The Role Of Sartoris Snopes In Faulkner's Barn Burning

In Jackson’s “The Daemon Lover,” the main protagonist feels helpless under the demands of society that she needs to find a husband. At the beginning of the short story, the woman exposes her nervous tendencyies with, “it was two minutes after ten; she was not satisfied with her clothes, her face, her apartment” (Jackson). Jackson depicts her in a anxious manner even before the time her fiance was supposed to come, she shows signs of her insecurity as a women, having a clean house, perfect and appropriate clothes, hair and makeup. It is the unfair ideals of society, that oppress women because of the expectation to uphold them. Ultimately revealing her loss of stability and the uncertainty she feels, explaining no matter what she does it will

not take away how incomplete she feels. In spite of her uncertainty, Jackson explains,"Why don’t I go to the police..What a fool I’d look like. ..Yes, we were going to be married today, but he didn’t come…” (Jackson). Jackson describes the women being worried about not having him, she is trying to convince herself that she is not a “fool” with, "a certain clear view of life that might make a man satisfied and productive and happy" (Jackson) because of her confusion. She feels insecure about how he did not come, and how people view that in a bad way. She feels as if, looking like a fool is a bad thing, because of societal norms and how she cares how people perceive her. As a result of her uncertainty and anxiety, she falls victim to a loss of stability but she never gives up, "She came back many times, everyday for the first week ... but no matter how often or how firmly she knocked, no one ever came to the door" (Jackson). Jackson shows her perseverance of believing he is still there to represent the main protagonists vulnerability in the situation. She experiences a loss of stability when she realized something she was so certain about changed. In reality, women don't need men for comfort and stability, but she was so blindsided when he did not show, that it put her into a state of panic. The story overall puts in perspective what women feel in relationships and society everyday, feeling like they have to try so hard, for someone who may never commit in pursuit of "stability" that they offer. Jackson depicts the oppression women fall to under society of insecurity and representing the epitome of the fight women take feeling inferior to males. Thinking that the security lies within marriage and stability they offer and having to do what is expected.
In Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” Colonel Sartoris Snopes is oppressed by his father’s instability.

His father, an arson, constantly physically and mentally abuses Sartoris. Sartoris takes on a big responsibility for his father’s wrongdoings by taking the blame for his father, in regard to burning down the barns. He is forced to lie during investigations carried out by the Justice. In spite of that, Sartoris is hesitant to do the wrong action, always feeling “grief and despair” (Faulkner, 1). He lives his life walking on eggshells because of fear of not knowing the things his father was doing, and having to constantly pack and move and leave a past life behind. Sartoris's father demands his son to obey his every demand,he even expects Sartorius to lie for him in his trial, and tells him that he has to "to learn to stick to your own blood or [he] ain't going to have any blood to stick to" (Faulkner, 3). He tells Sartoris how staying by your family's side is the most important thing, even if you have to lie, acting as Sartoris’s oppressor. In effect of Sartoris’s fear of doing the wrong thing, he unexpectedly goes against his oppressor, his own father, in pursuit of doing the right thing. From his actions of telling on his father, his father is persecuted for his crimes, "knowing it was too late yet still running even after he heard the shot and, an instant later, two shots, pausing now without knowing he had ceased to run, crying "Pap! Pap!," running again before he

knew he had begun to run" (p 11). His father left him without a sense of reassurance but making it feel like it was Satoris’s fault. His father acts as his oppressor by controlling his son, having over him, causing him to loss dignity.
In Perkin Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the nameless wife falls to insanity, under the constant control of her relentless husband, “John”.

The women's experiences traditional women oppression under men. She is thought of as unimportant, depicted by Gilman by not properly giving her a name. She represents a loss of identity because she is inferior to John, Gilman explains, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house” (Gilman). Gilman notable personifies the interference that John plays on her thoughts. He interrupts her thoughts describing her husband’s power and authority, “but John says”, exemplifying how is opinion is always right and superior to her own. He controls her head by subsiding the unhappy thoughts and projecting her thoughts to her surroundings, leading to the fascination with the wallpaper. Her sadness is not only derived from the sadness of the apparent ‘condition’ but the oppression she experiences in her relationship. His overarching restrictions that are placed on her, drive her farther into insanity, “life is very much more exciting now than it used to be” (Gilman). Gilman captures the irony, almost comical truth of her madness. She has been derived from pleasure and a normal life, that she finds joy in little things such as the

pattern on wall, describing it as “exciting”. She spends all day and night thinking about it, keeping her from reality. In effect of her lack of individuality, she has forced to succumb to total loss of control and insanity, “There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” (Gilman). She has began to hyperfocus on the wallpaper playing further into her fantasy life in her head, hiding the horror of her real life. She describes “the dim shapes get clearer every day”, acting as if she is getting better, but she is yet to advocate for herself due to how inferior and powerless she has already become. She acts as if she wants to free herself from the oppressing relationship but finds herself trapped. Overall, “The Yellow Wall Paper” shows the suffocating role a person can play in a relationship, traditionally giving all power to the male, and the effect it has on the lesser.
This relationship, between being oppressed and feeling disempowered, is true to m