Loyalty In Barn Burning

William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize-winning author who was famous for writing about the American South and boldly addressing social issues that everyone else was afraid to, including slavery and Southern aristocracy. “Faulkner became known for his faithful and accurate dictation of Southern speech” (“William Cuthbert Faulkner”) and poetic style in his prose works. One of his more subtle works, “Barn Burning,” focused on loyalty. The short story “Barn Burning” demonstrates to readers how loyalty to the law must sometimes take priority over loyalty to family.

In the story, William Faulkner tells readers of a young man named Sartoris Snopes whose father, Abner Snopes, has pyromaniac tendencies that constantly get him into legal trouble and put

a burden on Sartoris. The story commences with Sartoris sitting in a courtroom where his father is being put on trial for a hog incident. Sartoris wants to testify against his father and prove him guilty but before he can, his father hits him and gives him a lecture about how Sartoris must always stay loyal to family regardless of the consequences. Abner Snopes cannot be fully proven guilty so the trial ends and as a result of miraculously escaping conviction, the Justice of Peace court orders the Snopes family to leave town. In their new town, all goes well until Abner purposely tracks manure on an expensive rug belonging to a wealthy man named Major de Spain. The Snopes family members, which live in a shack as tenant farmers, try to clean the rug but do not do a satisfactory job in the eyes of de Spain because he takes them to court and demands that they pay him back with twenty bushels of corn. Defiantly, Abner sues de Spain in court to have his fee reduced to only ten bushels of corn and after the trial he begins making plans to burn de Spain’s barn. When Sartoris becomes aware of what his father plans on doing, he becomes afraid and impulsively alerts de Spain of what is to come. Major de Spain shoots Abner and the story ends with Sartoris running away (“Barn Burning Summary”).
Sartoris Snopes is a heroic young man with unique personality traits. Throughout the story, Sartoris exhibits a rare sense of justice and civic duty. Constantly, Sartoris suffers with guilt whenever his father breaks the law and despite knowing how morally wrong it is to threaten people, let alone parents, Sartoris threatens to hit his mother if she does not stop physically restraining him from preventing his father of burning the de Spain barn. It is evident that over time Sartoris’ mentality and personality transforms from that of a scared boy into a mature, brave young man. For example, after the hog incident trial, Sartoris is deadly terrified of testifying against his guilty father but at the de Spain mansion he inevitably causes his father’s death after warning de Spain of what Abner was planning to do to the barn. Sartoris transitions from the ten year old boy that fears betraying his father into the young man that is not afraid of facing the detrimental repercussions of turning in his father and running away from his family to begin living on his own in the world.
Abner Snopes unintentionally causes a conflicting dilemma for his son Sartoris by forcing him to place loyalty of family at a higher value than loyalty to law. Abner continuously gets off the hook in court trials but still repeats his pyromaniac behavior and always involves his son in his schemes. Sartoris is a righteous young man with beautiful morals that are always contradictory to how Abner wants him to think and behave. For example, the night after the hog trial when the Snopes family is loading a wagon to leave town, Abner pulls Sartoris aside and addresses his fury with the reality that Sartoris considered telling the truth in court. During the discussion, Abner impulsively hit his son and proceeds to give him a wordy lecture about loyalty to family. Sartoris does not hold his father to high esteem but rather views him as an unreasonable, outrageous, and unfair man. The feelings of disapproval that Sartoris has for Abner escalate after Abner deliberately ruins the de Spain rug, attempts to burn his barn, and forces Sartoris’ mother to physically restrain him from helping de Spain stop Abner.
Sartoris finally testifies against his father after many push factors bring him to the point of no return. For an excessive amount of time, Sartoris represses his guilt and shame of his father’s actions which is why he finally bursts and confesses his father’s sinister plan to Major de Spain even though de Spain kills Sartoris’ father as a result. Sartoris was desperate for a push factor that would enable him with enough courage to stand up against his father. Once Sartoris sees the de Spain mansion for the first time, his life changes; the mansion serves as a symbol of an extreme alternative to Abner’s life. Sartoris is so captivated by the mansion that he swears that seeing the mansion will change his father but when Abner asks Sartoris to assist him in burning down the barn, Sartoris comes to the harsh realization that his father will never depart from his delinquent ways.
After covering for his guilty father countless times, Sartoris Snopes can no longer keep quiet when he witnesses his father about to burn down the de Spain barn.

The climax of the story is when Sartoris finally ceases to cover up for his father and allows him to pay the consequence of his actions. Abner Snopes had burned many barns prior to moving close to the de Spain mansion but Sartoris was afraid to turn him in. Seeing the mansion gives Sartoris a hope for the future which ultimately rids him of his fear of standing up against his father. With his newfound courage, Sartoris warns Major de Spain and then Abner is shot down with a gun and killed. Once Abner is finally defeated, everything naturally falls back into place and Sartoris’ life changes: “He went on down the hill, toward the dark woods within which the liquid silver voices of the birds called unceasing- the rapid and urgent beating of the urgent and quiring heart of the late spring night. He did not look back.” Sartoris mourns the death of his father-despite his careless mistakes and lousy parenting- and makes the impulsive decision to run away from his current life and commence a new journey on to a different place away from everyone he leaves

behind.
In “Barn Burning,” William Faulkner develops the story through distinct use and application of setting, symbolism, and style.

The setting of the story, as like all of Faulkner’s works, is rural, southern America about 30 years after the Civil War which explains why the judicial system is rather weak at serving justice, why barn burning is a common felony, and why African-Americans are offensively addressed with racial slurs and cruel terms like “nigger.” Also, the setting during most barn burnings is at night which adds intensity to Abner’s actions and it shows the sinister, unlawful, and disdainful nature of everything he does. Many symbols are incorporated into the story but the most important is fire; fire gives Abner a sense of control and power since it is the only thing in his life where he feels like he is in control. Another thing that gives Abner a feeling of control is hitting his loved ones because it makes them powerless against him. William Faulkner has a unique poetic style of writing incorporated into his prose works which targets the emotions and senses of readers yet still offers deep character developments and story lines. “Barn Burning” is a short story with deep development and underlying aspects that add fullness and roundness to the

plot.
The moral of the “Barn Burning” story is that in certain situations, loyalty to the law must prioritize over loyalty to other people, regardless if they are family or not. Without loyalty to the law, society will crumble. William Faulkner did an outstanding job of critiquing 19th century southern governments who were not properly developed or just in their determinations of conviction. Having the highly honorable and distinguishable judicial system the United States now has, old southern court systems seem like a joke in comparison. Faulkner was an intellectual man who was never afraid to voice his opinions of societal problems in his writing. William Faulkner is a legend and the memory of him will always remain as a reforming, dominant novelist in American history.