Unnamed Jefferson Townsmen 2

This entry supplements the "Unnamed Jefferson Townspeople" entry. It is necessary because, in addition to the major role that the white population as an aggregate plays in Light in August, the narrative identifies a number of behaviors specifically with the town's population of white males. For instance, after Hightower is rejected by his congregation, it is "loafers and such," men "who never went to church" and "little boys who did not know exactly" what the scandal was about, who listen to Hightower preach, and then, after his congregation finally locks him out of the church, it is a similarly male-identified group that witnesses his humiliation standing at the door (70). The novel's groups of men behave in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways when race, gender, sexuality are at issue. Hightower's employment of female and male Negro cooks, for example, occasions violent reprisals as well as offers of protection from differing groups including, presumably, the Ku Klux Klan. (The novel never directly identifies the members of the Ku Klux Klan, but Hightower receives a threat signed "K.K.K," 72).