Analysis of The Barn Burning by William Faulkner Essays

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.

If we compare William Faulkner's two short stories, 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Barn Burning', he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a father¡¦s teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present major idea through symbolism that includes strong metaphorical meaning. Both stories affect my thinking of life.

developing a mind and will of his own. He is no longer unperceptively loyal to his father.

by taking advantage of the fact that he is in a state in which he would do

“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.

William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" provides an excellent example of how conflicting loyalties can affect decisions. In Faulkner's story, the main character, Sarty, faces such a dilemma. On one hand, Sarty has the morals that society has instilled in him in spite of his father. One the other hand, Sarty has the loyalty to his father because of the blood ties shared between them and the fact that his father raised and provided for him. Ultimately, it is these conflicting ideas that will lead to Sarty's final decision.

The works "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner and "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck at first glance may seem to have no connection, but in spite of different plot they focus on similar ideas.

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the image of honeysuckle is used repeatedly to reflect Quentin’s preoccupation with Caddy’s sexuality. Throughout the Quentin section of Faulkner’s work, the image of honeysuckle arises in conjunction with the loss of Caddy’s virginity and Quentin’s anxiety over this loss. The particular construction of this image is unique and important to the work in that Quentin himself understands that the honeysuckle is a symbol for Caddy’s sexuality. The stream of consciousness technique, with its attempt at rendering the complex flow of human consciousness, is used by Faulkner to realistically show how symbols are imposed upon the mind when experiences

William Faulkner’s use of a setting in a short story, such as “Barn Burning”, effected the entire outcome of the story from start to finish. In “Barn Burning”, a young boy must face his father and face the reality of a harsh world. He must also discover for himself that his father is wrong and learn to grow up the right way in a racial environment. Faulkner’s setting is one of the most important literary elements that help the audience understand the story.

In the short story, “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, Faulkner introduces us to a family who takes on life as lower class while also battling poor decision making within the family. Just like every family, the Snopes family contains drama which creates issues among the Snopes. Father, Abner Snopes believes that family should be placed first, even before the court of law which creates a bit of tension. The setting of the story was never stated but we can gather that the story takes place in the south during the time of the Great Depression because of the tone and social class of this American family.  Faulkner reveals to the audience what is like to battle being a lower-class family and also how to deal with poor decision making through rhetorical strategies to help us better understand this short story.

Lena Grove, Gail Hightower, and Joe Christmas are all main characters in the classic novel written by William Faulkner, Light in August. These characters all share a recurring trait and that is that they all function and live their lives better when they are in isolation. They all have something about them that has made the society they live in, renounce them as outliers in the scale of human decency. Lena Grove is only a young teenager and yet she has found herself pregnant and alone. She spends the entire novel searching for her husband but when she finally finds him he runs off again to avoid responsibility and she goes on her search again. Even though she is chasing after Lucas Burch, her child’s father, she really does not need him for

The story of "Barn Burning" was "first published in the June of 1939 in the Harper's Magazine and later awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award for the best short story of the year." The author, William Faulkner, "was one of America's most innovative novelists". The way he describes the smells, sites and sounds of the rural late 1800's make you feel as if you are there with the characters in this story. Through the use of symbolism, Faulkner tells the story about a relationship of a father and son. Fire was the most vital symbol used and describes the way, Abner, the main character in the story faces all of his challenges. He lived his life like a flaming inferno destroying

In his short story “Barn Burning” William Faulkner shows how hard growing up can be and how there comes a time when you have to make some excruciatingly hard choices that can significantly impact your future. "Barn Burning" is a short story written by the American author William Faulkner, according to what I read in the article “Misplacing "Barn Burning", a Story of the '90s” on the SouthEast Missouri State University website, that I accessed on February 2nd, 2018, “Barn Burning” was published in 1939. Like most of Faulkner’s stories it has received a lot of praise. The main theme is the internal struggles Sarty endures while battling what is right and wrong and his loyalty to his family. I myself have struggled with doing the right thing and what loyalty can mean.

At one point or another in life, everyone has to make decisions that change one's life forever. Usually one encounters an event or a thing that propels such a decision. In William Faulkner's short story, "Barn Burning," Sarty, a young boy, is going through a period of initiation into adult life. During this process, he has to make a life altering decision. For Sarty, his father's fires become the element that plays many roles and eventually drives him to decide the path of his life.