Light in August

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 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.