Comparison of Light in August by William Faulkner and Portrait of a Lady by Henry JamesLight in August and Portrait of a Lady are two novels which embody a moral in them life-affirming. Authors like William Faulkner and Henry James possess the art of making the reader learn by experimenting for themselves. William Faulkner uses the technique of introspection as well as showing how characters and their actions can influence each other. Henry James also shows that a character's actions and decisions can greatly affect their future and happiness. Both authors focus on the power of words that only serve to categorize individuals into certain races or social classes. William Faulkner, in Light in August, centers his novel on sensitive issues related to race, gender, social status, and personal history. Faulkner shows the reader that people placed in such categories receive certain expectations from society. Characters generally accept these categories as truth and cannot escape their expectations, both from society and themselves. Characters are placed under labels. These labels dictate how characters should or should not act. These labels determine the character's potential for good or evil. Race is the most important label in Light in August. The characters' race dictates how they are treated among others in society. A person's race is translated into an image. Characters affected by racism include Joe Christmas, Old Doc Hines. Joe Christmas was born an illegitimate child, to a white mother and a father of unknown ethnicity. From his childhood, he was called a "nigger" by his peers, even before knowing the meaning of the word...... middle of paper ...... certain situations. The reader truly “sees” that labels have the power to change people and shift their priorities, if the individual accepts them as truth. Works Cited Faulkner, William. Light in August. 1932. New York: Vintage, 1987. James, Henry. The Portrait of a Lady. Ed. Geoffrey Moore and Patricia Crick. New York: Penguin, 1986. Works consulted Volpe, Edmond L. “Exploring Independence.” Twentieth-Century Interpretations of the Portrait of a Lady: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Peter Buitenhuis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968. Krook, Dorothea. “Two problems in the portrait of a lady”. Twentieth-Century Interpretations of the Portrait of a Lady: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Peter Buitenhuis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.Pitavy, François. “Light in August” by Faulkner. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1973