Isolation in the Light of August In Light of August by William Faulkner, most of the characters seem isolated from each other and from society. It is often argued that Lena Grove is an exception, but I have found that I cannot agree with this view. Accordingly, this essay will show that Lena is alone too, and that the message in Faulkner's work on the question of human contact is that everyone is essentially alone, either by voluntary removal from company or by involuntary exclusion, and the only escape from this loneliness is to have an adequate family to comfort you. As a child, Lena was involuntarily isolated from the society she wanted to be a part of. We are told that “six or eight times a year she went to town on Saturdays” (p. 5), which was evidently not enough for her. “It was because she believed that the people who saw her and who she passed on foot would believe that she also lived in the city” (p. 5). Lena had a need to be part of society and join the ranks of common people in a normal town, which presumably includes getting married and starting a family. Living with McKinley in a distant mill village continued to keep Lena isolated, and this condition was further exacerbated by the fact that she was kept busy with household chores much of the time. It's true that the housework of a large family is a type of community, but it's not the type Lena wants. She would rather have a family of her own than take care of someone else's, and so she seeks love in the form of Lucas Burch. Unfortunately, Burch doesn't want to start a family. He uses Lena only for his own pleasure and as soon as she tells him about the pregnancy, he leaves town (pages 16-17). Lena sets out on a quest to reunite with her would-be husband.... .. middle of paper ......g the company she loves. When he no longer has any hope of putting his family together as he believes it should be, he can no longer face society because he will never fit in. Even if she married Bunch, he still wouldn't be the father of her child, which would make their family an anomaly. Lena has turned into a willing outcast, dragging Byron Bunch around to help her manage her daily life, but never letting him get intimate, never truly making him a part of her life. After being forced into isolation from society for much of her life, Lena has now chosen to remain isolated. She is as lonely as any other character in Light in August. The conclusion I inevitably come to is that Faulkner wanted to portray the family as the fundamental unit of society. Without a family, you cannot fit into society, and if you don't fit into society, you are essentially alone.