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 that Faulkner uses to express that although family loyalty is an admirable quality, it does not justify silence against social crimes.
There are several elements of symbolism in Faulkner's story. One that is repeated throughout his work is that of the description of the father, always "stiff and black" to symbolize the man's dark and sinister character and his unyielding personality. The first description comes near the beginning of the tale when Faulkner writes, "His father, stiff in his black Sunday coat donned not for the trial but for the moving" (Faulkner pp). In that sentence Faulkner conveys to his readers not only a physical description of the man, but his purpose. Then again, when leaving the store, the author writes of the boy, "His father turned, and he followed the stiff black coat" (Faulkner...
But the word haunted is the key word here, for his stories are never happy ones. They have authenticity, however, despite the sometimes bizarre happenings and sinister events. His characters think and talk like real people and experience the impact of poverty, racism, class divisions, and family as both a life force and a curse. Faulkner wrote in the oral tradition. His "writing shows a keen awareness of the
Faulkner and Joyce William Faulkner famously said that "The human heart in conflict with itself" is the only topic worth writing about. Several short stories have proven this quote to be true. The narrators of both William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" and James Joyce's "Araby" are young men who are facing their first moments where childhood innocence and the adult world are coming into conflict. Both boys, for the text makes it
William Faulkner A renowned novelist, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Eight years prior to his birth, his grandfather was killed by an ex-partner in business. William Faulkner was the eldest of the siblings. During his school life, William loved sports and was a quarterback in the football team and his passion for writing poetry existed since he was only 13 years old.
William Faulkner uses opposition and tension to great effect within his story, "Barn Burning." He explores oppositions like Sarty's blood ties to his father vs. The pull of moral imperative, and decent behaviour to society in general. These oppositions help to create the tension and mood in the story, and serve as a literary device to illustrate his themes of the initiation of the adolescent into adult life, and the
Faulkner Stories William Faulkner's short stories were told by an omniscient narrator who probably represented the author, and in plot, characters and symbolism have often been classified of Southern Gothic horror. Certainly his characters were horrors, and often satirical, humorous and bizarre caricatures of the different social classes on the South from the time of slavery to the New (Capitalist) South of the 20th Century. They are often violent, deranged, frustrated,
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
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now