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Cultural Criticism of Barn Burning by William Faulkner
In William Faulkner's "Barn Burning", a young boy must face his father and face
the reality of a racist society. 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 in the story. He takes a young black boy and puts
him in a real world of chaos and disorder. In the South, race is one of the most important
factors in how one would live his or her life. The only way he can retain his own dignity in
the end is to believe in his own courage and goodwill.
The young boy, Sartoris, has a kind of loyalty for his father, Abner Snopes. He
admires him and everything he does. He believes that his father is always right.
In the beginning of the story, Sartoris (Sarty) is faced with his first major conflict.
He is in the court room as a witness to a barn burning. The judge can only pardon Abner
because Sarty is too young and can not be used as the key witness, but the judge tells
them they must leave the country for their own safety and the safety of others. All the
while Sarty thinks to himself how he must not talk to the white men. "Our enemy... ourn!
mine and hisn both! He's my father!" (397). He sees the white men in the courthouse as
the enemy, even the judge. In Sarty's mind, the judge is the enemy because he is white.
He only believes so because that is how he was raised to believe.
After they leave the country, Abner gets into trouble again. This time Sarty stays
loyal to himself instead of his father. He warns a man named Major de Spain about his
barn burni...
... middle of paper ...
...n time.
Growing up in the South, Faulkner gives a good perspective on what it was like for
the black man in the South in the early 1900's. This story deals partly with racial
discrimination and oppression of a certain social class. It also deals with how a young
man (Sarty) can deal with the situation he is borne into. He can either rise to the
occasion and beat the odds and become a better man, or he can follow in the footsteps
of his father and his father before him. He came to a certain point in his life where one
decision could determine what kind of person he would be. He made the right choice. He
followed the law instead of being a bitter man toward the white race like his father turned
out to be. This story can be deceptive in its simplicity. It is simply a matter of a young
man choosing between right and wrong.
of a conscience in the story are the ways that Sarty compliments and admires his
The black man in the Deep South of America was greatly despised during the 1950’s. The world that the Negroes lived in was not the same as whites in their society. In this book, John Howard Griffin Sacrifices his life as a middle-class white man and becomes a dirt poor Negro, trying to survive in the South. He simply did all of this in order to bring out the truth about what it is really and truly like to be a Negro in the South during the 1950’s.
William Faulkner, recognized as one of the greatest writers of all time, once made a speech as he accepted his Nobel prize for writing in which he stated that a great piece of writing should contain the truths of the heart and the conflicts that arise over these truths. These truths were love, honor, pity, pride, compassion and sacrifice. Truly it would be hard to argue that a story without these truths would be considered even a good story let alone a great one. So the question brought forward is whether Faulkner uses his own truths of the heart to make his story "Barn Burning." Clearly the answer to this question is yes; his use of the truths of the heart are prevalent
In the short story, Barn Burning by William Faulkner, a young boy is burdened with the daunting task of choosing his family or to be honorable. The consequences the boy faces as a result of his pivotal and difficult choice will be part of the rest of his life, whether it be in a positive or negative manner.
which to accept his father for the way he is as he does not want to
In the short story “Barn Burning”, characters are expressed in several different ways. The author does so by adding symbolic meaning behind each character’s actions. Each decision means something, and every detail matters when evaluating characters within this story. The way the story progresses the reader can experience the growth of the character. One person that really experiences this growth is Sarty. Sarty is a young boy who is confined by the expectations to stand up for family members whether or not he has to lie for them or not. A case where this happens within the story is during the exposition whenever the judge questions Sarty during trial over his father burning down a barn. Sarty answers all of the judge’s questions in regards to saving his father, but is upset because he goes against his morals. Sarty’s loyalty to his family is tested time and time again. He lets fear take over and affect his true sense of morals. This depiction of Sarty drastically changes throughout the story.
The critical point of the story is when Sarty decides to tell Mr. De Spain that his father is going to burn his barn. Sarty is in disarray because he doesn’t know what is going to happen to him next and is probably speculating that his family will never forgive him because the of the harm that will come to their father if he is caught in the act.
Sarty spent his entire life hiding behind the unspoken rule that blood is thicker than water. But, in the face of having to decide whether he should continue to overlook Abner’s amoral behavior, he chooses not to. Even though he tries to understand Abner’s reasoning, in his heart he cannot condone it. In a situation where Sarty-the child would be frightened to stand up against his father, Sarty-the man is not. It is unfortunate that he had to lose a father in order to regain his sense of morality, but in light of the situation he was in, it can be agreed, that he is better off.
This paper examines Abner’s tendencies to burn barns in Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning.” Is this just a defense mechanism? Or a way to get back at those who make him feel insecure. By performing a psychoanalysis on Abner, I hope to find out the reason or reasons behind his Barn Burning. By using the research I documented in this essay I hope to prove that the reasons that Abner burns barn is because he is insecure personally, insecure financially and is also insecure about his identity. I hope to bring a different perspective to the story “barn burning” and maybe even a different perspective on the character Abner.
Barn Burning by William Faulkner opens in the country during the late 19th century. Immediately the scene is set in a store that is doubling as the Justice of the Peace’s court. Sartoris the son of Abner Snopes is the ten year old protagonist that is introduced in the beginning as a conflicted and hungry boy. Abner is in court being incriminated for burning down Mr. Harris’s barn. When Sartoris is called up to testify against his father the court recognizes that he was wrongly put in a compromising position against his family member. Sartoris is then let off the hook. The Judge decides to tell Abner to leave the county and never come back instead.
William Faulkner is a celebrated American author. A native of the south, many of his novels have a southern influence and often revolve around a common theme: the fall of the South. These novels contain elements and characteristics similar to those of the south after the Civil War. Faulkner symbolizes the fall of the south throughout his novel The Sound and the Fury by illustrating how the male characters are weaker than the female characters.
In the story, “Barn Burning”, William Faulkner has displayed the complex situation for the young boy, Sarty, who is just ten years of old. In his young age he has to through many challenges and dilemma. Children are innocent and have a pure heart. But in case of Sarty, he has to be manipulative and lie for the sake of family. He was in a dilemma to distinguish what is right and wrong. To be with family and tell a lie as his father said or be truthful, was his major dilemma. As for a child reasoning capacity is not yet developed properly, he followed his father path in spite of some reluctance. Every time he has to go through this dilemma because of his father’s immoral act. He was broken and lost his faith on his father when he asked him to
As their journeys progress, each man is forced to overcome certain obstacles and hardships. At the end
...knows, who admits in effect, that he will never understand Blacks or Indians and that it would be hateful and ridiculous to pose as an omniscient narrator or to try to penetrate these minds that are unfathomable to him”(Glissant, pp.68). Basically, Faulkner tried to represent those around him with as much truth and sincerity as possible. What made this difficult for him was that the lives of the black people around him were not always happy ones. He witnessed slavery, abuse and neglect and wanted to depict the world around him realistically. Controversy has sprung from reading Faulkner’s novels because too many people mistake the attitudes of his characters for his own. Although many people have, evidently, disagreed with this fact, it can be argued that Faulkner was trying to convey the ugliness and cruelty of racism by including it in his novels with such force.
Faulkner was an excellent student throughout the first several grades; however, he quit school in 1915 without a diploma disappointing his family. Even though Faulkner dropped out of school, he read avidly (Minter, 755). Faulkner made a habit of hanging around places where people gathered to swap tales ; After Faulkner began writing about north Mississippi , a friend remarked that, “ he seemed to know e...