Barn Burning: Abner Snopes Character Analysis Essay

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer in his middle thirties. The author gives little to no detailed physical description of him, but from Proctor’s speech, we can still picture him as a strong and powerful man who is able to keep every situation under the control, the kind of personality which earns him deep respect and even fear from the people in town. On the other hand, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, plays an inferior role as an orphan who has no social status in a place like Salem. Over the course of the play, John Proctor is absolutely awakened and transformed by Abigail Williams. In the end, he overcomes the crucible by releasing himself from his guilt of

He felt that the tactics he employed were the only real way to deal with the problem at hand. Another side of Abner tends to go deeper than what appears on the surface. Although we are not told in the story precisely why he burns barns, the real reason may be deeper, or should we say internal.

In the story of “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, a child name Sartoris Snopes witnesses his father’s crime of burning Major de Spain’s barn, then decides to do the correct thing to stop him by betraying the whole family. Barn burning is an action of removing a person’s source of wealth, which can completely diminish their lives. Especially the time after the civil war, where poverty is more common to see in farmers. Throughout the story, Abner reveals himself as a emotionless, cold, tough man; however, he does show a side of caring, as well as correcting mistakes that he made and self-reflection, also sets a good example and teaches his son, Santoris, the definition of what a man is. Although Abner Snopes is undoubtedly guilty of the crime

Sarty a young boy who is nervous about being in court. He might have to make a choice between family and foe. Mr. Harris’s barn is burnt down over a dispute about a pig. Colonel Sartoris, Sarty as his family calls him, is in the general store, which doubles as the court house, with his father, Abner Snopes, who is on trial for burning Mr. Harris’s barn down. Sarty being in the courtroom begins to bring out “Sarty's sense of family loyalty to his father.” (Moore 3) Sarty has knowledge of previous times when his father burned buildings down. The judge dismisses the case but tells Abner he should leave the

Holden Caulfield is a character who has been through rejection and wishes to protect others innocence. He is a teen boy who is the main character in Catcher in The Rye by J.D.Salinger. He has an older brother named DB, a younger sister named Phoebe, and a younger, deceased, brother named Allie. Holden retells his story on him, trying to be the catcher in the rye. Holden has been kicked out of different colleges. He has been rejected by different girls. Holden goes through his life story. He talks about being kicked out of Pencey, his friend Jane, his “acquaintance” Stradlater, and how, when, and where Allie died. Society is to blame for Holden Caulfield's decline in mental stability. Society does not help Holden. Instead, they ignore his

Child abuse has been a common occurrence throughout the times of this world. In the story Barn Burning that was written by the author William Faulkner, a story is told of a boy named Colonel Sartoris Snopes who lives with his family. His father is a man who has seen the brutality of war and has a very cold heart. His name is Abner Snopes. His heart is so cold that it is almost as if he is not even human. William Faulkner in the story uses words comparing Abner Snopes to a house fly, or stinging wasp and also says that he lifts his hand like a curled claw. This suggests that the Author was trying to give the readers an image of Abner Snopes being someone who lacked human qualities. Mainly he lacked

In “Barn Burning,” Abner is described as stiff, wolf-like, and without heat because of his coldness and bitterness toward society in which he was part of during the time of the War Between the States. The main character is Abner Snopes who sharecrops to make a living for his family; in his story, Faulkner describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during that particular time.

Abner's act of breaking the law begins when he was supposed to be fighting in the Civil War, but instead he stole horses from both sides of the lines. When Abner returned home, he continued his act of breaking the law by committing arson.

Abner doesn’t want to get caught so he forces Sarty to lie for him and to make sure he won’t go against the family. “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. Do you think either of them, any man there this morning, would? Don’t you know all they wanted was a chance to get at me because they knew I had them beat? Eh?” (p420) Abner wants Sarty to stay with the family and to not go against his family because he knows that if Sarty decides to tell the truth of what he did about burning the barns, Abner would go to jail or something worse. Abner takes pride in himself and is very satisfied with the fact that he hasn't gotten caught

It is evident that Abner Snopes is filled with rage and does not know how to control himself. He is a rigid father and does not let his family forget who is in charge. In the very beginning of the story, he is abusive toward his oldest son. He expects his family to respect him and be his slaves. Not only is he aggressive and a controlling father and husband, he also gets physically violent. According to the story, Abner’s family has moved a total of 12 times because of getting psychical and burning barns down. Abner is vindictive and if anyone were to “disrespect” him he was going to get revenge.

walks with such arrogance that he treads right through a pile of horse manure. In the next scene, the inciting force is established. In this scene, Abner proceeds to go into De Spain’s house and wipes his soiled feet all over De Spain’s expensive rug. In the book Short Story Criticism, Edmond Volpe states that “Ab does not discriminate between rich and poor. For him there are only two categories: ‘blood kin’ and ‘they,’ into which he clumps all the rest of mankind” (163). This attitude is also evident by the role that Abner played in the Civil War, in which he had stolen

Abner Snopes is a bully/terrifying character. He controls his family with violence and makes them accomplices to his favorite pastime, burning barns. Abner is a formidable character in his own right even though he forces his 10 year old son Sarty to run away and live without his family. Due to his own beliefs that you never go against blood/family. “Abner Snopes is also depicted as a man who is loyal to no one other than himself or his family (which is a mere extension of himself).

Throughout the story, Abner proves he has no care for those around him and often comes off as a rude person that expresses feelings of discontent with life. When in the court his young son Sarty is called to the stand to testify against his father. At this point, as he walks up to the stand he begins to ponder to himself, “He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do it” ( Faulkner 3). At this moment it is inferred Abner does not have good morals or intention and he encourages bad habits including crime into his family. Although Sarty did not testify in the court and his father was not proven guilty they still left town to get away from all the townspeople calling Abner a “Barn Burner”. Abner is then proven to be aggressive when he strikes two mules in a rather savage manner with excessive force. It is included

In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” the young boy, Sarty, has to go through a moral change in order to do the right thing. The story starts with Sarty and his father being in a courtroom for Sarty’s fathers’ burning of a barn. During this court case, Sarty is described as standing up and lying for his father as he’s being tried (173). Sarty lied in court in order to protect his father, even though he knew what he is doing is wrong. Not only does Sarty feel wrong for having to stand up for his father, people call him “barn burner,” (173).

In most stories one reads there is going to be a protagonist and an antagonist. The protagonist is the character in the story that is usually considered the good guy. The antagonist is usually considered the bad guy and clashes with the protagonist. In the story “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner he has a clear protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist of the story is Sarti. The antagonist of the story is Sarti’s father Abner. Faulkner makes this a very interesting story to read because of the relationship between Sarti and his father. Sarti shows us in the story how scared he is of his father through what he says and his actions. The idea of Sarti ever standing up to him just doesn’t seem possible