Essay about Critical Analysis of Barn Burning by William Faulkner

The theme of William Faulkner’s Barn Burning was the idea of "the old fierce pull of blood." In Barn Burning the two main characters are the dad, Abner, and the son, Sarty. Abner was a barn burner and Sarty was an accomplice because he always defended his dad due to the theme of “blood and family.” At the beginning of the story, Sarty smells something besides food in the store.

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” takes a lot of real life situations and puts them into fiction. He is able to put the life around him in to stories of fiction.

Being poverty stricken is something that really humiliates him because people view him differently. He tried his best to take care of himself and look clean so he could fit in. He would go to Mister Ben’s grocery store to get ice and wait for it to melt so he could was his clothes. He felt shame when he received any help. Gregory explains, “There was shame in going to the Worthy Boy’s Annual Christmas dinner for you and your kind, because everybody knew what a worthy boy was” (167).

If we compare William Faulkner's two short stories, 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Barn Burning', he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a father¡¦s teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present major idea through symbolism that includes strong metaphorical meaning. Both stories affect my thinking of life.

The main character, Abner Snopes, sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of resentment for wealthy people, he burns their barns to get revenge. Abner’s character over the course of the story is unchanging in that he is cold hearted, lawless, and violent.

Normally in life, you look up to your father to be the care taker and to encourage you to make your own decisions on what is right and what is wrong. You figure your father should have your best interest at heart and to show compassion for you. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is the opposite of the normal father figure you would see. Rather than encouraging his son, Sarty, to make his own decisions on what is right and what is wrong, Abner wants Sarty to lie for him to protect his freedom, so Abner won’t get caught for burning barns. Abner forces fear into Sarty to make sure he will lie for him

father put him in were not right. When Abner goes to burn the barn in the new country,

“Barn Burning” first appeared in print in Harper’s Magazine in 1939 (Pinion). It is a short story by William Faulkner which depicts a young boy in crisis as he comes to realize the truth about his father’s pyromania. Faulkner takes the reader inside the boy’s life as he struggles to remain loyal to his unstable father. In the end the boy’s courage and sense of justice wins and he not only walks away from his father’s iron clad control over his life, but he is able to warn his father’s next victim. To understand how this boy could make such a courageous, difficult decision we must review the important events in the story and the effect they have on him.

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.

The works "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner and "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck at first glance may seem to have no connection, but in spite of different plot they focus on similar ideas.

actions to show that no one will own or control him. He has no regard

Symbolism was also a well-known literary element throughout the story “Barn Burning”. Faulkner uses symbolism to have underlying meanings beneath his writings. In this particular short story, Faulkner uses many different symbols throughout this piece of work. The biggest forms of symbolism throughout this story include fire, spring, blood, and even the wagon on moving day. Faulkner uses fire within this story to symbolize power. Abner Snopes is a main character within this story and has a need to make people around him feel less powerful than him. Fire is a symbol of power because Abner Snopes ultimately wants to feel like he has full control over his life and what goes on, which in turn means that

Each afternoon ... he would walk up the muddy road ... to watch Houston's pedigreed beef herd, his own sorry animal among them, move, not even hurrying, toward and into the barn which was warmer and tighter against the weather than the cabin he lived in, to be fed by the hired Negro who wore warmer clothing than any he and his family possessed, cursing into the steamy vapor of his own breathing,

He doesn’t treat his family well and he has a very bad attitude. Yet somehow I found myself feel a little bit sorry about his life. Afterall, all of his behavior is developed more or less because of the hard life that he has. Being a sharecropper is very hard. It is almost like being a slave. That would explain (though not justify) his rude behavior and why he loathes the rich because they make him powerless. The way he deals with his problem of life ends up making himself and his family more miserable. And all of his undoing is caused by his own violence

In “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, the setting of the story plays a very important role. Sarty struggles with the conflict of following his dad in completing illegal acts, or to follow his moral beliefs and disobey his father. When the Snopes family arrives at Major de Spain’s mansion, Sarty has hope that his father will change his tendencies to burn down barns. Faulkner also shows a contrast between daytime and nighttime; during the day, Abner is less likely to do illegal things, and during the night is when he begins to act illegally again. At the end of the story, Sarty is at the top of a hill at midnight thinking about the changes that have occurred in his life. Through the use of location and time of day, Sarty’s thoughts and emotions are shown within many different situations.