3 Light in August, Ch 5-6

1. Purlieus: 1. An outlying or neighboring area.
2. purlieus Outskirts; the environs.
3. A place that one frequents. -Free Online Dictionary

Page 119: "Knows remembers believes a corridor in a big long garbled cold echoing building of dark red brick sootbleakened by more chimneys than its own, set in a grassless cinderstrewnpacked compound surrounded by smoking factory purlieus and enclosed by a ten foot steel-and-wire fence like a penitentiary or a zoo, where in random erratic surges, with sparrowlike childtrebling, orphans in identical and uniform blue denim in and out of remembering but in knowing constant as the bleak walls, the bleak windows where in rain soot from the yearly adjacenting chimneys streaked like black tears."


2. In chapter 5 Joe Christmas is followed two days before the murder and fire. He is in bed when Joe Brown comes in, extremely drunk, and after some interaction Christmas ends up hitting Brown repeatedly in an attempt to get him to shut up. Frustrated, Christmas leaves the house. The entire time this is going on, he keeps focusing on his anger toward Miss Burden, especially furious that she prayed over him. Christmas stands by the side of a road naked and screams at a car that passes by. Following this strange behavior he goes to sleep in a stable. Upon waking, Christmas goes to a clearing, empties alcohol out of its hiding place, and wanders around town, picking a fight with blacks. Eventually he winds up in Miss Burden's yard repeating Something is going to happen. Something is going to happen to me. In chapter 6 Christmas's childhood is recounted. Growing up in an orphanage, at one point Christmas witnessed the dietitian having intercourse with a man in a bathroom. Although Christmas doesn't realize what he's seen, the dietitian becomes determined to get him sent away. She confronts a janitor who often observes Christmas intently, looking for verification that Christmas is in fact half black. When the janitor realizes that the dietitian plans to get Christmas sent to a black orphanage, he takes the child and runs. After being caught in Little Rock, Christmas winds up living with Mr. McEachern, a strict man who believes in religion and work. Because he views "Christmas" as a sacrilegious last name he orders Joe to be known as Joe McEachern.


3. I found chapter 6 to be extremely helpful but different from the rest of the book so far in that it illuminated much of a character. Prior to this chapter, as we talked about in class, we could tell you exactly how Lena dressed and how often she took off her boots, the clothing Joe Christmas and Joe Brown were seen in, or how unflatteringly Miss Burden dressed, but we could not tell you anything deeper about any other character. However, for the first time the readers are given a much more in-depth look at a character and his life experiences that shaped the person he is. Joe Christmas's story is sad, especially that he was exposed to racism at such a young age. He was an innocent child who accidentally witnessed something he shouldn't have, and because of it his entire life was changed. I feel like Faulkner put this section in to show why Christmas is the way he is - not necessarily to evoke pity, but to allow for understanding. I certainly found myself siding with the child and disliking the dietitian throughout the chapter.


4. My first question over this section is whether Faulkner indeed put Christmas's childhood story into the book in order to evoke pity or whether it was simply giving more insight into this complicated and often violent character.

My second question is whether there will be more time-jumps in the narration. I really liked the way this one fit in and the hazy, almost dream-like quality it was given, so I hope there are more.

Finally, I'm wondering why the janitor so desperately wanted to save Joe Christmas. Actually, the whole character of the janitor confuses me. Why did he watch Christmas so intently? What did he mean by his words to the dietitian? I need some help understanding him.