Gender, Race, and Language in Light in August

Abstract

W~THEN Byron Bunch hears Lena Grove's moaning wail during childbirth, he realizes that she seems be speaking clearly to something in a tongue which he knew was not his tongue nor that of any man.' Women's language in Light in August may be clearly spoken, but it obscures discourse rather than illuminating it. Faulkner's women are not silenced but marginalized in a fictional world controlled by men and their language. Andre Bleikasten notes, With Faulkner, the Father -especially the Dead Father-is always the one who names, places, marks, the one who casts the spell, whether through his voice or his eyes.2 The father circumscribes, imposes limits and definitions. In Light in August, however, Faulkner also testifies to a counterforce embodied in Lena's unknown tongue, which can be viewed as a female challenge to the traditionally male mastery of language. His women characters evade the boundaries and categories by which the men attempt to control them. Faulkner's subtle manipulation of sexual dynamics and gender roles within the novel illustrates the full complexity of his presentation of power and authority. The father may exercise the linguistic power of naming, but the mother's foreign language complicates and undercuts the language and power of the father. Interestingly, Faulkner associates this anti-patriarchal foreign language not only with women but also with blacks, as will be seen in the career of Joe Christmas. Most scholars tend to focus their attention on this theme of patriarchal power, admittedly always a significant force in Faulk-