Percy Grimm in Light in August

Percy Grimm

In Percy Grimm, Faulkner said that he "created a Nazi" (source: William Faulkner: The House Divided). Percy Grimm is certainly characterized by a fascist zeal for protecting the white South by lynching African Americans, and he ultimately tracks down Christmas, shooting and then castrating him. With this grisly murder, Percy Grimm is a reminder of white civilian hate groups cropping up in the 1930s such as the Ku Klux Klan. A central point of debate regarding Grimm is whether he stands alone as a violent outcast in his desire for Christmas's death, or if his response mirrors that of the white community as a whole.