Light in August

by William Faulkner

Light in August: Foil 1 key example

Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Brown and Christmas:

Joe Brown and Joe Christmas are foils. Not only do they live in the same cabin near Joanna's house, but Faulkner also invites the reader to compare them by giving them the same first name. The name is fitting for both of them: simple and common, it helps them blend in as they drift from place to place and try to hide from their past. They each operate a bit outside the law and outside the strictures of social respectability. Christmas has killed his adoptive father and has an illicit affair with Joanna. Brown has abandoned Lena and is making money off of an illegal bootlegging operation. They both know each other's secrets and live together not happily, exactly, but with the understanding that betraying one another would bring mutually assured destruction.