Essay about Critical Analysis of Barn Burning by William Faulkner

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.

Normally in life, you look up to your father to be the care taker and to encourage you to make your own decisions on what is right and what is wrong. You figure your father should have your best interest at heart and to show compassion for you. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is the opposite of the normal father figure you would see. Rather than encouraging his son, Sarty, to make his own decisions on what is right and what is wrong, Abner wants Sarty to lie for him to protect his freedom, so Abner won’t get caught for burning barns. Abner forces fear into Sarty to make sure he will lie for him

(1) The relationship between masculinity and violence are illustrated not only in society today, but also in countless pieces of literature. According to Edley, many men act violently "in order to count as men" in the eyes of others and themselves (154). The motivation of appearing manly, is what drives the father of Faulkner's short story "Barn Building" to act the way he does. In Faulkner's story "Barn Burning" the scene where the family is travelling to a new farm clarifies the father's need to be seen as a man and exemplifies Edley's idea that men act violently to be seen as manly.

The Black Wall Street, Harlem Renaissance, Great Migration, and Great Depression are all period that came in mind, while reading this novel. To begin, the novel presented aspects of The Great Depression and Great Migration because it represented African American people escaping from the poverty, segregation, racism, violence, and lack of job opportunities they were exposed to in the South by migrating to the North. The novel itself represents The Harlem Renaissance because it was written when importance of literature during the time period for the African American people and the Black experience was growing. To continue, the Brothers throughout the novel were reminded of their class and race, which made them constantly aware of who they were and where they came from. This can be related to modern day Black men who experience poverty because they ar

The theme of William Faulkner’s Barn Burning was the idea of "the old fierce pull of blood." In Barn Burning the two main characters are the dad, Abner, and the son, Sarty. Abner was a barn burner and Sarty was an accomplice because he always defended his dad due to the theme of “blood and family.” At the beginning of the story, Sarty smells something besides food in the store.

Abner’s sense of unfairness is brought about from the townspeople’s actions of only having Abner in their homes to complete a task. Abner’s act of brainwashing his

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

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

Each afternoon ... he would walk up the muddy road ... to watch Houston's pedigreed beef herd, his own sorry animal among them, move, not even hurrying, toward and into the barn which was warmer and tighter against the weather than the cabin he lived in, to be fed by the hired Negro who wore warmer clothing than any he and his family possessed, cursing into the steamy vapor of his own breathing,

Symbolism was also a well-known literary element throughout the story “Barn Burning”. Faulkner uses symbolism to have underlying meanings beneath his writings. In this particular short story, Faulkner uses many different symbols throughout this piece of work. The biggest forms of symbolism throughout this story include fire, spring, blood, and even the wagon on moving day. Faulkner uses fire within this story to symbolize power. Abner Snopes is a main character within this story and has a need to make people around him feel less powerful than him. Fire is a symbol of power because Abner Snopes ultimately wants to feel like he has full control over his life and what goes on, which in turn means that

Throughout this story there were three points of symbolism that stood out the most. These symbols consist of fire, blood, and springtime. There are two main characters Abner and Sarty. Abner is the crazy father who went to war and has some sort of disability. Then Sarty is Abner's son who is by his side throughout the whole story. Symbolism plays an important role in William Faulkner's short story “Barn Burning”.

The main character, Abner Snopes, sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of resentment for wealthy people, he 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.

In “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, the setting of the story plays a very important role. Sarty struggles with the conflict of following his dad in completing illegal acts, or to follow his moral beliefs and disobey his father. When the Snopes family arrives at Major de Spain’s mansion, Sarty has hope that his father will change his tendencies to burn down barns. Faulkner also shows a contrast between daytime and nighttime; during the day, Abner is less likely to do illegal things, and during the night is when he begins to act illegally again. At the end of the story, Sarty is at the top of a hill at midnight thinking about the changes that have occurred in his life. Through the use of location and time of day, Sarty’s thoughts and emotions are shown within many different situations.

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” takes a lot of real life situations and puts them into fiction. He is able to put the life around him in to stories of fiction.

He doesn’t treat his family well and he has a very bad attitude. Yet somehow I found myself feel a little bit sorry about his life. Afterall, all of his behavior is developed more or less because of the hard life that he has. Being a sharecropper is very hard. It is almost like being a slave. That would explain (though not justify) his rude behavior and why he loathes the rich because they make him powerless. The way he deals with his problem of life ends up making himself and his family more miserable. And all of his undoing is caused by his own violence