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Lena Grove
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 drinker, and after moving to Jefferson, he sells bootleg whisky with Joe Christmas (with whom he lives in the cabin on Joanna’s property). He also changes his name to Joe Brown, presumably to avoid being identified as the father of Lena’s child. He becomes fixated on getting the $1,000 reward offered for finding Joanna’s murderer and turns Christmas in in order to do so, but ruins his chances of receiving it after again running away from Lena and his newborn baby.
Lucas Burch / Joe Brown Quotes in Light in August
The Light in August quotes below are all either spoken by Lucas Burch / Joe Brown or refer to Lucas Burch / Joe Brown. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Yes, ma’am. Joe Brown. But I reckon that may be his right name. Because when you think of a fellow named Joe Brown, you think of a bigmouthed fellow that’s always laughing and talking loud. And so I reckon that is his right name, even if Joe Brown does seem a little kind of too quick and too easy for a natural name, somehow.
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Chapter 4
Quotes
‘That’s right,’ he says. ‘Go on. Accuse me. Accuse the white man that’s trying to help you with what he knows. Accuse the white man and let the nigger go free. Accuse the white and let the nigger run.’
[…]
‘The folks in this town is so smart. Fooled for three years. Calling him a foreigner for three years, when soon as I watched him three days I knew he wasn’t no more a foreigner than I am. I knew before he even told me himself.’
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Chapter 18
Quotes
“I dont want to visit nobody here. I’m a stranger here.”
“You’d be strange anywhere you was at,” the deputy said. “Even at home. Come on.”
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Lucas Burch / Joe Brown Quotes in Light in August
The Light in August quotes below are all either spoken by Lucas Burch / Joe Brown or refer to Lucas Burch / Joe Brown. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Yes, ma’am. Joe Brown. But I reckon that may be his right name. Because when you think of a fellow named Joe Brown, you think of a bigmouthed fellow that’s always laughing and talking loud. And so I reckon that is his right name, even if Joe Brown does seem a little kind of too quick and too easy for a natural name, somehow.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
‘That’s right,’ he says. ‘Go on. Accuse me. Accuse the white man that’s trying to help you with what he knows. Accuse the white man and let the nigger go free. Accuse the white and let the nigger run.’
[…]
‘The folks in this town is so smart. Fooled for three years. Calling him a foreigner for three years, when soon as I watched him three days I knew he wasn’t no more a foreigner than I am. I knew before he even told me himself.’
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Chapter 18
Quotes
“I dont want to visit nobody here. I’m a stranger here.”
“You’d be strange anywhere you was at,” the deputy said. “Even at home. Come on.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
