Essay on The Importance of Literary Elements in Barn Burning

In "Barn Burning," Faulkner's usual style of long sentences and detailed descriptions continues. Although the run on sentences are not quite as complicated or abundant as those of the other Faulkner works we have read, I still found myself wondering to some extent what the story was really about. Was it just about a bitter man's spitefulness toward Colonel de Spain as a result of his jealousy of the colonel's status? Or was there more to it? I also was left wondering why Faulkner did not refer to Sarty by name most of the time, but rather as "the boy." Did he want the reader to be less identified with Sarty even though he was the narrator? Did he want his reader to

“Barn Burning”, a story written by William Faulkner that describes the way a boy decides to “betray” his dad by turn him in because of his crimes. Sartoris, who is just starting to see the difference between right and wrong, has been covering up his dad’s crimes and helping him to commit them. Mr. Snopes, Sartori’s dad, expresses deliberately his methods of making justices with his own hands, and not only that, but also forcing his son to keep his loyalty to him and his family. Eventually, Sartoris starts to analyze the severity of his dad’s actions and choose not to help him anymore in his attempt to burn the second barn belonging to his new boss, De Spain. Although, Faulkner tries to present a situation to think more about our actions, it doesn’t seem that way for many readers. For instance, Jane Hiles in her critical response, called “Blood Ties in Barn Burning”, to Faulkner’s work, states that his intention wasn’t to recognize Sartori’s decision, but to support his dad’s beliefs of the responsibility of being loyal to his family. As an evidence, she presents an Interview in Japan directed to Faulkner in which he talks about clannishness as a way for people to defend their “blood” from external injustices.

William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone

William Faulkner was born in 1897. Growing up in Mississippi inspired Faulkner to incorporate his southern roots into many of his works. Many of his works intertwined when it came to the setting and even some of the characters of his stories. William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning” is no different. In “Barn Burning” Faulkner brings in his native south through the setting, family dynamics, and social class.

Compared to many writers, Faulkner’s sentence structure is long and drawn out, making the story appear more complicated. The novel’s themes and storylines are relatively simple, but the intricate writing makes the narrative difficult to understand. A wise, old

The theme of William Faulkner's Barn Burning is Colonel Sartoris Snope's desire to break away from the oppressive conditions of his family life. He is pulled between his family and his morality. In this essay, I will discuss Sarty's struggle between the two sides of his conflict and the point at which it becomes resolved.

Faulkner proves us that it is impossible to sruggle with one's own heart . The moment when Sarty decided to choose morality over the blood pool and warned the de Spain's revealed his true character. Though this meant the death of his

At first glance, the story “Barn burning” seems just to be about a tyrannical father and a son who is in the grips of that tyranny. I think Faulkner explores at least one important philosophical question in this story were he asks at what point should a person make a choice between what his parent(s) and / or family believes and his own values?

Understanding literary elements such as patterns, reader/writer relationships, and character choice are critical in appreciating William Faulkner's Barn Burning. Some literary elements are small and almost inconsequential while others are large and all-encompassing: the mother's broken clock, a small and seemingly insignificant object, is used so carefully, extracting the maximum effect; the subtle, but more frequent use of dialectal words which contain darker, secondary meanings; the way blood is used throughout the story in many different ways, including several direct references in the familial sense; how Faulkner chooses to write about poor, common people (in fact to the

being spoken for by men,” but by virtue of being the author, Faulkner is taking upon

Manzanares Karen Manzanares Hensley English 11/ Fourth Period 27 February 2018 Part 14: Rough Draft #2 “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner shows the best examples of loyalty and betrayal. Sarty, the main character of the story demonstrated the courage that probably no other kid his age could ever have, which was to stand against his father’s decisions, in making things right, by telling on him and his barn burnings. “Barn Burning” is a story where a young boy is faced with the bad, and abusive influence of his father. At the end of the story the boy has to make possibly the hardest decision of his life in choosing whether to keep going with his father bad behavior or to speak up and tell on his father, but that makes it hard when Sarty is

Sarty and Lola come of age in their respective stories, through trials and tribulations that are manifested by their surroundings, and specifically by their parents Abner, and Belicia. Faulkner’s, Barn Burning gives us the point of view of an adolescent boy and our opinion of his father is built around Sarty’s dissection of his father’s actions be them justified or unjustified. Junot Díaz’s, Wildwood gives the other spectrum of parenthood with Lola, and Belicia. Lola’s, point of view creates a bias against Belicia, one of adolescent hatred towards a mother that belittles a daughter, and builds up a character that has very little in ways of compassion shown. At least, from the narration of Lola. The stories have different settings in terms of time, but both Barn Burning and Wildwood have a grip on the realities of dysfunctionality within the family structure, that stunts the growth of adolescent children. The plot of Wildwood goes hand in hand with the point of view where the Apex of the story is intertwined with conclusion. Barn Burning is lesser so, the point of view is used more in cohesion with the symbolism that Faulkner applies in drawing upon Abner’s personality and actions. Lola comes short in supporting characters, absent father, uncles and aunts that are preoccupied with family, and younger brother who wouldn’t provide much in ways of guidance. Wildwood and Barn Burning share a coming of age theme in their stories, but Barn Burnings ending is more of one in

There are several ways in which William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" is indicative of literary modernism. It depicts a relevant historical period and is part of the frontiersman literary tradition (Gleeson-White, 2009, p. 389). The author utilizes a number of purely literary approaches that were innovative for the time period in which the tale was originally published (in 1932), such as employing a young child as a narrator complete with misspelled words and broken, puerile thoughts. However, the most eminent way in which this story embraces the tradition of literary modernism is in the author's rendition of dynamic social conventions that were in a state of flux at the time of the writing. Specifically, his treatment of race is the inverse of how race is generally portrayed in American literature prior to the early part of the 20th century. An analysis of this integral component of "Barn Burning" reveals that Faulkner's unconventional rendering of African American characters in a desirable social status particularly as compared to that of the Snopes clan is crucial to this tale's inclusion as part of the tradition of literary modernism.

No! No! 0h, God. 0h, God. Abner!" and he rose, whirled, and saw the altered light through the door where a candle stub now burned in a bottle neck on the table and his father, still in the hat and coat, at once formal and burlesque as though dressed carefully for some shabby and ceremonial violence, emptying the reservoir of the lamp back into the five-gallon kerosene can from which it had been filled, while the mother tugged at his arm until he shifted the lamp to the other hand and flung her back, not savagely or viciously, just hard, into the wall, her hands flung out against the wall for balance, her mouth open and in her face the same quality of hopeless despair as had been in her voice. (Faulkner

“In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.” This quote by Benjamin Franklin is a mirror to Emily’s story as it begins with her death and then the reader is abruptly brought into the tax remission she received after the death of her father. This interesting yet confusing vignette is about a girl named Emily Grierson and her inconsiderate relation with the town, a man she loved, Homer Baron, and her Father. For Readers of Faulkner, it is truly apparent that his stories do not follow the pattern of the conventional beginning to the end of the story. This method of disorderly sequence of events along with the descriptive style tends to lead this story as if we are