Light in August - Hightower's Epiphany Most reviews of Faulkner's novel Light in August generally consider the character Joe Christmas. Christmas certainly deserves the attention given to it, but this attention too often obscures other remarkable elements of the complex novel. Another character, often lost in the shuffle, is Reverend Gail Hightower, who deserves a closer look. A closer look at Hightower reveals Faulkner's deep concern for the South and the collective suffering of its people. Hightower, through his own personal revelation, transcends the curse that the South has suffered for so long. Of course, the central character of Joe Christmas has dominated criticism of the novel, primarily because he represents the problematic and sensitive issue of racism. Those wishing to prove that Faulkner was or was not a racist often turn to Christmas - who is abandoned as a baby outside an orphanage and found on Christmas Day (hence his name); treated as a “negro bastard” (LIA 135) by the orphanage dietician when he surprises her with a young doctor; and still suspects he might possess black blood. All of this leads many readers to see Christmas as a symbol of racial tension and conflict. For example, in his italicized edits of the excerpt from the novel he used for The Portable Faulkner, Malcolm Cowley refers to the character as "Joe Christmas, the mulatto" (51). Unfortunately, such readings assume facts that are not in evidence. Cowley's additions do more than provide necessary context; they resolve a question with which Faulkner was completely unengaged. He talked about the Christmas story, or lack thereof: I think that was his tragedy - he... middle of paper... Douglas Day. New York: Vintage, 1973.------. Light in August. 1932. New York: Vintage, 1987.------. The Undefeated. 1938. New York: Vintage, 1959. Gwynn, Frederick L. and Joseph Blotner, eds. Faulkner at University. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995.King, Richard B. A Southern Renaissance: The Cultural Awakening of the American South, 1930-1955. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Longley, John L., Jr. “Joe Christmas: The Hero of the Modern World.” Faulkner: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966: 163-174. Runyan, Harry. A Faulkner Glossary. New York: Citadel, 1964. Snead, James. Division figures. New York: Methuen, 1986. Taylor, Walter. Faulkner's Search for the South. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.