William Faulkner's Character Analysis
William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during the Civil War. The main character, Abner Snopes, sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of resentment for wealthy people, he goes and 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.First, Abner's unchanging character shows his cold heartedness. After being sentenced to leave the country for burning a man's barn, he shows no emotions to his family. During the story, there was not a time when he apologized or offered a word of encouragement to them. His tone of voice when talking to them is bitter and bossy, and he never said thank you. Later in the story after they had arrived at their next house, he orders his wife, her sister and his two daughters to unload the wagon. He walks with his son to DeSpain's house where he entered without given permission, and proceeded to wipe his feet that was covered with horse manure, thus staining the rug. "Abner moves through life with no regard for his fellow humans and with no respect for their right to material possessions" (731). Afte
When Abner returned to DeSpain's house he threw the rug on the porch instead of knocking on the door and returning it to DeSpain properly. When Abner returned home, he continued his act of breaking the law by committing arson. People are still categorized by how much money they have. Intending to guard against Satry's betrayal, he picks up his son by the back of the shirt and hands him to his wife. The Major, informed by Sarty of the danger, finds Snopes and his other son and shoots them before they can burn his barn (731). As a result he set out that night and put DeSpain's barn on fire. But, because of better law enforcement and court systems, people can not get away with the so-called revenge and hatred, as portrayed by the acts of Abner in the story. This started the incident with the rug, which later led to the burning of DeSpain's barn. "This is enough to satisfy Abner yet again that the social system only works in behalf of the rich, and he sets out that night to redress this wrong by burning DeSpain's barn" (855). I don't figure to stay in a country among people who. It is seen throughout the story that Abner's act of burning barns is violent. This event sparked the end of the violent acts of Abner, forever. Abner and his family traveled to their next house where things got off to a bad start.
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