Joanna's family lies buried is a hidden graveyard "on a cedar knoll in the pasture a half mile from the house" (248). Her father Nathaniel created it when he buried her half-brother and grandfather there in secret after they were killed by Colonel John Sartoris, to prevent the white men of Jefferson from disturbing their bodies. When Joanna is four, Nathaniel takes her to this grove. Although she didn't know "what was in there," she doesn't want to enter it (252).
The dogs trace Joe's scent to "a negro cabin" beside a corn field, half a mile or so away from the cotton house (329). But when the posse bursts inside, they find Joe's shoes on the "negro woman" who lives there with "a negro child" (329).
During the hunt for Joe Christmas in Light in August the dogs trace his scent to "a negro cabin" beside a corn field, half a mile or so away from the cotton house (329). But when the posse bursts inside, they find Joe's shoes on the "negro woman" who lives there with "a negro child" (329).
A "cotton house" is a small outbuilding in a field, where picked cotton can be stored before it goes to the gin. It is typically empty except during the fall cotton harvest. Joe might have spent a night inside one during his flight; in any case it is "right by" the cotton house that he exchanges shoes a "negro woman" (329).
Spelled "Mottson" in several other fictions, Mottstown is "twenty miles" south of Jefferson (339), and the seat of the county next to Yoknapatawpha in that direction. In Light in August it appears as both a physical place and as a kind of narrator. In both these contexts it has a lot of similarities with Jefferson. The physical place has a courthouse and a square, a cafe near the railroad station, even a black residential district called "Niggertown," next to which the Hineses, Christmas' grandparents, have lived for 25 years (351).
There are at least two restaurants for white people in Jefferson. The Side-Street Restaurant that gives Flem Snopes a foothold in the town has its own entry. The entry brings together the various restaurants that are located on the Square at the center of town. If there is just one of these, which is our assumption, it begins as "Rogers," then appears as "The Cafe," the "All-Nite Cafe," the "Allnite Inn" and the "Dixie Cafe." The most fully described of these is the one owned by Deacon Rogers in Flags in the Dust.
Although according to Faulkner's 1936 map of Yoknapatawpha, the population of the county is about two-thirds black, most of the residential areas in Jefferson are white - though in a number of cases the Negro servants of upper class or older white families live in cabins behind their employers' houses.
Though it's not said specifically in Light in August, it seems likely that the conversation Percy Grimm has with the commander of the local American Legion takes place at that man's house (452). Presumably the commander lives in Jefferson, but that too is a presumption.
Joanna Burden's family in Light in August lies buried is a hidden graveyard "on a cedar knoll in the pasture a half mile from the house" (248). Her father Nathaniel created it when he buried her half-brother and grandfather there after they were killed by Colonel John Sartoris, keeping the existence of the graveyard a secret to prevent the white men of Jefferson from disturbing their bodies. When Joanna is four, Nathaniel takes her to this grove. Although she didn't know "what was in there," she doesn't want to enter it (252).
A "cottonhouse" or "cotton house" - it is spelled both ways in Light in August (328, 329) - is a small outbuilding in or beside a field, where picked cotton can be stored before it's taken to the gin It is typically empty except during the fall cotton harvest. Joe Christmas might have spent a night inside this one during his flight; in any case it is "right by" the cotton house that he exchanges shoes a "negro woman" (329).
