Objectives

• Analyse how Faulkner's non-linear structure in Chapters 1–3 positions Lena Grove and Joe Christmas as contrasting archetypes of fate and motion.
• Analyse how Faulkner uses the three phases of Joe and Joanna's relationship in Chapter 11 to dramatise the intersection of race, sexuality, and Calvinist guilt.
• Evaluate how the language of Chapters 13 and 19 constructs the Jefferson community as a mechanism of racial violence rather than social order.
• Analyse how Hightower's final vision in Chapter 20 uses the motif of the Confederate cavalry charge to expose the South's self-destructive mythology.
• Write a sustained, evidenced analytical essay that tracks a single idea — the construction of Joe Christmas's racial identity — across at least three chapters, using embedded quotation and AO2-level language analysis.

The sequence

1. Lesson 1: Two Journeys, Two Fates: Lena Grove and Joe Christmas in Chapters 1–3

   55 min · ch. 1, 2, 3

   Do now

   On the board: Lena Grove walks toward Jefferson while Joe Christmas is taken away from it as a baby. By positioning these two characters next to each other right from the beginning, Faulkner may be highlighting the contrasting paths of fate and choice, suggesting that one's journey can be shaped by both circumstance and personal decisions.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the opening paragraph of Chapter 1 — 'Sitting beside the road, watching the wagon mount the hill toward her…' — illustrating how the present-tense rhythm of Lena's actions ('she has been doing this for four weeks') conveys a feeling of calm, determined momentum. In contrast, examine the passive construction in Chapter 2's opening, where Joe is 'left,' 'found,' and 'named' by others. This shows how Faulkner reflects the presence and absence of agency through sentence structure right from the beginning.

   Independent task

   Students will write a PEEL paragraph (approximately 150 words) in response to this question: How does Faulkner's structural juxtaposition of Chapters 1 and 2 create contrasting relationships with fate for Lena Grove and Joe Christmas? Each student must include at least two quotations—one from Chapter 1 and one from Chapter 2—and analyze at least one grammatical or syntactical feature from each quotation. Paragraphs will be collected at the end of the lesson and assessed based on the quality of their language-level analysis.

   Exit ticket

   Write one sentence explaining why Faulkner might have chosen to open the novel with Lena rather than Joe, given that Joe's story is the novel's central tragedy.

2. Lesson 2: The Catechism and the Razor: Calvinist Violence in Chapters 6 and 7

   55 min · ch. 6, 7

   Do now

   On the board: Read this sentence from Chapter 6 — 'He was thinking then that perhaps he could not help it, since it was as though he had known all his life that he would some day do what he was about to do.' Write one sentence explaining what this reveals about Joe's perception of his own will, and one sentence posing a question about it that you still can't answer.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the catechism scene in Chapter 6, where McEachern beats Joe three times at three-hour intervals for not memorizing the Presbyterian catechism. Pay special attention to Faulkner's use of the word 'just' ('the blows fell with a slow and measured just quality') and the paradox that Joe's silence represents both resistance and submission. Illustrate to students how the religious language — 'just', 'ordained', 'ritual' — positions McEachern's violence within a theological framework, preparing Joe to perceive all future suffering as pre-ordained punishment.

   Independent task

   Students are to compose a comparative paragraph of roughly 180 words that addresses the question: How do Chapters 6 and 7 together illustrate that Joe Christmas has learned to perceive intimacy solely through pain and wrongdoing? In their responses, students should include quotes from the catechism described in Chapter 6 and from the moment in Chapter 7 when Joe tells Bobbie Allen he is 'part negro.' Each quotation must be analyzed for its language, followed by a comparative insight into what both scenes reveal about Joe's emotional development. The completed paragraphs will be collected and graded.

   Exit ticket

   In one or two sentences, explain what the word 'ritual' — used repeatedly in Chapter 6 — suggests about McEachern's Calvinism and its effect on Joe's understanding of punishment.

3. Lesson 3: 'The Savage and Fecund' — Race, Sexuality, and the Three Phases in Chapter 11

   55 min · ch. 11, 12

   Do now

   On the board: In Chapter 11, Faulkner breaks down Joe and Joanna's relationship into three phases. Before you read, take a moment to predict in two or three sentences what you believe shifts throughout these phases between a man who struggles to identify his own race and a woman whose New England ancestors fought for abolition. What kinds of tensions do you think Faulkner will explore?

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the transition into Phase Two of Chapter 11, where Joanna starts to corrupt Joe, and her language shifts to 'the language of whores.' Focus on Faulkner's choice of the word 'corrupt' and the phrase 'the wild, despairing quality of a nymphomaniac.' Illustrate how Faulkner projects Joanna's Calvinist guilt onto her sexuality and how Joe's racial ambiguity serves as a means of transgression for Joanna. She is attracted not just to Joe himself but also to the implications of what the white South has made him represent. Analyze how the syntax breaks down in this section, reflecting a state of psychological disintegration.

   Independent task

   Students will compose two connected paragraphs totaling around 250 words that address the following question: How does Faulkner employ the three-phase structure of Chapter 11 to illustrate that Joe and Joanna's relationship is ultimately undermined not by their individual psychological states, but by the racial and religious ideologies prevalent in the American South? In their response, students must include quotations from at least two of the three phases and highlight a specific linguistic technique in each quote—such as diction, syntax, imagery, or register—before linking their analysis to the themes of race or religion. This assignment will be collected and graded.

   Exit ticket

   Write one sentence explaining why Faulkner might have chosen to narrate the three phases of Joe and Joanna's relationship retrospectively — as memory — rather than in real time.

4. Lesson 4: The Town as Executioner: Community and Mob Violence in Chapters 13 and 19

   55 min · ch. 13, 19

   Do now

   On the board: Read this sentence from Chapter 13 — 'The town had suddenly accepted the negro as a negro; that was why it was so simple.' Write two sentences: one describing what you think 'simple' means here, and another discussing what it shows about Jefferson's approach to racial categories.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of Percy Grimm's pursuit of Joe Christmas in Chapter 19, centering on the sentence 'He was moving with that lean, swift, blind obedience to whatever Player moved him on the Board.' Demonstrate to students how this chess metaphor reduces Grimm's moral agency, portraying him as a part of a system instead of a standalone villain. This idea is further emphasized by the passive constructions used throughout the chase sequence—Grimm is 'moved', Joe is 'run down'—which illustrates the novel's argument that racial violence is rooted in structure rather than individual actions.

   Independent task

   Students are required to write one extended paragraph of about 200 words answering the question: How does Faulkner use the language in Chapters 13 and 19 to depict the Jefferson community's pursuit of Joe Christmas as a collective and systemic act of racial violence, rather than as the wrongdoing of isolated individuals? In your response, make sure to quote from Chapter 13 (which illustrates the spread of the manhunt) and from Chapter 19 (which details Grimm's pursuit). Be sure to identify a specific literary technique used in each chapter. Conclude your paragraph with a sentence that links both passages to Faulkner's broader commentary on race in the American South. This work will be collected and graded.

   Exit ticket

   In one or two full sentences, explain what Faulkner achieves by giving Percy Grimm — rather than a named racist or a member of the Ku Klux Klan — the role of Joe's killer: what does this choice say about where racial violence comes from?

5. Lesson 5: The Wheel and the Charge: Hightower's Vision and the Essay

   60 min · ch. 16, 20, 2, 3, 6, 11, 19

   Do now

   On the board: In Chapter 20, Hightower observes his thoughts as though they are 'a wheel spinning in the darkness'. This spinning wheel could imply that Hightower's mind is caught in a cycle of confusion and reflection, while Faulkner may choose to conclude the novel's psychological exploration with Hightower to emphasize his complex inner turmoil over the more straightforward arcs of Joe Christmas or Lena Grove.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the climactic vision in Chapter 20, where Hightower sees the faces of Jefferson's dead — including Joe Christmas — merging into the face of his grandfather during the Confederate cavalry charge: 'They are all of them shapes of a dream… the faces are peaceful, not yet awake.' Highlight for students how the word 'peaceful' carries a heavy irony — Joe Christmas has just been shot and castrated — and discuss how Faulkner uses the merging of faces to convey that the South's Civil War mythology and its racial violence are intertwined narratives, replayed through generations.

   Independent task

   Write a comprehensive analytical essay of 500–600 words in response to the following prompt: "In Light in August, Faulkner depicts Joe Christmas as a man who is not ultimately undone by his own choices but rather by the South's relentless urge to categorize individuals by race." To what extent do you agree with this interpretation, and how does Faulkner employ language, structure, and form to support this argument? Your essay should: reference at least three chapters by their numbers, incorporate a minimum of four quotations (including at least one from Chapters 2–3 or 6, one from Chapter 11, and one from Chapter 19 or 20); analyze the language of each quotation at the level of words or phrases, identifying the techniques used; directly address the term "compulsion" from the question at least once; and conclude with a sentence that clearly states your qualified position on the extent to which you agree with the assertion. Essays must be written in silence and will be collected at the end of the lesson.

   Exit ticket

   Write one full sentence explaining which single word or phrase from Chapter 20 — Hightower's final vision — you would use as the epigraph to an essay about Joe Christmas's death, and why that word or phrase captures Faulkner's argument about race and the South more precisely than any other.

Activities

Assessment

• Exit ticket from Lesson 1 checks whether students can articulate Faulkner's structural purpose in opening with Lena rather than Joe, looking for the idea of contrasting agency.
• Collected paragraph from Lesson 2 checks whether students can identify religious diction in Chapter 6 and connect it to Joe's emotional formation, not merely summarise the plot.
• Collected paragraphs from Lesson 3 check whether students can distinguish between the three phases of Chapter 11 and attribute the relationship's collapse to ideology rather than individual psychology.
• Collected paragraph from Lesson 4 checks whether students can read the chess metaphor in Chapter 19 as a structural argument about systemic racism, not personal villainy.
• Exit ticket from Lesson 5 checks whether students can select and justify a single piece of language from Chapter 20 as a crystallisation of Faulkner's argument — this reveals the precision of their close reading before essays are marked.

Standards covered

Common Core 11 12

• RL.11-12.1 — Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• RL.11-12.3 — Analyse the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama, including where a story is set, how the action is ordered, and how the characters are introduced and developed.
• RL.11-12.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyse the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
• RL.11-12.5 — Analyse how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
• W.11-12.1 — Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

AP Literature

• Literary Argumentation (LAN-1) — Develop a thesis that interprets a literary text and requires defence with evidence from the text.
• Figurative Language (FIG-1) — Identify and analyse the function of figurative language in a literary text, including metaphor, imagery, and diction.
• Narration (NAR-1) — Analyse how an author's choices about narrative structure, point of view, and time sequence contribute to the work's meaning.
• Character (CHR-1) — Analyse how complex characters develop over the course of a text and interact with setting and theme.
• Literary and Intellectual Concepts (LIT-1) — Demonstrate understanding of how a text reflects or critiques its historical and cultural context.

AQA

• AO1 — Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 — Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts, including the effects of language, form, structure, and the methods used by the writer.
• AO3 — Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received, including the racial and religious context of the American South in the 1930s.
• AO5 — Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations, including critical readings of Joe Christmas as a Christ figure and as a victim of systemic racism.

Edexcel

• AO1 — Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 — Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts through Faulkner's use of non-linear structure, free indirect discourse, and Biblical register.
• AO3 — Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received, including the post-Reconstruction South and the prevalence of lynching in the early 1930s.
• AO4 — Explore connections across literary texts, including connections between Light in August and other Modernist treatments of identity and racial violence.