Intruder In The Dust

Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner is set in the South and is set in the late 1940s. It shows the grueling process that it takes to change a peoples’ view of things and how attaining justice between the races is a complex process. The community’s racist views change slowly with Lucas Beauchamp being the silent catalyst of it all. Lucas’ character represents the African Americans that refused to bend to the racism they were faced with. Lucas Beauchamp is a proud, black man who owns his own land and is very independent. Throughout his accusation of murder, he refuses to defend himself towards all the biased parties that are against him. Lucas refuses to conform to what society wants. By not being meek and living his life as any normal human being would, as opposed to the “nigger” way, he is rebelling against racism. Chick Mallison represents the culture and society of the South at the time. In the beginning of the book Lucas helps Chick and throughout the rest of the book, Chick feels indebted to him. As the story progresses, Chick—society—grows and learns more that helps him to sympathize with Lucas more and more. Four years after their first encounter, when Lucas is falsely accused of murder, Chick starts to help him and he starts to grow. His motives
Nonetheless, as the novel progresses and he sees Vinson’s father grieving for his loss as Lucas once grieved for his wife, Molly, and his own discovery of Lucas’ innocence brings the realization of how wrong he was to ignore his feelings of obligation to Lucas. Chick sees that it is partially his responsibility not to let injustice go uncorrected. The community was trying to make Lucas into the “nigger” that he refused to be by condemning him to death without a trial. That the people were willing to sentence a man to death on accusation alone, and because of his skin color shows just how severe the racism