To Be Alone Or Not To Be Alone

In William Faulkner’s Light In August, most characters seem isolated from each other and from society. It is often argued that Lena Grove is an exception to this, but I have found that I cannot agree with this view. Consequently, this essay will show that Lena is lonely too, and that the message in Faulkner’s work on the issue of human contact is that everyone is essentially alone, either by voluntary recession from company or by involuntary exclusion, and the only escape from this loneliness is to have a proper family to comfort you.

As a child, Lena was involuntarily isolated from a society she wanted to be a part of. We are told that “six or eight times a year she went to town on Saturday” (p. 5), which obviously was not enough for her. “It was because she believed that the people who saw her and whom she passed on foot would believe that she lived in town too” (p. 5). Lena had a need to be a part of society and join the ranks of ordinary people in an ordinary town, which presumably includes marrying and starting a family.

Living with McKinley in a far off mill hamlet continued to keep Lena isolated, and this condition was further aggravated by the fact that she was kept busy with housework much of the time. Admittedly, housekeeping for a large family is one kind of community, but it is not the kind that Lena wants. She would rather have a family of her own than care for someone else’s, and so she seeks love in the form of Lucas Burch. Unfortunately, Burch does not want to start a family. He only uses Lena for his own pleasure, and as soon as she tells him about the pregnancy, he leaves town (p. 16-17).

Lena takes off on a quest to reunite herself with her would-be husband and create the family she wants so badly, thereby making sure she becomes a part of society. Along the way, she meets several people who are willing to help her. This is normally one of the main supports for saying that Lena is not isolated; however, the confrontation with Mr. and Mrs. Armstid, assuming it follows a typical pattern for Lena’s encounters in the course of her travels, shows that being treated kindly does not necessarily mean being accepted as a member of society. Armstid treats Lena well but avoids getting personal contact with her; he does not even look at her directly at any time: “Apparently Armstid has never once looked full at her... he does not look at her now... she does not look at him either... he can see her hands... from the corner of his eye he sees it” (p. 11). Eye contact is often used by authors to indicate intimacy, honesty or openness; here, we have none of the above. Note, however, that Lena does not look at Armstid either. The closed nature of their relationship is a product of Lena’s unwillingness to open herself to other people as much as of their unwillingness to accept an obviously pregnant, unmarried woman among themselves.

An interesting question that arises is why Lena, who wants to be a part of society, consciously avoids human contact along her way to Jefferson. The obvious answer is that she is devoted to finding Burch and getting her family started, which precludes any involvement with other people, since she might run into someone who falls in love with her and wants her for himself. This is exactly what happens in Jefferson, but more on this later on. Furthermore, personal contact with the people she meets means the journey takes longer to complete, and she is racing against a biological clock to find Burch before her child is born. All things considered, Lena’s temporary voluntary isolation should not be a surprise at this point.

Arriving In Jefferson, Lena finds Byron Bunch instead of Lucas Burch, and Bunch immediately falls in love with her. Lena, still hoping to reunite herself with Burch, is unwilling to let him get close, and starts to use him much like Burch used her before. By letting Bunch run her errands and relay messages for her, Lena manages to keep Bunch’s hopes for romance up while still keeping her distance to him.

Finally, Lena and Bunch ostensibly continues the hunt for Burch. Ostensibly, because the furniture salesman who takes them into Tennessee tells his wife that “‘I don’t think she had any idea of finding whoever it was she was following. I don’t think she ever aimed to’” (p. 380). This hints at Lena’s rootlessness, her lack of contact with society. At this point, she has given up the search for Burch, but she cannot face society without the biological father of her child. Thus, she continues to travel, making sure that no one ever gets to know her story or her true status in normal society, which is no status at all. Bunch is brought along to continue attending to her needs. Now mocking Burch’s earlier behaviour towards her, Lena turns it around and lets Bunch act the family father but not the lover, whereas Burch was the exact opposite, meeting Lena for the occasional secret erotic rendezvous and not even acknowledging to the outside world that a relationship was underway. Bunch seems to be the absolute opposite of Burch in most respects; where Burch is an irresponsible loiterer, moonshiner and general scoundrel, Bunch is hardworking, honest and reliable. Burch wanted Lena for her sexuality, but Bunch wants to build a family with her.

In the end, Lena is still travelling around, now in the company of Bunch and her baby, still keeping up an appearance of searching for her Lucas Burch but in reality just avoiding the society she loves. When she no longer has any hope of putting her family together the way she reckons it should be, she can no longer face society because she will never fit in. Even if she married Bunch, he would still not be her child’s father, which would make their family an anomaly. Lena has turned into a voluntary outcast, dragging Byron Bunch around to help her run her daily life but never letting him get intimate, never really making him a part of her life. After being forced into isolation from society for most of her life, Lena has now chosen to remain isolated. She is just as alone as any other character in Light in August.

The conclusion I inevitably reach is that Faulkner wanted to portray family as the ultimate unit of society. Without a family, you cannot fit into society, and if you do not fit into society, you are essentially alone.