William Faulkner’s Barn Burning: Abner Snopes Character Analysis

He is even more afraid of losing his father’s trust after Abner hits him “hard but with out heat”(280) not for telling the truth, but for wanting to. Sarty is conscious of the fact that if Abner knew his desire for “truth, justice, he would have hit”(280) him again and that Abner’s recommendation that he “learn to stick to” his “own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you”(280) is more of a threat rather than fatherly advice. Sarty learns to stifle any qualms he has and overlook his own developing morals in order to defend his father’s cold-blooded attacks. In the face of Abner’s “outrage and savagery and lust”(286) and the ever-present conflict these emotional outbursts cause, Sarty’s sense of obligation to his father out weighs his desire to “run on and on and never look back”(286). He hopes being forced out of town will transform the side of Abner that possesses an “inherent [ly] voracious prodigality with material not his own”(279) and he will be satisfied once and for all. As father and son walk within sight of an impressive manor “big as a courthouse”(280) owned by Major de Spain, a wealthy landowner with whom Abner has struck a deal to farm corn on his land, Sarty knows at once that “they are safe from him”(280). His father’s “ravening”(281) envy could not possibly touch these “people whose lives are part of this peace and dignity”(281). But, Abner is seething with “jealous rage”(281) at the sight of the de Spain

The Lizzie Borden case has mystified and fascinated those interested in crime forover on hundred years. Very few cases in American history have attracted as much attention as the hatchet murders of Andrew J. Borden and his wife, Abby Borden. The bloodiness of the acts in an otherwise respectable late nineteenth century domestic setting is startling. Along with the gruesome nature of the crimes is the unexpected character of the accused, not a hatchet-wielding maniac, but a church-going, Sunday-school-teaching, respectable, spinster-

These types of arrangements were quite common at this time between sharecroppers and their landlords. The sharecroppers had little to no money, so the landlords would charge them for items, or take an extra percentage of their crops.

Throughout many parts of the United States, there is a time of the year known as “fire season.” Because of a lack of water during this time, dead plant matter littered across the forest floor start to shrivel up, until they’re practically begging to be lit on fire. During this season, a single ember can ignite a wildfire capable of searing through hundreds of acres of forest. Just like this powerful, heat-ridden ember, a single act of cruelty can ignite even worse, more pitiless acts. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding demonstrates how cruelty gives power to perpetrators and victimizes the weak, He shows that cruelty lies in the heart of every person and child and that it is most prevalent in a society that lacks a penalty system.

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. At the beginning of the story, Abner is in a makeshift courtroom where he is being tried for burning Mr. Harris' barn. There was no evidence to rule against Abner so he was advised to leave the country. "I aim to. I don't figure to stay in a country among people who…" (217). After sly remarks of "barn burner"(218) from a group of people standing near, Abner tells his family to get in the wagon and get ready for travel. Abner and his family traveled to their next house where things got off to a bad start. Just a few days had gone by and Abner took Major DeSpain to court claiming his fine was to high for the damage he did to his rug. The court ruled in DeSpain's favor fining him, "to the amount of ten bushels of corn over and above your contract with him, to be paid to him out of your crop at gathering time" (226), thus setting off Abner's anger. As a result he set out that night and put DeSpain's barn on fire. <br><br>Finally Abner's unchanging character is revealed not only in his role as

Sartoris (Sarty) Snopes is a young boy in William Faulkner’s story Barn Burning whose inner conflict causes him to make a choice between his family and his conscience. He seems to have unspoken intelligence that allows him to think independently of his controlling father. Sarty chooses to obey his own moral code rather than to remain loyal to his family because of how Sarty views his father’s actions throughout the story.

In the spring of 1734, a fire occurred in Montreal that destroyed a hospital and 45 homes on rue Saint-Paul. Criminal proceedings were soon underway against Marie-Josephe dite Angelique, a Black slave, and her White lover, Claude Thibault. The majority of those who were present fled the scene, leaving Angelique on her own to prove her innocence. Twenty some witnesses filed before the judge, all of which were convinced that the slave of the widow Francheville was guilty, yet not one was able to place her at the scene of the crime, or be able to attest to having seen Angelique setting the hospital on fire. [Who committed crime, What does this tell us about their society Thesis Insert]

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

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.

2.Billinglea, O. Fathers and Sons: The Spiritual Quest in Faulkner's 'Barn Burning. Mississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Culture 44.3 (Summer 1991).

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

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

Born in 1897, William Faulkner was born into a traditional southern family in Mississippi. Throughout his career, Faulkner chronicled the effects of the Great Depression in the postbellum South with his short stories and novels. Following an era of excess and luxury, the Great Depression revolutionized the life of Americans living in the southern states. The economic turmoil brought on by the recession increased existing racial tensions and heightened the disparity between the upper and middle classes. Although it takes place approximately forty-five years prior, allusions to the Great Depression can be seen throughout William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning” in the racial and social clashes between Abner and the surrounding community, along with the lifestyle of the Snopes family.

“Crackle” was all Anthony Thallus could hear from over the tree he was hiding behind. He was observing the flames that danced over his town. Anthony was a young man who was always quite rebellious. He dressed in simple clothes as did the other Westerners. It wasn't the first time Anthony watched cruelty to his people. The so-called government persecuted against the Western half of the country. Fires, raids, and murders were done by the Eastern half to the Westerns and the government let them.