the town decides he is ‘a negro’, and therefore worthy of execution. This internal strife is essentially Gothic in its probing of the fears of duality and split psychologies, an undefinable and inexplicable paradox within the human brain. In the words of critic Robert Penn Warren, Joe’s only wish is ‘to define himself as human’ and escape the dichotomy and disorder of his racial ambiguity. Faulkner’s presentation of, and withholding of the truth about, Joe’s true heritage reflects on the (unnecessary) power of race in Southern America. Joe’s whole life is spent quite tormented in search of closure and order, but in his own reflections, he notes that he’d be ‘damned if I haven’t wasted a lot of time’ if he were to discover that he were not, in fact, mixed race. Ironically, he is ‘damned’ already, by his self-inflicted struggle in search of control over this racial identity. Faulkner shows that Joe’s torment is based in the lack of order and control he has over his own heritage, which was so paramount to one’s identity in Jefferson and Southern America as a whole. Perhaps Faulkner is alerting the reader that without order it becomes near-impossible to identify yourself for yourself and that man’s – and Joe’s – ceaseless search for order is ultimately fruitless and instead self-acceptance is the solution: Joe seems to realise this during his epiphanic shoe episode where he finally sees what he is, instead of the ‘drowned corpse’ he sees in himself earlier in the text. The more localised criticism that Faulkner presents is about society and how the lack of order is so feared and abjected. However, it also highlights the flawed rationale behind racial prejudices in the Southern States and beyond. aulkner’s presentation of women in Light in August as a source of disruption and disorder amongst the ‘cold’ and ‘manlike’ world when viewed through Joe’s prism of misogyny also shows the inherent fear of a lack of control. Throughout Joe’s story, he is confronted with different women who all exhibit one same feature; their apparent irrationality terrifies Joe and inspires him to hate them for, in his view, precipitating the disorder from which he is constantly trying to escape. It starts with the dietician, whose misunderstanding with Joe leaves him in a state of ‘astonishment, shock, outrage’ as to why he remains unpunished for witnessing her illicit sex with the orphanage doctor. The dietician’s experience is also the one that triggers Joe’s inability to empathise with women, and potentially his desire for aggressive, perhaps retributive sex with Joanna and others. Next in the line is Mrs McEachern. Although we get the impression that she means well, Joe despises and fears the woman. Joe ‘did not answer’ when she calls for him. Faulkner suggests this is because of the ‘stupid vanity of a man’, which in turn suggests that Faulkner is criticising the patriarchal and hyper-masculine attitudes of early 20th century America. However, there is a blurred line, as Faulkner has been described as a ‘village misogynist’ by the critic Leslie A. Fiedler. Because of Faulkner’s debatable attitudes towards women, Mrs McEachern’s purpose as a criticism of the patriarchy is hardly watertight. However, what is certain is that Joe hates her, and holds her to blame for his distrust of women. When she first meets him, Joe ‘was waiting’ for the punishment, that in fact never came, leaving him; puzzled’ and ‘nervous’. Her meddling in the ‘impersonal’ and ‘inescapable’ punishment gave it an ‘odour’. This is Faulkner’s way of showing the extent to which Joe reveres and yearns for order, and how – for Joe - any woman disturbs and sours this stability. Faulkner’s presentation of this fear of women presents Joe as irrational and absurd, ironically paradoxical to his need for the order, strict control and punishment of men. The question of female power in the Gothic canon is one that has plagued authors of both sex, and throughout the genre’s history, heroines have been prevalent. Light in August and Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber present women as upending the patriarchal and homocentric climate in which both texts were written. F
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