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Character analysis of barn burning
Literary analysis of barn burning
Character analysis of barn burning
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Sarty's betrayal of his father in William Faulkner's story "Barn Burning" is justified. The reader is introduced to Sarty's father as he is being tried for burning the barn of Mr. Harris. Lacking evidence, the Justice of the Peace drops the charges against Abner Snopes, Sarty's father, and he is ordered to leave the country. A harsh image of Sarty's father is presented in the line, "he [Sarty] followed the stiff black coat, the wiry figure walking a little stiffly from where a Confederate provost's man's musket ball had taken him in the heel on a stolen horse thirty years ago" (2177). The reader is given insight into Snopes' shady past and learns he has never been a law-abiding citizen. Sarty's inner turmoil centers around his sense of loyalty to his father and his own conflict with knowing his father's actions are wrong. Through Faulkner's use of stream-of-consciousness narration, the reader is aware of Sarty's thoughts. In one instance, Sarty alludes to Mr. Harris as "his father's enemy (our enemy he thought in that despair, ourn, mine and hisn both! He's my father!)" (2176). Upon hearing the hiss of someone accusing his father of burning barns, Sarty feels "the old fierce pull of blood" and is blindly thrust into a fight, only to be physically jerked back by his father's hand and his cold voice ordering him to get in the wagon. As the Snopes' family leaves town, Sarty consoles himself with the hope that this will be the last time his father commits the act that he cannot bring himself to even think of : "Maybe he's done satisfied now, now that he has" (2177). Deep down, Sarty knows his father is not going to end his destructive rampage. Ten-year-old Sarty cannot understand the true reasons for his father's actions: "that the element of fire spoke to some deep mainspring of his father's being," and, even more importantly, the fire served as "the one weapon for the preservation of [his] integrity" (2178). Sarty's thoughts when he realizes he might be questioned regarding the barn burning reflect the fear and despair he experiences: "He aims for me to lie. And I will have to do hit" (2176). Later, Sarty's father violently reminds him that blood is thicker than water when he accuses Sarty of being ready to betray him.
It has been stated that while doing what is right is not always easy, it is in fact doing what is right despite it being difficult that is quite the accomplishment. Justice one finds to be one of the major themes throughout “Barn Burning”. The notion of intuitive justice presents itself as a characteristic explored throughout William Faulkner’s literary masterpiece “Barn Burning” through the protagonist Colonel Sartoris Snopes, also referred to as Sarty throughout “Barn Burning”. Faulkner presents Sarty and demonstrates his sense of justice through literal actions and dramatic context.
William Faulkner tells his novel The Unvanquished through the eyes and ears of Bayard, the son of Confederate Colonel John Sartoris. The author’s use of a young boy during such a turbulent time in American history allows him to relate events from a unique perspective. Bayard holds dual functions within the novel, as both a character and a narrator. The character of Bayard matures into a young adult within the work, while narrator Bayard relays the events of the story many years later.
In the two of the most revered pieces of American literature, “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, we examined two characters and the relationships that they shared with their fathers. Being a father and having a father-like figure plays a monumental role in a child’s life. Although in these components of literature, the two main characters, Huckleberry Finn and Colonel Sartoris Snopes, show animosity towards their fathers. They both aspired to be the farthest type of person from their fathers. Huckleberry Finn didn’t want to be a drunk, ignorant, racist. Although at the beginning of the short story, Sarty backed his father and lied for him when accused of burning barns, but at the end of
Beginning the short story one realizes Sarty can be characterized as a young shy boy who seems to be intimidated by his father. Immediately following Abner's first barn burning of the story, Sarty is convinced that his father's malignant actions are profoundly immoral, but he is also conscious that opposing Abner's actions would be a sense of betrayal. Sarty's belief in these two perspectives leads to his internal conflict throughout the entire short story; one choice commits acts of betrayal while the other leads to the participation in evil. Sarty's intimidation of his father combined with his internal conflict is demonstrated at the beginning of the story when he thought to himself "Enemy! Enemy!"(483) as the justice was contemplating interrogating Sarty. This thought leads the reader to believe that Abner Snopes has molded Sarty to act as a faithful family member, and not to declare any of Abner's negative actions. Sarty must keep himself from exclaiming the true actions of his father, because he knows the degree of their immorality.
Faulkner opens the story, “Barn Burning” in a southern courthouse room of the during the Civil War reconstruction era, also a time of social, cultural, and economic instability. At this point in the story the main characters, Abner (Ab) and his son, Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) are introduced. Ab is on trial for the malicious burning of a barn that was owned by a wealthy local farmer.
The short story "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner is a stark look at the struggle of a boy to try to do what is right, or do what is best for his family during the post Civil War era. The main character, Sartoris Snopes is a poor son of a migrant tenant farmer who, in the opening scene is being questioned about the burning of a farmers barn by his father, Abner Snopes. The boy is torn between choosing what is right, telling the truth, or lying to protect his father. The boy is not forced to tell to judge about his father burning the barn, but is certain he would have told if asked. The father is a soldier from the Civil War and has a knack for burning down the barns of those who cross his path. Faulkner uses the symbol of blood to illustrate the theme of loyalty to the family.
In “Barn Burning” the setting is a time when people drove horse wagons and the workingmen were generally farmers. The major character in this story is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, called “Sarty” by his family who is a ten-year-old boy. In the beginning, Sarty is portrayed as a confused and frightened young boy. He is in despair over the burden of doing the right thing or sticking by his family, as his father states,” You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.”
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 for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.
In the short story Barn Burning, William Faulkner sets the scene in a courtroom located in a corner store market. Protagonist, Abner Snopes, was being accused of burning down Mr. Harris’s barn. Because of this, the Snopes family gpt forced to leave the country and never come back. They then moved to a beautiful new place where Abner worked as a sharecropper for Major De Spain. Not long after working for them, Abner ruined their valuable rug by intentionally tracking horse manure onto it. When told to clean it he used soap that completely destroyed it. Major de Spain fined Abner 20 bushels of corn, which caused Abner dto take Major De Spain to court. The Justice only deducts the punishment from 20 bushels to 10 bushels of corn. Due to Abner's rage he plots to burn Major de Spains house by instructing Sarty to gather kerosene. Meanwhile Sarty cautioned Major De Spain about his father’s motives. And lastly, three gun shots went off, but Sarty had no desire to look back to see who was killed.
The moment when Casy says, “You don’t know what you’re a-doin,” and the aggressive man, who was afraid of the monster, the fear and the anger boiling into wrath, and the desperation of surviving, hits him in the head and kills him with a white pickhandle (Steinbeck 386). Tom’s companion and closest friend, who shared his thoughts and beliefs and gave him advice, is murdered in front of him. Tom must have been into deep shock that he didn’t notice the men with the aggressive man trying to kill him. After being hit and injured, he hides and goes back to his family in the cabin. He realizes that he needs to leave before someone in the farm finds him. Tom wants to leave since he wants to protect his family and to recollect his thoughts and feelings about Casy’s death. He goes away temporarily only to get into the truck with his family and go to the boxcar camp. At the boxcar camp, Tom is stuck in the same plight as last time at the farm. Using the time of being away from his family, he must have been pondering over what Casy must have thought before he was murdered and why he said his last words. Tom must have put himself in Casy’s shoes to figure out what he meant by the people having one huge soul and how there is no sin and virtue. Contemplating in the dark for a long time, Tom has an epiphany about the Oversoul and how the migrants who are subjected to the monster’s tyranny should unite to overcome the relentless cruelty and oppression. He tells his mother, “I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there” (Steinbeck 419). From this, Tom recognizes where he stands
In the beginning, the court put Sarty on the stand speak against his father. “[C]aught in a prolonged instant of mesmerized gravity, weightless in time” (500), Sarty does not know what to do with the newly awakened rebellious itch. Although, he makes an instant decision and acts from there. Faulkner uses action verbs, such as “springing…running…scrabbling” (510). These create chronological motion in the ending, moving away from the interjections of the past and futures interlaced throughout the
At first glance, the story “Barn burning” seems just to be about a tyrannical father and a son who is in the grips of that tyranny. I think Faulkner explores at least one important philosophical question in this story were he asks at what point should a person make a choice between what his parent(s) and / or family believes and his own values?
...an adult, his articulation of this southern code of morality is coherent and well thought out while Sarty’s reaction to his father’s incendiary behaviour is instinctive and not intellectualized. The image of the violent Southern man is evident in both stories, both boys have fathers who have participated in violence-Abner Snopes has a seething rage which finds satisfaction only through burning the property of people he hates and John Sartoris has been directly involved in the war, has a belligerent disposition and resorts to bloodshed frequently in the novel. But the difference lies in the ultimate response of the central character of each story to the southern ideals of masculinity - Bayard initially abides by but ultimately distances himself from Southern codes of honour while Sarty, being a child, is still far from finding himself at the end of “Barn Burning”.
In the story “Barns Burning” Abner Snopes, the father is accused of burning a neighbor’s barn. Sarty is faced with a decision that will shape the rest of his life. Sarty is called to the stand, but because the plaintiff is ultimately unwilling to force him to testify against his own father, the case is closed, and the father is advised to leave that part of the country. As the family Sarty,
...eard the gunfire, no longer in terror and fear, "Father. My Father he thought." Sarty tried to think good thoughts about his father thinking, "he was brave!" He served as a solder under Colonel Sartoris in the war! When the morning sun came up, he was finally on his own to be his own man, free to make his own individual decisions without worrying about what his father would do to him. It was from Sarty's dilemma of family loyalty and the desire to please his father that kept him from doing the right things. Was his father so bitter due to experiences he had during the Civil War ? Was it society's fault for what happened to his father? Was Abner just born with his us against them attitude? These are all questions that Faulkner leaves with us after reading the "Barn Burning." and is part of that fire in the back of our minds that we will never be able to put out..