Abner selfish man or just troubled?
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. The first aspect that Abner unknowingly rejects is his personal insecurity, we see this when
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Abners’ financial insecurity derives from the fact that he is almost penniless. He does not possess any property, a job, or even a place he and his family can call home. The only thing he possesses is the wagon he and his family ride on, when they move from town to town. We see that Abner is unable to earn sufficient money to meet the needs of the family, hence giving him financial insecurity. The hardship of the Snopes family is generated by the constant moving from town to town. And also because the family does not have a stable income due to the fact that Abner, who is a sharecropper, always burns his bosses barns; he is chased away numerous times, which in turn leads to his financial insecurity. By burning barns, Abner camouflages his financial insecurity and creates a short lived pleasure for himself by demonstrating his power over his bosses. However, these actions cause him to lose his job which means him and his family will suffer
In “Barn Burning”, Abner enters the house at dusk and “could smell the coffee from the room where they would presently eat the cold food remaining from the afternoon meal.” (14) A warm meal would indicate fulfillment and cohesiveness within the family. The inclusion of the detail that the food was cold represents an inversion of these associations. The cold meal symbolizes the family’s distaste with Abner’s actions. The memory of the dinner lingers with the family as they get ready for bed and appears linked with negative images of “Where they had been were no long, water-cloudy scoriations resembling the sporadic course of a lilliputian moving machine.” (15) In addition, the emphasis that this dinner was in fact a left-over meal symbolizes that the pattern of Abner’s destructive behavior and its effects on his family will not change.
Faulkner, William. "Barn Burning." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. 3th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 1554-66.
William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" is an intriguing story about a young boy named Colonel Sartoris's (Sarty) love and hatred for his father, Abner Snopes. Ab is a brutal and frightening man who instills fear into whom ever he seems to be close to. What is the cause of Abner Snopes's cruel-heartedness? Maybe it's his alienation from the higher class in society that causes him to act in this manner. When such a separation occurs in a community one can feel that he doesn't belong and because he does not belong that the only way the higher class will give him the time of day is if the person acts out and tries to prove that he doesn't need law and conventional society, much like Ab Snopes. Another possibility is that Sarty's father has not developed the intelligence to conform to societal formality. He might feel that law is unnecessary for a husband and father who can, for the most part, get by and protect his family on his own. The cold hearted side of Ab Snopes is what causes the internal conflict in Sarty. Sarty loves his father because of the simple fact that Ab is his father. No matter how evil a father is a part deep down inside, no matter how small, will always hold the door open in case that person ever decides to change. That of course is the only thing that even remotely resembles Sarty's true love for his father, because Abner Snopes does nothing but abuse anyone who ever loved him throughout the entire story. We know that he is harsh to his wife, his sons, his daughters, and even his stock, and in the end this is why Sarty betrays his father. He simply would not take it any longer.
In the novel Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, he uses archetypes to connect the reader to every person whose has ever existed. By adding these archetypes to his work, it helps the reader connect to the novel and it helps us associate with the human experience. Through his experience as a writer, he found his own way of writing. Anaya can relate to many other authors in the way that they try to write a story from their roots and what their childhood was like, not like all the American books they are used to reading. Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, and Chinua Achebe all have a similar way of writing because they all include archetypes in their literature to connect us as humans.
Life with an abusive out of control parent often leads the offspring to grow up quicker than their years. In William Faulkner’s Barn Burning, one is taken on the journey of Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) growing up and maturing quicker than need be. Young Sarty is faced with the difficult decision of being loyal to his bloodline or to be loyal to himself. Ultimately Sarty had the strength and courage to break free from the verbal chains of fear that his father placed upon him and do the right thing, by telling on his father. This paper will highlight the two main events that were responsible for providing Sarty with the confidence and courage to do the right thing.
The. Barn Burning. Collected Stories of William Faulkner. New York: The New York Times.
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.
Poverty is an epidemic that is hard to cure. Very rarely will someone in poverty be able to break the cycle and escape. Accomplishing this task requires determination and courage. In Barn Burning by William Faulkner, Sartoris, the protagonist, is a rare one that breaks the cycle and is able to free himself. The passage is about a little boy who is stuck in the lower class. His abusive father is known as “white trash,” and burns the barns of upper-class citizens because he is jealous of them. Towards the end of the story, Sartoris realizes that he wants to be better than his father and decides to run away. In the last two paragraphs, Faulkner uses a vivid description of the setting, a shift in tone, and the protagonist’s actions to express the
Brooks, Cleanth. "William Faulkner: Visions of Good and Evil." Faulkner, New Perspectives. Ed. Richard H. Brodhead. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, 1983.
Sheetz 1 Sarah Sheetz Ms. Rosenberger English 4 October 17, 2016 Faulkner’s Self Help Book In “Barn Burning,” Faulkner illustrates a boy’s coming to age story, including his struggle in choosing whether to stand by in the midst of his father’s destructive cycle of spiteful burning or stand up for his own belief in civic duty. While most readers do not relate to having a father that habitually burns others’ belongings in a strange power scheme, readers relate to the struggle between blood ties and their own values. Taking the theme even broader, readers relate to any struggle with making a decision. Through imagery, reoccurring motifs, and diction, Faulkner creates an intense pressure which enhances readers understanding of Sarty, his struggle,
In “Barn Burning,” Abner is described as stiff, wolf-like, and without heat because of his coldness and bitterness toward society in which he was part of during the time of the War Between the States. The main character is Abner Snopes who sharecrops to make a living for his family; in his story, Faulkner describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during that particular time.
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?
William Faulkner has written some of the most unique novels and short stories of any author, and, to this day, his stories continue to be enjoyed by many. Both “Barn Burning” and “A Rose for Emily” tell about the life of southern people and their struggles with society, but Faulkner used the dramatic settings of these two stories to create a mood unlike any other and make the audience feel like they too were a part of these southern towns. These two stories have many similarities in there setting, but they also have many differences to that make them unique and interesting.
Many authors and poets uses symbolism to express emotion and sections throughout the text. Symbols is a great literary device that can help give messages to the reader without the author being too direct. In the story, “Barns Burning” by William Faulkner, Symbolism helps analysis different emotions and meaning throughout the story.