Light in August is a novel that explores the lives of two visitors to Yoknapatawpha County: Lena Grove, a pregnant woman searching for the father of her child, and Joe Christmas, a man who appears white but is troubled by his black ancestry. As Faulkner's tale unfolds he examines the interconnected lives of Lena and Joe. The story culminates in Joe being wrongly accused of murder by the father of Lena's child, Lucas Birch. Neither character finds a happy ending in this classic narrative which explores race, class, identity, and life in the American South.
Lena Grove a pregnant teenager has made her way to Mississippi in search of her babys father She hitches a ride into the small town of Jefferson which is home to a planing mill One of the workers at the mill Joe Christmas is a brooding racially ambiguous man who appeared suddenly at the mill one day in search of a job After gaining employment he was soon joined at the mill by another man named Joe Brown The two formed a partnership making and selling liquor illegally and eventually quit their j