This paper seeks to carry out a psychological study of “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner. This short story appeared in Harper’s in June and has been widely anthologized since then. Its setting is an unknown place somewhere in the south of the United States Barn Burning by William Faulkner Introduction This paper looks at the coming of age of a year old boy, Sartois, in the story “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, who struggles with the issues of morality – whether sticking with his family or doing what is morally imperative. It also touches the conflicts and complications of Sartoris and his father, Abner Snopes Barn Burning: Summary. Barn Burning by William Faulkner is a deep and complicated short story. It starts with a court proceeding at a store, not a courthouse. In this proceeding, Abner Snopes is accused of burning his neighbor’s barn. Mr. Harris, the opponent of Abner, tells the Justice that on several occasions, Snopes’s hog broke through the fence and got into his fields
Barn Burning Research Papers
Stories about the poor in the s were seemingly mandatory. Barn Burning is one of several literary works by William Faulkner. The story revolves around the lives of the Snopes clan. The story largely depicts the socioeconomic relationship between the landowners and the tenants.
The author focuses on the relationship between Abner Snopes Aba sharecropper, and his ten-year-old son, Sarty, as dictated by the socioeconomic factors of the community. Abner is depicted as a virulently angry man who embarks on burning barns as revenge for real or imagined injustices. The story recounts the slow, reluctant emergence of Sarty into rebellion against his father. Faulkner employed a unique narration technique, plot, setting, characterization and symbols to bring out the themes of the story.
With the help of a range of rather simple literature devices, as well as with quire a simple plot, Faulkner manages not only to develop an intriguing narrative, but also to provide sufficient foil for the further character growth, leaving the readers on a cliff hanger at the very end of the short novel. It begins with a dawning awareness of the bondage of blood ties and ends with a forceful assertion of independence. The author uses a setting that out rightly evokes the social status of the key parties in the story.
The social differences play a pivotal role in causing Abner to start avenging for the injustices of the society Hamblin and Hamblin xi. He begins to burn the barns of the wealthy landowners. Besides burning the burns, he expresses his anger to the land owners-even strangers. This is the point at which one starts realizing that the novel is more than a story about an average half-literate criminal.
The first thing that meets the research paper on barn burning by william faulkner is the specific means that Abner uses to take his revenge on the people whom he disrespects and considers the ones to blame for his dissatisfaction. Abner neither robs them of the valuable items which he would take into his possession as something that belongs to him for his hard work; nor does he start murdering the people whom he considers his enemies.
Quite on the contrary, his dissatisfaction with the society makes him set a barn on fire. The use of fire is rather symbolic, since the given element has quite a long record in the world history, starting with Herodotus and up to the recent notorious arsons; point being, fire is a symbol of complete destruction, with no turning back, and Faulkner knows it. Therefore, starting with the point at which Abner decides to put the barn on fire, he stops being a cartoony character and becomes a symbol of blind yet powerful force — a rebellion among the lowest of the low that have finally become fed up with their situation, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner.
At this point, the fact that Faulkner wrote his novel inthe year when the aftermath of the American Civil War peaked higher than ever, is worth considering. Therefore, it can be considered that the novel, with its characters, is a product of its time, just as dark and miserable as poor Abner.
It is also worth mentioning that the presence of barns is the courthouse — the place where legal proceedings took place. It is ironic in the sense that Abner is punished for his injustices to the wealthy yet the justice system does not consider the social injustices of the rich society to the poor. The landowners had amassed wealth and build themselves mansions whereas their workers 9the poor lacked permanent homes, since they lived as squatters. Despite a relatively simple plot, the novel actually touches upon a number of significant social issues which have survived the test of time and are topical even now, developing a satiric representation of these issues Zender One of these issues concerns the subject of crimes and the motivations of criminals, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner.
Indeed, while in certain cases, there is nothing behind a crime than a sick mind, most of the time, criminals appear to be completely sane and, therefore, are motivated by certain outside factors.
mine and his both! Thus, the reader is immediately immersed into the atmosphere of a dull, good-for-nothing life, which finally drives Abner to a rebellion. At this point, it becomes obvious that the novel is more than just a story of two crimes and a treachery; it is a study of human nature, in its ugliness and naivety. A variation of narration strategies have been used in telling the story.
This includes the narrator, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner, the ten-year-old traumatized Sarty and the mature Sarty whom the narrator makes recall his tormented childhood twenty years later.
The narrator has a sophisticated, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner, intellectual and very poetic presence throughout the story. Barns, gins, stables and storehouses were the preferred targets of the arsonist, in that each was a real and symbolic accumulation of the things which the owners had stolen from tenants; namely, their labor. Labor was all that the tenants had to sell to the landowners.
The main characters namely Abner and his son have been used to portray the significance of family loyalty. Abner believes that family ties as well as family loyalty are more important than the governing laws of a given community.
In his opinion, family seems to be a unit that exists outside the society and, thus, has its own set of laws besides those of the society in question. Abner Snopes is depicted as a man who is loyal to no one other than himself. The above-mentioned is written in his military record. However, the truth is that, although he might have originally joined the Confederate forces, he soon became a deserter. He not only stole horses from both armies but also sold them to whoever would be interested in them.
Abner is an unforgiving person who would punish anyone who opposed him. He would not hesitate to burn down the barns of rich people who opposed his ideas. He believed in the mystical powers of fire and used it as one of his most precious weapons:. Faulkner 3. In the light of the above-mentioned, the social issues concerning the specific relationships between Abner and Sarty should be brought on. However, the fact that when choosing between an unknown victim of his insane parent and the latter, Sarty chooses the person who is in no way related to him makes one ponder over the idea which Faulkner tries to get across with this unusual twist of the plot.
With the help of this plot device, Faulkner addresses the specific social moods which dominated the USA in ies and ies, namely, the despair that the entire state was shot through with, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner. He was not crying. He just stood there. Indeed, the idea of patriotism has always been a distinct feature of the American nation; like a child related to the parent, the USA population related to their state.
However, when the years of the American Civil War came, dragging a number of economical, political and social issues, the people must have felt betrayed, just like Sarty felt when his father neglected him Godden At first, it seems rather unfair that Sarty, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner, who was meant to be a positive character, turned out to be a betrayer.
However, what Sarty did was actually a question that Faulkner asked to the Americans of the Great American Civil War era concerning how far the devotion to the native land can stretch and whether the nation will endure the social, political and economical disasters of the time.
Abner is not only primitive but also violent. He holds a strong belief that the misery in his life was caused by the presence as well as the activities of the wealthy landowners.
Consequently, he avenges them by burning their barns. As the story unfolds, he unleashes his anger by sailing the rug of a stranger who had given him a job, namely, de Spain. His ruthlessness extends even to his family, which he does not show much concern Bellingslea ; Flora He rules his family with threats as well as promises of violence. He symbolizes the victims of the social economic injustices in the Mississippi community during the s, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner.
The author portrays him as a victim of the brutalities of war that left him with an injured leg. His primitiveness is portrayed through his inability to express himself intelligently; he uses cruel means such as burning barns to express his dissatisfaction with the socio-economic injustices.
Colonel Sartoris Snopes also known as Sarty is the protagonist of the story. He also learns from his father that violence or rather ruthlessness is an essential aspect as far as manhood is concerned. However, as he grew up, he developed some deep sense of justice an aspect that made him to betray his own father. The latter becomes a symbol of his future.
One can therefore conclude that Sarty, who is named after Colonel John Sartoris, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner those ideas of truth and integrity Loges She was opposed to the violent behavior against the society and family. Despite the hardships, she remains to be the voice of reason as well as morality in the community and the family. Although Abner always intimidates her, she continues to fight for justice and morality in the family.
She portrays the strength of women in a male dominated society. Her ardent spirit to uphold morality had a positive influence of Sarty who embodied virtue. The space and time that Sarty moves toward at the end of the story to is symbolic as well.
Such a process yields a strained relationship between research paper on barn burning by william faulkner parties involved Ford The narration strategy of the story helps the reader to connect with not only the present but also the expected future of all the characters especially Sarty, the protagonist of the story. The theme of the story include the significance of family loyalty and the socioeconomic gap between the rich and the poor in the American community research paper on barn burning by william faulkner the s and the first half of the twentieth century.
Additionally, the story presents some of the evils or rather crimes that were created by the socioeconomic injustices in the community. Unlike the other writers of the time, Faulkner presented his characters in Barn Burning from a much larger perspective. With the help of a specific plot and numerous implications, the writer takes the novel to a new level, where the personal and the social is intertwined from the audience to read between the lines and discover new meanings of the story.
Thus, an entire era is told from a perspective of a few people living in the middle of nowhere — in the heart of the post-war USA. Bellingslea, Oliver. The article explores the family unit in Barn Burning. It also highlights the symbolic aspects of the characterization. Consequently, it is resourceful piece of work as far analyzing Barn Burning is concerned.
This source contains the story that has been subjected to literary analysis in this paper. Barn Burning is one of literary works that were written after the s and the artist, William Faulkner, focus on the socioeconomic status of the American community during that time. He is a renowned artist as far as fictional literary works are concerned. Flora, Joseph. Noelle Watson. Farmington Hills, MI: St. James Press, research paper on barn burning by william faulkner It gives an overview of the story.
The overview id based on the characterization, plot, setting as well as the major themes of the story. Ford, Marylyn. However, the author narrows his analysis to the technique that Faulkner used in Barn Burning. In addition, it research paper on barn burning by william faulkner both the strengths and weaknesses of the third person narrator as used in the story.
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, time: 44:08Barn Burning. William Faulkner Analysis and Literary Criticism
Barn Burning by William Faulkner Introduction This paper looks at the coming of age of a year old boy, Sartois, in the story “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, who struggles with the issues of morality – whether sticking with his family or doing what is morally imperative. It also touches the conflicts and complications of Sartoris and his father, Abner Snopes Faulkner, William n. d. Barn Burning. Print. This source contains the story that has been subjected to literary analysis in this paper. Barn Burning is one of literary works that were written after the s and the artist, William Faulkner, focus on the socioeconomic status of the American community during that time. He is a renowned artist as far as fictional literary works are concerned Barn Burning: Summary. Barn Burning by William Faulkner is a deep and complicated short story. It starts with a court proceeding at a store, not a courthouse. In this proceeding, Abner Snopes is accused of burning his neighbor’s barn. Mr. Harris, the opponent of Abner, tells the Justice that on several occasions, Snopes’s hog broke through the fence and got into his fields
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