Light In August Lesson Plan

Discuss how the novel presents Lena Grove in these first chapters. Is she frivolous or self-assured? Something else?

Lena is presented as quiet, persevering, and unphased by the collective judgment and discomfort that most people express towards her. Though she regularly makes comments that seem childish, impolite, or ignorant of how she is perceived, the novel regularly gives the reader a sense that Lena is more aware than she puts on. Lena's demure and self-forgetful outward appearance is often mitigated by her sudden, careful probing questions, which show her to be a keen and crafty woman completely aware of how she is perceived and how she can manipulate those...