Joe’s bitter attack against McEachern represents all the hostility that he has felt for years and his youthful desire to protect the woman with whom he has been sleeping, especially when she has just been attacked by McEachern. Most important in this chapter is Bobbie’s sudden betrayal of Joe. She […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 9Summary and Analysis Chapter 8
This chapter moves back somewhat in time. The last chapter involved McEachern’s discovery of the suit. In this chapter, Joe recalls the events leading up to his buying the suit, that is, his meeting and affair with Bobbie Allen. Joe was attracted to Bobbie because she had a small, hard, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 8Summary and Analysis Chapter 7
The first scene in this chapter is a brilliant capturing of the self-righteous, overly religious individual. Mr. McEachern is so intent that Joe learn his catechism that he becomes an almost inhuman monster. He loses all of his sense of pure Christian values in his desire to force the young […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 7Summary and Analysis Chapter 6
This chapter jumps back in time to the earliest period of Joe’s life that he can remember. This chapter narrates the episode which affected Joe’s entire outlook on life and thus became one of the most crucial episodes in Joe’s life. First, it was there that Joe first learned that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 6Summary and Analysis Chapter 5
The reader should, first of all, be aware that this chapter represents a short jump back in time. The events take place on the night and day preceding the death of Joanna Burden. The idea that returns constantly to Joe’s mind is the forthcoming act of murder. Having established that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 5Summary and Analysis Chapter 4
Chapter 4 offers a good opportunity for studying Faulkner’s narrative method. A technique often employed by Faulkner in this novel and others involves the use of indirection and circumlocution. In other words, Faulkner will often approach his subject from an oblique position and will withhold important information, creating an air […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 4Summary and Analysis Chapter 3
This chapter is concerned mainly with giving the background to Hightower’s life. We hear these things not from Hightower but from the town. It will be the end of the novel before we hear Hightower’s view of these events and then it will be only as he re-examines them in […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 3Summary and Analysis Chapter 2
The reader should be aware of the time of this section. It is the day that Joanna Burden’s house is burning down and therefore the thought of Christmas connected with Joanna Burden causes Byron to think about him; thus, the reader is introduced to Christmas long before actually meeting him. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 2Summary and Analysis Chapter 1
During the course of the novel, Faulkner will investigate several varied themes connected with modern civilization. Some of the dominant ideas in the novel involve (1) man’s isolation, (2) man’s relationship to the community, and (3) man’s inhumanity to man. Many of these ideas will appear to be negative or […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 1Character List
Joe Christmas The central character, who in southern terminology, is a “white Negro” because he possesses a small amount of Negro blood. Joanna Burden An advocate for the Negro race who has lived in Jefferson as an outcast all her life. She befriends Joe and later becomes his mistress. Lena […]
Read more Character List