Barn Burning by William Faulkn
A Critical Approach to Faulkner's "Barn Burning"In "Barn Burning," by William Faulkner, a tenant farming family is forced to move after the father, Abner, set fire to his neighbor's barn. Abner did this in retaliation of the neighbor's keeping Abner's hog that kept getting in the neighbor's yard. This was the twelfth time in ten years that the family had to move due to Abner's fierce anger and vengeful acts. Upon their arrival at their new tenant farm, Abner and his youngest son, Sarty, take a stroll up to the main house to speak with the landowner, Major de Spain. When they arrived at the main house, Abner purposely stepped in manure before entering the house. He refused to wipe his feet even though he was told to do so. He rubbed the manure in, staining the expensive rug, and refused to clean it. The Major then took Abner to court. Sarty, a ten-year-old boy, knew his father expected him to lie, and he was torn between remaining loyal to his father and doing what was right. The Justice of the Peace ordered Abner to repay the Major with ten bushels of corn from his crop. That night, in retaliation Abner decides to burn Major de Spain's barn. Abner Snopes was a hard man who expected his family to accept his beliefs, w
He takes offense with authority (the landowners), and his life seems to be a series of circumstances that invoke offense, revenge, and running away after he burns the barns. The protagonist is Colonel Sartoris Snopes ("Sarty"), a ten-year-old boy, and the antagonist is his father Abner Snopes. He felt a little guilty, but mostly relieved that he was at last free of that lifestyle and the inner conflict. He also fought a boy twice his size when the boy ridiculed Sarty's family. Faulkner uses things as simple as a rug or manure in order to bring out his points. His discipline is repressive, almost Puritanical (Billingslea 293). Another vital symbol in the story is fire. Sarty refers to Abner as being "cut out of tin" (Faulkner 149). ' This association with fire provides another correlation with the biblical Abner. Eventually, Sarty warns the landlord that his father is burning his barn, and then he leaves his family. According to Loges' criticism, "Abner Snopes is depicted as a man who will not hesitate to evoke the power of fire against those who oppose him. It is the story of one boy's relationship to what Faulkner called 'the old verities and truths of the heart,' evidenced in Sarty's quest for a father figure that will give meaning and order to his life. He willingly broke away from the oppressive conditions of his family and isolated himself from everything he had ever known.
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