brown.
Again, Brown’s greed prevents him from seeing what is obviously true: he has lost his chance to get the reward. His childish signature “you no who” indicates that he is entirely lacking in the maturity necessary to provide for Lena and parent their child. Fortunately, Byron’s arrival seems to suggest that justice of some sort may yet be restored.
Themes
Names and Identity Theme Icon
Meanwhile, Brown is left alone and begins muttering to himself about his plight, and his worries that he won’t receive the reward money. He feels that his life has come to resemble a game of chess, with everyone around him as pieces being moved by an invisible “Opponent.” He thinks that if by some miracle the young man does return with his reward money, he won’t believe it. He starts to laugh, and says that all he ever wanted was justice. Just then, Byron’s voice comes from behind him, demanding that he stand up.
Perhaps due to the dramatic and unpredictable events that have all taken place recently, Brown appears to have lost his mind. This aligns him with many other characters, including Christmas, Hightower, and Mr. Hines, all of whom are driven to a kind of madness by the events in the novel. Indeed, this prevalence of madness can be read as a trope of Southern Gothic literature.
Themes
Race, Gender, and Transgression Theme Icon
Strangers, Outcasts, and Belonging Theme Icon
A fight immediately breaks out between the two men; it is over in two minutes. Byron is left lying alone in the grass, bleeding from the face. He hears the whistle of a nearby train and slowly stands up. Feeling dazed, he watches Brown emerge as if from nowhere and jump onto the moving train. Byron is stunned by the skill with which he does it, and concludes that he must have done it many times before. Slowly, Byron makes his way back down the route he came. He finds a wagon, hoping to hitch a ride back to Jefferson, and the wagon driver informs him that Christmas has been killed.
If this were a sentimental or moralistic novel, Byron would have likely won the fight, due to his superior moral character. However, in the starkly realistic world in which the novel is actually set, good things do not happen to good people and bad things to bad people. Instead, as in reality, there is little justice to be found.
Themes
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence Theme Icon