Lena Grove

     In Light in August, Lena Grove is the only character who has to wear her flaw out in the open for everyone to see and judge every single day. She is very obviously pregnant, and it is very easy for everyone in the town to look down and see that she has no wedding band. In the time period that the story is set in, it is extremely disgraceful to have sexual relations with a man and not be his wife. Not only has Lena been sexually active, but she has also become pregnant because of her actions. Now she is walking blindly in search of a man who has no intentions of taking care of her and has been running from her since the day he found out she was expecting a child. Lena's stubbornness and ability to be oblivious to the looks and stares directed towards her help her to cope with her struggle. However, her actions seem a bit odd and peculiar and makes the reader wonder what Faulkner hasn't yet told us about her past. No woman in her right mind would walk from Alabama to Mississippi when she was around eight months pregnant. It is not safe, and it does not make any sense. It leads me to wonder if Lena is perhaps slightly mentally handicapped in some way. This handicap only makes Lena's struggle in individual versus the society more difficult for her. However, the obliviousness helps her in coping with and handling her permanent label as an outcast.