“He was like a ghost, like a spirit, strayed from his own world and lost” (114) can easily be considered one of most impactful lines from William Faulkner's The Light in August. A very important theme throughout the novel is identity, which the quote explores; Identity plays an important role in the book's plot, also serving as a key to the character development of the "protagonist", Joe Christmas. In the novel, Faulkner constantly experiments with each character, including Noel, and how they are identified by others and by the reader. Identity can be made very apparent, as when characters quickly label Christmas based on their actions in tandem with their heritage. Or, the identity can be made subtle, as when Noel imitates actions previously directed at him by other characters. Throughout the novel, characters like Noel always identify with him, but other characters are also able to identify with him, thus heightening his main internal conflict. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The way Faulkner manipulates how Chrismas identifies himself and how other characters identify him seems to reinforce the main conflict surrounding Christmas's ambiguous identity. With each character, Faulkner manipulates the order in which each character is identified. For example, Hightower is first defined by what the reader gathers from his past combined with what others think of him, or external identification, and towards the end of the novel, Hightower identifies himself, or internal identification. But of course, Faulkner makes sure that Christmas doesn't happen in that order. Instead, he is first defined externally, or by what others think of him. This is demonstrated early in the novel as Christmas is first addressed through dialogue when a factory worker asked the foreman if: “He [Noel] is a foreigner? (33). Then, immediately afterward, the Christmas race is brought up for the first of many times when the foreman asks, "Have you ever heard of a white man named Christmas?" (33). This dialogue not only presents Noel to the reader as an outsider, but it feels slightly ignorant of who Noel is, and the effect extends until the reader gains insight into his own thought process . The dialogue also presents a problem that persists throughout the novel: the Christmas race. He is never identified as mixed, but anything that happens that has a primarily negative connotation he is identified as black and if anything that happens has a positive connotation he is identified as white. In this dialogue, the negative connotation presented to the audience is ambiguity since Noel was not like the people he had worked with. But these blatant judgments are much more frequent in the novel. For example, as soon as Brown's story to the policeman in order to get a $1,000 reward doesn't hold up, he blames Christmas's "identity" as he claims: "Blame the white man who's trying to help with what he knows. . Blame the white man and let the Negro go free. Blame the white man and let the Negro run” (97). Overall, Faulkner deliberately forces the characters to manipulate Christmas's ambiguous identity to fit their personal thoughts and motivations, skewing the perception of Christmas for these characters. Another prominent example of this behavior is Doc Hine's hateful reasoning, ensuring that Christmas has always suffered. Since the conception of Christmas, Doc Hines believed that "it [Christmas] is the abomination of the Lord God, and I amthe instrument of his will” (380). Along with the excessive use of racial slurs to describe his grandson, Doc Hines believed that it was his will, since he had been ordained by God, to make it known that Christmas Identity was an abomination and that He spent his life ensuring and broadcasting this fact to the other characters, thereby manipulating their perception of him. What makes the way other characters identify Christmas so unique and complex is the way Faulkner constantly shifts perspectives throughout the chapters, which provides the reader with a variety of personal beliefs and motivations, but also gives more facets to what other characters think about Christmas and how they do it. define it personally. For example, how Percy Grimm believed that the source of all Christmas misdeeds was simply a conflict between his "black blood" (448) and his "white blood" (449) while he blamed Christmas's mistakes on his blood black and relatively high blood. moral actions on his white blood. Overall, due to Noel's judgments based on his ambiguous heritage, all of the other characters' experiences, beliefs, circumstances, and personal motivations play an important role in Noel's external identification, easily providing insight into conflicts of Christmas that surround his character. Identify. As mentioned previously, what makes the identity of Christmas unique in Light in August is the way Faulkner approaches it. Regarding the order of identification, what makes Christmas so complex is the way in which it is identified externally before it is identified internally. Typically, the reader would have some insight into who the character thinks he is and the other characters affirm or challenge it, but Faulkner completely changes that when he has Noel affirm or challenge the ideas that other characters are with. define. For example, this technique is first observed in the scene where Christmas travels through the city. Filled with symbolism, Faulkner gives the reader a sense of Noel's uncertain thoughts regarding his identity by stating that "he was like a ghost, a spirit, wandered out of his own world and lost" (114). Up to this point in the novel, the reader is still fed harsh judgments about Noel's identity that center on his race, but in this particular scene, Faulkner's complex diction poses Noel's internal struggle that he does not It's neither entirely black nor entirely white. but that he is a difficult mixture to understand for the other characters and even for himself. Faulkner also makes Noel challenge or affirm what others expect of him due to their judgments. This pattern of behavior is first presented when Miss Burden attempted to persuade Christmas to completely change his lifestyle, asking him if he wanted to become a counselor for black colleges and have children with her. However, this demand only made Noel even more confused, as he believed that "if I give in now, I will be denying the thirty years I have lived to make me what I have chosen to be." (265). Christmas's personal conflict involving identity has always been based on his race, so for him it made sense to refuse to adhere to Miss Burden's desires for their relationship. Eventually, this relationship deteriorates due to the contrasts between their respective identities (racial or gender). That being said, it becomes clear to the reader that Christmas has always lived his life, “as if he were a basket of eggs” (337). He had never been in a defined identification zone; Whenever other characters addressed him, it was always based on what he had done and the process of identifying Noel amplifies this internally. So it never stays the same.