Analysis Of Barn Burning

Barn Burning “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner was written in the ebb of the 1930’s in a decade of social, economic, and cultural decline. This story offers insight into the past years for students to learn of the nation and the South. This story shows the racial segregation that took place in these times between the white landowners and white tenant farmers, the blacks and the whites, and the poor white trash class and the blacks. The Snopes’s family was in the social class of the poor, white tenant farmers. The father, Abner Snopes, had to struggle to provide for his family.

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” takes a lot of real life cultural values and ways of southern life in the late 1800s. Many of those values and ways are expressed by sharecropping and tenant farming.

The short story,”Barn Burning”written by William Faulkner is about a 10 year old boy named Sarty, who gets called to the stand of the court; his father, Abner Snopes, is accused of burning a barn down. Sarty knows that his father is guilty of arson and wants justice to be served, but, his father wants him to stay loyal to his family and blood. The conflict of morals vs. family goes on for the entire story,Sarty’s moral beliefs are embedded in justice and peace, while his father wants him to protect his family no matter the circumstances. Literary devices used in the story are symbolism and diction, the symbols of blood and fire being, family and a chain.and being told from the perspective of a timid ten year old boy. One of the major themes present throughout the story is courage, wanting to tell on his father for arson but, being shot down by his intimidating father. William Faulkner illustrates the theme of courage through the use of symbolism and diction

If you went out one day and out of nowhere you find yourself in a life-or-death situation would it be your fault? People in a life-or-death situation should be held accountable for their actions because most of the time people know that if they do something that can put them in a life-or-death situation then something bad will happen but they still do it willingly. Another person might not agree with this claim and say that people should not be held accountable for their actions. The reason he or she might think this is because if when a person does face a life-or-death situation it might not be entirely their fault. The following reasons are examples of why my claim is stronger.

“Barn Burning” is a story which was first published in 1939 and later awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award. It was the best short story of the year. William Faulkner, the author, was a creative and innovative writer whose ability to describe a place makes you feel like you are present and experiencing all happenings that take place in the story. Particularly in this short story, he has managed to create the picture of real-life events in the minds of readers while depicting the main theme: constant struggle between the poor and rich.

Although Abner’s aggression and vengeance leads himself to the wrong end, he teaches Santoris about standing up for himself and doing right thing. Throughout the incident with Abner planning to burn the barn, Santoris finally runs away from his own family. He thought to himself, “I could run on and on and never look back, never need to see his face again. Only I can’t, I can’t” (489). He escapes from the restrain from his mother and the rest of the family. But, he finally decides not to run anymore and stands up to face against the wrong his father is doing. By understanding the thought process of Sartoris, the readers can see the change in Sartoris surely is affected by seeing his father’s negative actions throughout the story. Santoris begins to understand what is consider the “correct” thing to do by seeing enough of his father’s incorrect actions. In fact, towards the end of the story, after the gunshots, Sartoris whispers to himself, “He was brave!”(491). Again, the readers can see that even though Sartoris doesn’t like to be under the fear of his father, he still respects his father for teaching him about family, doing the right thing, and standing up for himself as his guidance and remainders. Overall, the effect of Abner as his son’s role model is not be the best model to learn from,

Barn Burning by William Faulkner is about a young boy named Sarty, who has a father that is notorious for burning down barns. His father gets put on trial for these barn burnings. After going to court and the judge not finding enough evidence, he gets expunged of his charges as long as he agrees to leave the country immediately. He agrees, except he doesn’t actually leave the country, and he goes to work as a tenant farmer. At the tenant farm, he destroys Major De Spain’s rug which leads to another court hearing, which leads to him wanting to burn down his employer’s farm. Sarty warns the employer of this, and he escapes his family and believes his father to be dead because he hears gunshots after he ran away.

Barn Burning "You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you." This quote from William Faulkner’s "Barn Burning" does reveal a central issue in the story, as Jane Hiles suggests in her interpretation. The story is about blood ties, but more specifically, how these ties affect Sarty (the central character of the story). The story examines the internal conflict and dilemma that Sarty faces. When the story begins, Sarty and his family are in a courtroom. Sarty, known in a proper setting as Colonel Sartoris, which in itself gives an insight into the families mentality. Sarty’s father, Abner Snopes is being

In the beginning, “Barn Burning” appears to be a story about an oppressive father and his family, who seems to be caught up in his oppression. As you read further in to the story you find that the story is focused on a young son of a poor sharecropper, who has to struggle with his father’s arsonist tendencies which are destroying his families’ reputation and life style, while coming to terms with his own morality. The young son, whose name is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, is the protagonist in this story. Sarty disapproves of his father’s destructive actions and soon has to decide whether to be loyal to his family or give in to his own values of morality. Abner Snopes, who is the boy’s father, is the antagonist in the story. Abner Snopes is a very angry man, who despises the aristocracy class of people whom he has to work for and throughout the story constantly displays this hatred. The story is narrated in third person and follows a typical format. In Faulkner’s writing style, he uses descriptive dictation to draw the reader’s in to the story. In the first paragraph Faulkner introduces us to the main character in the story, Sarty. Subsequently, throughout the story we are introduced to the other family members. The setting in which Sarty’s conflict is recognized is at

Every person reaches a point in their lives when they must define themselves in relation to their parents. We all come through this experience differently, depending on our parents and the situation that we are in. For some people the experience comes very early in their lives, and can be a significant life changing experience. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Colonel Sartoris Snopes must decide either to stand with his father and compromise his integrity, or embrace honesty and morality and condemn his family. This is a difficult decision to make, especially for a ten year old boy that has nothing outside of what his father provides. Sarty’s decision to ultimately betray his father is dependent on his observation of Abner’s character

The story Barn Burning centralized around a boy name Sarty and his tenant farmer family, forcing Sarty to make a choice between his morality or the bond between him and his father. The short story Barn Burning

Although Sarty did not wish to, he had planned to lie in court. Abner figured that Sarty wanted to tell the truth and estimates that his son was going to betray him and the rest of the family. Abner smacks him, without heat though, and tells him that he needs to “learn to stick to your own blood, or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to” (Faulkner 181). Sarty feels defenseless and trapped, and only answers his father with a simple “yes,” probably afraid of getting hit again if he argues. This scene with his father pushes Sarty to recognize just how much he wants to become

In this story, burn barns means burn women or kill women. This woman’s boyfriend told “me” that he will burn a barn every two months. He said “They’re waiting to be burned. Barns built way off by the seaside, barns built in the middle of rice fields”. These barns means women who are alone. In his mind, women like heroine, who don’t have friends or families, shouldn’t exist in this world, in other words, no one will notice or take care their death. There is no real affection between men and women in this story. People get together just want to drink, eat or other recreations. The heroine’s boyfriend hates those beautiful and alone women especially. He thinks it’s his duty to kill those women and he doesn’t think it’s wrong to do it, evenly,

Primarily because he is so young (he is not even an adolescent), Sartoris is still very much a primal creature whose principle predicament with his fate revolves about the fact that his father is chaotically iniquitous, is attempting to force such

A bond between two people can be a powerful yet delicate force, and more often than not, it can be abused. Throughout human history, young and innocent minds have been manipulated by higher powers in attempts to create a population unaware of the immoral activities carried out by those in charge. Many religious cults and fascist governments have used this to create followers who blindly accept their corrupt rules and policies. A simple relationship or bond could be used as a method of control. However, this control sometimes fails, and some see through the corruption at the trutt. Following that, is a fight for independence. In the case of Sarty Snopes, his independence was gained through the struggles he faced with his father, Abner. His forced loyalty to his father’s crimes eventually pushes him to break away, but at the price of his father’s life. The story “Barn Burning” focuses on the struggles of the Snopes, a poor family forced to move after the patriarch, Abner burns down someone's barn. He tells his son Sarty about a special blood between them and says that he must stick to it. At the de Spain farm, where they move to, Abner does not adjust well, eventually going to his old ways and burning a rug. Forced with paying for the rug, Abner decides to burn down de Spain’s barn. Sarty, who has been on his father's side, decides to call him out to de Spain, causing him to go kill Abner, leaving Sarty without his father and looking at a new start. Throughout the story,