Cultural Binaries

Jessica Benjamin and her ideas about binaries in our society and literature is back for more. In the passage with Joe Christmas running/walking through the town in chapter five displays some of the major binaries of the book. One of the binaries Faulkner explores is the classic WHITE/black binary. This binary can also be looked at as a LIGHT/dark binary. In the section, Faulkner writes how it was if "the black life, the black breathing had compounded the substance of breath so that not only voices but moving bodies and light itself must become fluid and accrete" (page 114). The contrast between the light and the dark/black consoles a deeper meaning. The black life seems to almost be lifeless and not breathing but the light is fluid and full of life. Also, Faulkner writes, "Now he could see them:.....on a lighted veranda four people sat about a card table, the white faces intent and the sharp low light, the bare arms of the women glaring smooth and white above the trivial cards. 'that's all I wanted' he thought. 'That don't seem like a whole lot to ask'" (Page 115). The "them" he is referring to in the beginning is the white people he has come across in the town, he sees them playing cards under a lighted table that has the connotations of life all over it. While the black life in the previous section is morbid and death related. Also significant in the chapter is the FAST/slow binary. In the same section of him going through the town, when he encounters certain areas, he changes his speed and attitude. All the times he increases pace or acts out, like with a razor, he is in a black area of the town. And every time he is relaxed and slowing down, he is in the white areas of the town. Benjamin's binaries never seem to leave our literary life, and for good reason. Her exploration of binaries allows us to enhance our knowledge of the passage and book and gives us key clues to the books overall theme or moral.