¶ … boy afraid? Why is the father able to escape punishment?
At the beginning of the story, Abner Snopes is being tried for the burning of a barn that belongs to the man on whose land he is a sharecropper. The boy, Abner's son Sarty, is afraid because he is the lone eyewitness who could potentially testify against his father. In some sense, Sarty's fear is the tipoff to the court that Abner did commit the arson, even though there is no incrimination -- without incrimination Abner is able to escape punishment for the felony of arson, but is nonetheless ordered to leave the county.
Why is the father, Abner Snopes, so angry with all of his employers? Why does he burn barns? Why is fire his weapon?
Snopes's rage seems to relate to his status as a sharecropper: a man who owns no land or property, but who is permitted to exist -- almost in conditions of feudal serfdom -- on the land owned by wealthy men like Major de Spain. The economic condition of a sharecropper is little better than that of a slave, and Snopes seems to know it -- his aggressive racism is meant to assert his value by reminding people he may live like a slave but he is still white. His anger therefore is directed towards property itself. Fire has the effect of making a building owned by someone vanish entirely -- it deprives the owner of landed property.
3. Why does the father show no respect for the court system? For his son? For other members of his family?
Snopes feels disenfranchised by his lot in life as a poor white sharecropper, and thus has to assert his own sense of dignity and agency through a belligerent and defiant attitude towards authority and propriety in general. He sees his family as essentially his property -- thus he can practically beat Sarty while preaching the necessity of close family bonds at the same time.
4. How would you describe the value system that governs Abner Snopes' decision? Is he evil? Is he disturbed? How would you explain his way of solving what he perceives...
Barn Burning William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" was published in 1939. The setting and mood of the story reflect the Great Depression, and class conflict is at the heart of the "Barn Burning." "Barn Burning" is about a family of poor farm workers, and the interpersonal conflicts that arise due to their lowly station in life. The Snopes family consists of Colonel Sartoris (Sarty) who is the protagonist of "Barn
Barn Burning In Faulkner's "Barn Burning," the reader is presented with the inner experiences of a ten-year-old boy struggling to overcome the amoral and violent family culture into which he has been born. The boy's relationships with most of his family seem to be entirely overshadows, if not made non-existent, in comparison to his relationship with his father. In a rather Freudian sense, young Sarty must seek to come to terms
It is important to notice the fact that despite the pressures from his father he decides to make his own choice and confront him. Therefore, the short story closes as a perfect circle with a somewhat similar action, this time the outcome differing. Thus, while in the beginning, Sarty would have lied for his parent, under the obligation of the Court, this time it was his own unquestionable choice
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Barn Burning William Faulkner's story "BARN BURNING" "Barn Burning": Annotated Bibliography Brown, Calvin S. (1962). Faulkner's geography and topography. PMLA, 77 (5): Retrieved: http://www.jstor.org/stable/460414 Topography and spacial relations have a uniquely important role in William Faulkner's literary works. Faulkner's works are often interpreted as literal depictions of his life growing up in Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner's stories such as "Barn Burning" are located in the American South and derive much of their character and atmosphere from
Barn Burning William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" is a story of family loyalty verses social morality. The protagonist of Faulkner's story is a young boy named Sartoris Snopes, the son of a dirt-poor share-cropper who has spent the better part of his life moving from town to town and from shack to shack. Set in the Deep South, "Barn Burning" is essentially a coming of age tale amid a violent family life
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