From the Isolation into the Community: The Dammed in Faulkner's Light in August

Those who are damned in Light in August (1932) include Lena Grove, Joe Christmas as well as Gail Hightower. Through these characters, William Faulkner criticizes the confrontation between the North and the South after Civil War, religious fundamentalism, and racial discrimination which were great social issues in the twentieth century American society. The main characters are commonly isolated from the community through their grandfather's influence instead of father, which lets Americans understand that their faults originated from the beginning of America. Although they tend to approach to the community from their isolation, the damned are refused from the community. However, Faulkner would not lose his hope even on the ground of Christmas's death. By evoking from Hightower and Bunch their responses for good, Lena can draw Hightower into the community, and create her home with Bunch as a final victor. Even in the community being rampant with racial hatred, which most of Americans can not but face with, Faulkner can provide us with a ray of hope through these three characters.