Fire Of Salvation:Joe Christmas's Self-Construction In Light In August

Light in August is one of William Faulkner's masterpieces.It tells a story about Joe Christmas' s self-construction.Since its publication in 1932,it has aroused much attention to the identity of Joe Christmas in the novel.Using Jacques Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory,this thesis studies the image of fire on the self-construction of Joe Christmas,exploring the power of imagery in characterization and narrative advancement,and the human virtues reflected in William Faulkner's literary works.This study is intended to answer the following two questions:(1)What does the fire in Light in August signify?(2)How does Joe Christmas reconstruct his self? The research findings indicate that the fire signifies Joe Christmas' s salvation and selfconstruction and contributes to the narrative advancement.In light of the Mirror Stage Theory,human beings develop over three stages: The Real Order,the Imaginary Order,and the Symbolic Order.The fire burns down the fragmented self in the Real Order.In this stage,Joe Christmas lacks the parents' love and he experiences the racial discrimination from the society.Seen from this perspective,Joe Christmas has difficulties in constructing his self.In addition,the fire denies the search for the white self in the Imaginary Order.As a matter of fact,Joe Christmas tends to be a white.He cannot get along well with black people,nor can he assimilate into the white community.Finally,the fire awakens Joe Christmas' s subjectivity in the Symbolic Order.Life is too short to be confused by one's identity.The life of fire is short as well,but it can burn down the evil things and bring light into the world.Joe Christmas as a human being should learn to tolerate and respect different people from different races in his short span of life.This is because tolerating and respecting are the goodness of human nature.With these,he undertakes responsibility and accepts punishment.At the last moment of his life,he finishes his self-construction and realizes his salvation.Therefore,this research indicates that the fire symbolizes the lightening of the goodness of human nature,and is a turning point in Joe Christmas' s self-construction and his salvation.It is also found that Faulkner's literary works cover the concerns of humanity.This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter 1 introduces the author William Faulkner and the novel Light in August.The literature review and the purpose of this study are also included in this section.Chapter 2 is the theoretical framework.In this section,Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory is introduced first,and the connection between this theory and the novel is constructed.Following this theory,Joe Christmas' s selfconstruction can be divided into three stages,which are in agreement with Lacan's three Orders.Chapter 3 probes into the significations of the fire and illustrates the relation between the fire and Joe Christmas.In this section,Joe Christmas' s identity recognition and self-construction is completely elaborated on the basis of the Mirror Stage theory.Chapter 4 is a further discussion of the thematic implications of Light in August.First,it discusses how William Faulkner's artistic skills,such as the implication of the imagery in Light in August and in other works contribute to the characterization of the main figures and the elucidation of the theme.Second,it probes into the illumination from Joe Christmas' s self-construction to the black people or even the human beings.Chapter 5 is the conclusion of research.The society in Light in August is a big dark house and people in that society are all tortured.William Faulkner's novels possess the universal concerns about human beings.In Light in August,the natural light,the light of fire and Joe Christmas' s self-construction bring light to the human nature and to the hope of survival.