Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Light in August, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Gender, and Transgression
Freedom, Discipline, and Violence
Names and Identity
Strangers, Outcasts, and Belonging
Haunting and the Past
Summary
Analysis
Lena Grove has been walking for almost a month, and has journeyed all the way from Alabama to Mississippi on foot. It is the farthest away from home she has ever been. Before her parents died, she used to go into town with her father and would also not wear shoes then, instead placing them wrapped in a piece of paper beside her in the wagon. Shortly before arriving in town she would request that her father let her out so she could walk. Although she never told him this, the reason why she did so was because she wanted the townspeople to have the impression that she lived in the town too.
The opening of the novel provides some important information about Lena. The fact that as a young woman she has been brave enough to travel so far alone indicates that she has a fearless, free-spirited character. Moreover, the detail about her childhood trips to town indicates that she seeks a sense of belonging, and perhaps dreams of escaping rural life for a more exciting, urban existence.
Themes
Before her father passed away, he told Lena and her brother, McKinley, to go to Doane’s Mill, where McKinley found work. When Lena and McKinley first arrived, there were five other families living there. McKinley is 20 years older than Lena. His wife seemed to always be pregnant or giving birth, and Lena helped with the housework and childcare. Lena believes performing these duties are part of why she became pregnant so quickly herself.
Lena comes from a somewhat difficult background, due to the deaths of her parents. Her labor supporting McKinley’s wife shows that she is hard-working and experienced for a young woman; at the same time, her belief that this work helped her become pregnant so quickly suggests that she is a little unintelligent or naïve.
Themes
When McKinley found out Lena was pregnant, he called her a “whore.” The father of her baby, Lucas Burch, left town six months before, although Lena remains convinced that he will come back for her. However, she nonetheless decides to flee McKinley’s house through a window, taking a small bundle of belongings and 35¢. She walks for a long time, then stops to sit in a ditch and rest. She hears a wagon approaching and thinks about seeing Lucas again once she gets to Jefferson.
Lena’s abandonment by both Lucas and McKinley shows how harshly women are punished for sexual transgressions in the world of the novel. Despite being left completely powerless, however, Lena optimistically sets off to find Lucas herself, an act that shows both courage and naivety.
Themes
Two men who saw Lena walk past, Winterbottom and Armistid, wonder aloud how she became pregnant and marvel at the fact that she is travelling on foot. Armistid has come to make on offer on a cultivator that Winterbottom is selling. However, he fails to negotiate the price he wants, and begins driving his wagon home. He passes Lena, sitting in the ditch with no shoes on, and offers her a ride. He notices that she isn’t wearing a wedding ring, and is shocked to hear that she’s come all the way from Alabama.
In her own quiet way, Lena is significantly disturbing the norms of the world in which the novel is set. Not only is she unmarried and pregnant, but she moves freely through the world seemingly oblivious or indifferent to the judgment of others. This sense of freedom (and also vulnerability) is represented by her bare feet.
Themes
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Lena tells Armistid that she has come to find Lucas Burch, and that people she has met on the journey have been kind to her. She says she is confident that she will find Lucas. After they ride for a while, Lena goes to get out, but Armistid tells her they are still 12 miles away from Jefferson and offers for her to stay at his house. He says he will drive her into town the next morning. Armistid thinks about how when women get married or “get into trouble” (get pregnant) without being married, they decide to leave the “woman race” and join the “man race.” This is why women have started engaging in male habits like taking snuff, and why they are now agitating to get the vote.
Armistid’s thoughts about women reflect a general anxiety about changing social norms during this period. Following the First World War, categories of race and gender became more unstable in many countries. International campaigns for women’s suffrage went hand-in-hand with cultural shifts wherein young women began partaking in activities (such as drinking and taking snuff) that were considered “improper” for their gender.
Themes
Armistid’s wife Martha is inside the house. She has birthed five children in six years, and has a “cold, harsh, irascible face.” Armistid explains that Lena has come from Alabama hoping to find Lucas Burch, who she has heard is working at the planing mill in Jefferson. Martha implies that Lena is naïve for believing she will find Lucas, and sarcastically comments that he’ll surely be waiting “with the house all furnished and all.”
Both Martha and McKinley’s wife show the fate that awaits most women in the world of the novel: birthing many children and being trapped in a lifetime of intense, never-ending domestic labor. Considering that Lena is pregnant, this is likely the future that awaits her too, but for now she is exercising her freedom while she still can.
Themes
Martha grumbles, “You durn men.” Lena offers to help Martha with the cooking, but Martha refuses. She asks if Lena is married to Lucas, and Lena admits that she isn’t. She accidentally lets slip that Lucas left shortly after finding out that she was pregnant, and then explains that he did not warn her he had to leave because he didn’t want to worry her. The foreman at Doane’s Mill resented Lucas because he was “young and full of life.” Although at first she was worried about being pregnant without having his last name, eventually Lena gave Lucas her blessing to go. Since he left, she has been too focused on preparing for the baby to arrive to care about what people think of her marriage status.
It is becoming more and more clear that Lena has an overly trusting view of Lucas. This is a stark contrast to the pessimism of Martha, who seems resentful of her husband and men in general. Lena’s mention of the fact that she doesn’t have Lucas’s last name is an early indication of the importance of names in the novel. Throughout the narrative, names provide key information about who a person is. In Lena’s case, her name betrays her scandalous transgression of social norms.
Themes
Lena says she is sure Lucas sent for her, but that his message “got lost on the way.” This is why she decided to eventually set off on the journey herself, without having heard from him. She didn’t know where he had gone, but found out he was at the Jefferson planing mill by asking strangers. She has faith that God will ensure their family is reunited in time for the baby’s arrival. Later that night, Martha retrieves money she has saved up from selling eggs. She tells Armistid to give Lena the money and drive her to Varner’s store in the morning.
Martha may not be a warm person, but she feels sympathy for Lena—so much so that she is willing to give up the savings she has earned from selling eggs in order to help her. This is significant, because unlike men, women like Martha do not have proper access to their own income. Instead, they make money from little side jobs like selling eggs.
Themes
The next morning Armistid and Lena eat a breakfast Martha has cooked for them before they set off again. When Armistid gives Lena the money from Martha, she tries to refuse, but Armistid insists and says she might need it. Martha is nowhere to be seen, so Lena tells Armistid to say goodbye for her. They drive to the store, where Armistid asks around for someone willing to give Lena a ride the rest of the way to Jefferson. He tells Lena that she is welcome to stay at his house again if she passes back through, but she assures him it won’t be necessary.
Neither Armistid nor Martha are particularly warm people, but the kindness they show Lena indicates that they have good principles. Moreover, this goodness sets them apart from many of the other characters in the novel, who are overtly judgmental and cruel. Rather than blaming Lena for her situation—as many others would do in a society so fearful of female sexuality—they take pity on her.
Themes
After Armistid leaves, Lena tells her story to Varner, the storeowner. Varner comments that Lucas, like other men, has fled from his duty, but Lena doesn’t seem to hear him. Lena buys a can of sardines from the store, and is soon after offered a ride into Jefferson in another wagon.
Lena’s faith and optimism are so strong that when people express doubt that she will be reunited with Lucas, she doesn’t even hear them. This is moving but also worrying, as it shows how vulnerable she is, and illustrates how Lucas took advantage of her in the first place.
Themes
Lena asks the man driving the wagon if he knows Lucas Burch. The driver says he doesn’t, and asks why Lena was allowed to come to Jefferson alone. Lena replies that her parents are dead and that she “just decided to come on.” She offers the driver some of her cheese, crackers, and sardines, but he refuses, so she eats alone. While she is eating, she experiences a sharp spasm in her stomach, and thinks she must be having twins. They arrive in Jefferson, and the driver points to a house burning in the distance.
This passage shows how the death of Lena’s parents (and, ironically, her lack of husband) afford her a greater level of freedom than most women. She can make decisions for herself, rather than having to wait for the approval of a male authority. Meanwhile, the house burning in the distance is an ominous sign of what awaits in Jefferson.
Themes
