Hightower House (Location Key)

The house that Hightower buys in Light in August when he is forced to give up the church with its parsonage is a "dead and empty small house" on a "dead and empty little street" (310): "unpainted, small, obscure, poorly lighted, mansmelling, manstale" (48). Maples, crepe myrtle, syringea, and althea grow in the small yard. On the corner of the yard is an old sign, "three feet long and eighteen inches high," which advertises art lessons, hand-painted greeting cards, and photograph developing (58). Faulkner's working title for the novel was "The Dark House," but it's not known whether he meant this house or the equally dark house in which Joanna Burden lives - or perhaps another place entirely. There are a number of 'dark houses' in Yoknapatawpha.