Intruder In The Dust

“Remembering the rest of the story which was a piece, a fragment of the country’s chronicle which few if any knew better than his uncle: how the man was son of one of old Carothers McCaslin’s, Edmonds’ great grandfather’s, slaves who had been not just old Carothers’ slave but his son too.”

Even though he is young, Charles has a vague understanding of the historical brutality of enslavement, in which an enslaver often fathered children with an enslaved person. These old stories of enslavement and rape have become part of the local folklore, reducing generational traumas to gossip and rumor that are propagated from one generation to the next. These stories are omnipresent, but they are denuded of their true violence.

“Then maybe we will accept him as he seems to intend to be accepted.”

Lucas infuriates the white population of the local town because he refuses to live on their terms. Charles, still young, has internalized this racist idea of hierarchy, which is why Lucas’s refusal of his money offends him so much. Charles struggles to vocalize this offense, as it is buried deep in his subconscious, but he remembers the words of older men who are insistent that the only way for Lucas to be accepted is if he subjugates himself to them.

“Your friend Beauchamp seems to have done it this time.”

Gavin refers to Lucas as Charles’s “friend.” The irony of Gavin’s comment is predicated on the absurdity of the idea that a young white boy like Charles could be friends with an old African American man like Lucas. This so-called friendship is built on the same rejection of social expectations that Lucas constantly seems to infringe and that, as Gavin points out, he has offended once again.