Is there a “negro smell?”

Today in class we talked about Joe Christmas being particularly susceptible to “negro smells,” or, rather, the odors that he identifies as inherently belonging to black people. Professor Parham made the point that most people, regardless of race, generally smell roughly the same. At first I did not agree with this and I thought immediately of the aspect of African-American hair, specifically female African-American hair. African-American women are characteristically and stereotypcailly meticulous about their hair. Whether they are attempting to contradict genetics and straighten kinky hair or add a certain sheen to naturally maintained hair, they often use products -sprays, balms, ointments, oils- to make their hair more managable. These copious beauty products certainly have a distinct smell, and as Professor Parham went on to say, if there are discrepancies in racial smells it is usually a result of cultural differences, such as hair maintenance. I’ve noticed, as a black female who gets her hair done frequently, that ”black salons” and “white salons” (meaning salons that deal with black hair predominantly and salons that deal with white hair predominantly) have completely different smells because they use different products.

uninspired

Something that strikes me about Faulkner’s Light in August is the unnaturalness of the characters’ internal thought processes. It waxes so stunted to me, as if the automatic act of thinking does not come instinctively to them. The words are so halting and there is nothing of the stream of conciousness that I often associate with the mind’s musings in literature. At one point, Armstid thinks to himself, ” A man. All men. He will pass up a hundred chances to do good for one chance to meddle where meddling is not wanted. He will overlook and fail to see chances, opportunities, for riches and fame and welldoing, and even sometimes for evil…” (p. 24). This statement is such a sweeping truism and it just seems so uninspired to me. There is a part of me that doesn’t know what to make of it, for the man speaks like a simpleton much of the time, prefacing his sentences with “I reckon,” it seems implausible that he would be this poetic in his head.

Accountability; Expectations

A few of the things that stood out to me while reading were brought up during class, such as the race of the characters and repetition of people not looking directly at others (especially women).  We also discussed Hightower’s wife and how her comportment did not reflect the values the town expected a minister’s wife to possess and display.  I find it interesting that the townspeople (at least in part) blame Hightower for his wife’s behavior, saying, “…if Hightower had just been a more dependable kind of man, the kind a minister should be…she would have been all right too” (p. 62).  Not only does the town blame Hightower for his wife’s behavior, but they seem to want to punish him for her actions in terms of requesting that he resign after his wife’s death.  I don’t know if I’m missing some context here, but why is he found so culpable for his wife’s ultimate passing that he must resign from his role as minister?  I realize that he “preached” more about his Confederate uncle than religion, but the town didn’t seem (too) up-in-arms about this until his wife died in
Memphis.  

 Another thing that grabs my attention in this section of the book is that after the church collects money to send Mrs. Hightower away to an institution, the minister continues to preach “as though the whole thing never happened” (p. 65).  In wondering why Hightower would act this way, I thought about expectations that people have of/for others—one might expect that a man might express a deeper concern for his wife, but Hightower seemingly does not.  The town also expects the minister’s wife to comport herself in a certain way, and when she does not, she is met with criticism.  Faulkner writes that after Mrs. Hightower’s return from the institution, she appeared different—“…she seemed chastened now…Anyhow, she was now like the ladies had wanted her to be all the time, as they believed the minister’s wife should be” (p. 66).  Both Hightower and his wife challenge the expectations that the town has set for them and in such a small community, I think the intensity of criticism (and speculation) only increases with this type of defiance (regardless if it’s deliberate or accidental).