7 Light in August, Ch 13-14

1. Maculate: 1 : marked with spots : blotched
2 : impure, besmirched
-Merriam-Webster Online.

Page 318: "He hears now only the myriad and interminable insects, leaning in the window, breathing the hot still rich maculate smell of the earth, thinking of how when he was young, a youth, he had loved darkness, of walking or sitting alone among trees at night."


2. After the discovery of Miss Burden's body, the sheriff whips a black man until he confesses that Joe Christmas and Joe Brown have been living in the cabin. He sends news to Miss Burden's relatives and they respond quickly offering a $1,000 reward. Joe Brown appears at the courthouse, attempting to claim the reward by telling the authorities that Joe Christmas is guilty. Meanwhile, Hightower and Byron discuss what to do about Lena. Byron wants to let her move into the cabin, but Hightower does not agree with this plan. Byron ends up disregarding the ex-minister's advice and camps out in a tent outside the cabin in case Lena needs help in her advanced stage of pregnancy. The authorities are having difficulty finding Joe Christmas, but they have a lucky break when a man reports that he stormed into a church nearby and went on a wild rampage. The search party runs off and believes they are very tight on Joe's trail, but he evades them once again. After days of little to no food and rest, Joe is growing weary and the days begin to blur. Eventually he gets a ride to Mottstown, which is where the section leaves off.


3. I thought the part where Joe is detailed losing track of time and reverting to animal instincts was very cool. I can't even imagine so losing sense of myself that, as happens to Joe on page 333, "He could never know when eh would pass from one to the other, when he would find that he had been asleep without remembering having lain down, or find himself walking without remembering having waked." He no longer feels hunger or weariness; he is a lost wanderer with no needs and no wants, just instincts and the constant of travel. Joe Christmas seems to have a warped or possibly even completely lacking sense of identity to begin with, so it's not incredibly surprising that he loses the ability to feel himself. However, it doesn't become less interesting because of this. It's as if he's wandering through a dream. There is no time, as seen by his having to ask strangers for the day of the week. There are no rules other than to avoid being caught. He feels no remorse for his murder, which also seems strange to me. When his side of the story was explained I thought that since Miss Burden threatened him first he might feel regret and not be a completely cold-blooded murderer, but thus far he has proven me wrong.


4. My first question is whether Joe has any remorse or truly doesn't care about the fact that he committed murder.

My second question is whether Joe Brown will run when he learns about Lena living in the cottage. Although it's one of the major issues of the book, the Lena-Joe/Lucas situation hasn't been brought up recently.

My final question over this section is whether Byron will make a move on Lena. I feel like if it's within his power he will try to prevent Lena from ever seeing Joe/Lucas again, but I'm not sure if it will be possible. I hope he doesn't go to extreme measures and do something stupid in his infatuation.