The Grimm Truths About Society and Joe
Christmas In the novel, A Light in August, William Faulkner introduces us to a
wide range of characters
of various backgrounds and
personalities. Common to all of them is the fact that each is type cast into a
certain role in the novel and in society.
Lena is the poor, white trash southern
girl who serves to weave the story together. Hightower is the fanatic preacher
who is the dark, shameful
secret of Jefferson. Joanna Burden is
the middle-aged maiden from the north who is often accused of being a
³nigger-lover². And Joe Christmas is
the epitome of an outsider. None of them
are conventional, everyday people. They are all in some way disjointed from
society; they do not fit in
with the crowd. That is what makes them
intriguing and that is why Faulkner documents their story. Percy Grimm is
another such character and he
plays a vital role in the novel. He is
the one to finally terminate Joe Christmas, who has been suffering his entire
life. Grimm is the enforcer, the one
man who will uphold American pride at
all costs. He also stands for everything in the world that has held Christmas
back. He is the prototype of
the ruthless enemy who is the source of
all of Christmas¹ struggles. And Christmas can never escape him. He can run, as
he has been doing all his
life and as he does in his desperate
attempt to escape. But he can never hide, as he tries to do at Hightower¹s and
as he has been hiding his true
self from the world he hates so much.
Percy Grimm represents the unmerciful society that has restrained and
persecuted Joe Christmas; it is only
fitting that he should be the one to
finally bring him down in the end. Percy Grimm was born into the American south
and grew up to be a symbol
and backbone of the environment he was
raised in. His only regret in life is being born too late. He feels that his
sole purpose in life would be to
fight in World War I and defend the
country to which he is completely and utterly devoted. But the war happened to
occur in the time period
where ³he should have been a man instead
of a child² (Faulkner, p.450). So when he grows to be a man, he joins the
National Guard, which is the
closest thing to an army he can find.
But instead of protecting the country from foreign enemies, his job with the
National Guard entails protecting
the country from certain things within
itself. Joe Christmas and the situation he has created is a direct threat to
Percy Grimm and the establishment
he represents. Although Grimm¹s primary
objective is to protect Christmas from hostile crowds, Grimm is imprinted with
a sort of primitive and
instinctive hatred for who Joe Christmas
is, what he is, and what he has done. Grimm sees him as a dangerous, unknown
and more importantly
³nigger-blooded² criminal. He had the
nerve to violate and savagely murder a white woman who happened to be part of
Grimm¹s specifically
drawn definition of ³American². He has
adopted, adheres to, and enforces the ³belief that the white race is superior
to any and all other races and
that the American is superior to all
other white races and that the American uniform is superior to all men, and
that all that would ever be required
of him in payment for this belief, this
privilege, would be his own life² (Faulkner, p.451). Percy Grimm is a tough,
humorless, and forceful individual
who commands the respect of others. He
is always on some sort of mission involving the preservation of order and he is
determined to use all of
his resources to accomplish his goal.
Grimm is referred to by Faulkner as ³the Player². His main purpose in the novel
is to play the part of the
executioner. Christmas does not stand
much of a chance. Joe Christmas has always been hampered by a society that
shuns him, alienates him,
disgraces him and chases him away. Percy
Grimm is the human representation of this society. The climactic chase scene
between Grimm and
Christmas is symbolic of how Christmas
has been running from people and places all his life. He was on the road all
the time and was never able to
settle down in one place for a
significant time period. Society never accepted his heritage and personality
and so he was always running away from
it. But there comes a point where he can
run no longer. ³But there was too much running with him, stride for stride with
him. Not pursuers: but
himself: years, acts, deeds omitted and
committed² (Faulkner, p.448). The handcuffs which hinder his speed and mobility
represent the burden he
has carried throughout his life. This
burden includes his ancestry, his childhood, the people he has encountered,
acts he has committed, and the
experiences he has had. Eventually this
all catches up to him as Grimm finally tracks him down and shoots him. It is
almost as if fate has decreed
that there could be no other end to the
troubled life of Joe Christmas. The name ³Grimm² is also quite significant.
Faulkner has a tendency to name
his characters in such a way that their
role in the story is foretold at first glance. Percy Grimm is symbolic of the
Grim Reaper. This man is relentless
in his pursuit of Joe Christmas, as is
the fabled messenger of death in his pursuit of a soul. The name ³Grimm²
inspires fear in the reader¹s
immediate reaction towards him. And his
actions back it up. The presence he radiates intimidates everyone he encounters
to submission.
Eventually Joe Christmas succumbs to him
amid a climactic inner struggle involving his own perception of himself. As he
lay dying, he feels the evil,
dark, and ³black² part of himself
withering away. ³the pent black blood seemed to rush like a released breath. It
seemed to rush out of his pale
body² (Faulkner, p. 465). His soul has
vanished and only his pale, clean, ³white² body is left behind. This may be the
reason that at the time that
Grimm is castrating him (one of the
worst scenarios imaginable to most men), he is at peace with himself. He has
always hated the ³black² side of
himself because that is what everyone
else hates about him. Since everyone else is against him, he has turned against
himself as well. Grimm, who is
a representation of southern society, is
racist and intolerant of Joe Christmas and what he has done. He shows no mercy
in finishing off his
miserable, confused, and troubled life.
And this is no different from the way society has always treated him. Although
the actual character of Percy
Grimm is only covered in a few pages of
the novel, the society he represents exists as the stage on which the entire
story is set. All of the main
characters are intertwined as they
struggle to make a life in the post- Civil War American South. No character has
more trouble dealing with his
identity in the cruel world than Joe
Christmas. He cannot continue to run and hide forever. He has never been able
to deal with who he truly is and
what that means to the people
surrounding him. So he is constantly running away, literally and figuratively.
But when he tries to hide is when he is
finally caught. This occurrence has
repeated itself time and time again throughout his life. Whenever he remained
in one place for too long, trying his
best to make a home, it comes to a
crashing end and his on the run again. He leaves the orphanage after he has
sabotaged his existence there. He
kills McEachern and runs away from home.
He gets beaten and robbed on his final night with Bobbie. And he finally snaps
and kills Joanna
Burden and runs away for the last time.
As he runs through the woods during his final few moments on earth, he is
relentlessly chased by Percy
Grimm, his enemy and torturer. In one
last desperate attempt to escape, he hides at Hightower¹s and is subsequently
discovered and executed
without mercy. But by this time, he is
at peace with himself, knowing that he will no longer be forced to run and hide
from anything. The society
that holds him with such disdain has
finally won their eternal battle. But he just does not care anymore. Joe
Christmas surrenders to Percy Grimm
with apathetic contentment.
Word Count: 1440
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