Abner Snopes In Barn Burning

In the fictional stories by William Faulkner, he explores the lives of people in the Old American South, whose traditions and values are changing by the New South. In the short story “Barn Burning,” Faulkner ventures into how consequences can affect characters negatively when they go against the values and morals set forth by society. Abner Snopes, the antagonist of this story, is a deadbeat father of three and has a violent pyro past. His sense of pride and self-liberty is affected and essentially lost by the values in the rising New South. In his own pity, Abner burns barns of the higher-class people who hired him as an excuse to blame the world for his own actions, also showing great resentment in a new society he doesn’t accept.
Abner’s past influences who he has become as a man today by the way he sees the world. In the beginning of the story, Abner Snopes was described as retaining a gunshot injury from a Confederate soldier for stealing a horse. Although, not fighting for

This scene is where his son Colonel Sartoris, is now taking a part in his father’s outrageous acts against society. Sarty, is now about to make a decision that will change his life forever. He is torn between being loyal and respecting his father’s acts of violence against the world, or by doing what’s right and upholding these values. In the instance of this thought, he chooses to warn Major de Spain. Sarty acts in this manner because he is tired of his father disobeying society, breaking the laws and moral codes, and wants his father to take responsibility for his actions. Freedom comes only for Sarty, who has now “defended his sense of honor and attempted to restore the family name, but he ultimately faces an uncertain future alone,” after now running away from the situation at Major de Spain’s in the middle of the