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Motifs
Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Christmas's Resentment:
Paradoxically, Christmas feels the most intense resentment toward women who have done him no tangible harm. One example of this motif occurs in Chapter 11, when Christmas tries to break into Joanna's house for the second night in a row:
He went to the kitchen door. He expected that to be locked also. But he did not realise until he found that it was open, that he had wanted it to be. When he found that it was not locked it was like an insult. It was as though some enemy upon whom he had wreaked his utmost of violence and contumely stood, unscathed and unscarred, and contemplated him with a musing and insufferable contempt.
At first, it does not make sense that Christmas would want the door to be locked. After all, that would make it more difficult for him to get into the house. Nor does it make sense on the surface that he harbors such hostility toward a woman who has objectively wronged him far less than many other people in his life. This is the same kind of hostility he holds toward Mrs. McEachern and toward the Black girl he beats up as a teenager. None of these women have come close to abusing Christmas in the horrific ways Mr. McEachern and Mr. Hines both did for years. The resentment seems misplaced.
In this passage, Faulkner explains where some of Christmas's resentment comes from. The night before, Christmas wanted to sexually assault Joanna. She surprised him by consenting to sex before he could force himself on her. He is angry to find that she has left the door unlocked because it means she is unbothered by his attempted assault. He wants to use her to feel powerful, and instead he feels like a harmless Black servant who is allowed to come and go from her house as he pleases. It is not Joanna he resents so much as the feelings she brings up about his Blackness.
The other instances of paradoxical resentment also begin to make sense when readers consider how Christmas feels in the presence of the women. When he is a teenager, his friends send him into a barn with a kidnapped Black girl as a twisted game: they all plan to use their Whiteness to get away with assaulting her. Face to face with the girl, Christmas feels overwhelmed by the understanding that he, too, is Black just like her. He beats her up because he hates this reminder. Mrs. McEachern, meanwhile, shows kindness and pity to Christmas in private but refuses to do anything to stop her husband's abuse. This covert kindness and pity makes Christmas hate her because it emphasizes his role in the house as a helpless and pitiful orphan who is supposed to be grateful for the McEacherns' charity. His confused feelings toward Mrs. McEachern and the others mirror his confused feelings as a child toward the Dietician with her manipulative kindness. He would rather battle against clear-cut enemies like Mr. McEachern and Mr. Hines than against people who make him feel bad without outwardly hurting him.
Related Themes:
