Light in August Character Analysis

Joe Christmas

Joe Christmas is the main character in the novel, serving as both protagonist and antagonist. Born to a mother (Milly) who had a fling with a Mexican man whom her father, Mr. Hines… read analysis of Joe Christmas

Lena Grove

Lena Grove is a young woman from Alabama who becomes pregnant by Lucas Burch and later has his baby. Lucas leaves her and promises to send word for her to join him, but when no… read analysis of Lena Grove

Lucas Burch / Joe Brown

Lucas is the father of Lena’s child, whom she met while he was working at the planing mill in her hometown. Lucas is fun-loving but unintelligent, selfish, cruel, and immature. He is also a heavy… read analysis of Lucas Burch / Joe Brown

Byron Bunch

Byron is a loner who lives in Jefferson and works at the planing mill. He is hard-working, kind, and responsible, though withdrawn and timid. He is the only friend of Rev. Hightower, and regularly… read analysis of Byron Bunch

Joanna Burden

Joanna is a middle-aged, unmarried “spinster” who lives alone in a big house in Jefferson. Although she was born in the same house where she still lives, she is treated as a stranger and “enemy”… read analysis of Joanna Burden

Rev. Gail Hightower

Rev. Hightower is the disgraced former minister of the main church in Jefferson. His career was ruined when it was discovered that his wife, Mrs. Hightower, had been having an affair with a man… read analysis of Rev. Gail Hightower

Mr. Hines / The Janitor

Mr. Hines is Milly’s father and Christmas’s grandfather. He is cruel, violent, and obsessively religious, and after Milly becomes pregnant he tries to get her to have an abortion because he is convinced… read analysis of Mr. Hines / The Janitor

Mrs. Hines

Mrs. Hines is Milly’s mother and Christmas’s grandmother. A sweet, loving woman, she welcomed Christmas’s birth and was devasted when Mr. Hines took him away. When she finds out that Christmas has been… read analysis of Mrs. Hines

Bobbie

Bobbie is a sex worker who works in a brothel in the nearest town to where Christmas and the McEacherns live. Though she is significantly older than he is, Christmas develops a crush on her… read analysis of Bobbie

Mrs. Hightower

The unnamed wife of Rev. Gail Hightower is already long dead by the time the main events of the novel take place. Before she died, she acted strangely, causing a scandal in Jefferson. It eventually… read analysis of Mrs. Hightower

Calvin Burden, Sr.

Calvin is Joanna’s grandfather. Born Calvin Burrington, he changed his name because he ran away from home before he was old enough to know how to spell Burrington and found Burden easier. A passionate… read analysis of Calvin Burden, Sr.

Minor Characters

Nathaniel Burden

Nathaniel is Calvin Sr.’s son and Joanna’s father. Like his father, he is a fervent abolitionist who runs away from home as an adolescent. He marries a Mexican woman, Juana, with whom he has three children (including Calvin, Jr.), followed by Joanna with his unnamed second wife.

McEachern

McEachern is Christmas’s cruel, fanatically religious, and repressive adoptive father. Christmas ends up striking him with a chair, seemingly killing him (although this is never confirmed).

Mrs. McEachern

Mrs. McEachern is Christmas’s much kinder, gentler adoptive mother. She tries (in vain) to protect Christmas from McEachern’s cruel treatment, but Christmas still rejects her kindness.

Percy Grimm

Percy Grimm is a young, fanatically patriotic and militaristic man living in Jefferson. When he learns about the rumors that Christmas killed Joanna, he organizes a vigilante army and ends up lynching Christmas himself.

McKinley Grove

McKinley is Lena’s much older brother. Their parents are dead, so Lena lives with McKinley. He reacts cruelly to her pregnancy, and at this point Lena leaves home to go and find Lucas on her own.

Armistid

Lena encounters Armistid on her journey from Alabama to Jefferson. Taking pity on her, he offers her a ride and a place to stay for the night.

Winterbottom

Winterbottom is with Armistid when they encounter Lena walking alone along the road.

Martha Armistid

Martha is Armistid’s wife. She is rather cold, but gives Lena the money she has saved up from selling eggs.

Mrs. Beard

Mrs. Beard runs the boarding house where Byron lives.

The Sheriff

The Jefferson sheriff oversees the manhunt following the murder of Joanna.

The Dietician

The dietician is a young woman who lives and works at the orphanage where Christmas grows up.

Mame

Mame is a woman who works at the brothel with Bobbie and who also lives with her.

Max

Max owns the owner of the brothel where Bobbie works, and lives with her and Mame.

Calvin Burden, Jr.

Calvin Jr. is Joanna’s half-brother. He is killed along with his grandfather (Calvin Sr.) in an argument about black enfranchisement at the age of only 20.

Juana

Juana, who is Mexican, is Nathaniel’s first wife and the mother of Calvin, Jr. Joanna is named after her.

Burford

Burford is the deputy sheriff.

Milly Hines

Milly is the daughter of Mr. Hines and Mrs. Hines. She gets pregnant with Christmas when she is young, although her father steals the baby before she even has a chance to check whether or not he is alive.

Gavin Stevens

Gavin Stevens is the District Attorney in Jefferson. He oversees the Grand Jury, and gives an interpretation of Christmas’s final days to a visiting friend.

Cinthy

Cinthy is the name of the (formerly) enslaved woman who helped raise Hightower, and told him stories about his grandfather, who was a Civil War hero.

Buck

The marshal in Jefferson.

Brother Bedenberry

The minister at a black church in Jefferson who is threatened by Christmas.

Roz

A congregant at a black church in Jefferson who is brutally beaten by Christmas.

Light in August

William Faulkner

Light in August Characters