The Importance of Literary Elements in Barn Burning
Understanding literary elements such as patterns, reader/writer relationships, and character choice are critical in appreciating William Faulkner's Barn Burning. Some literary elements are small and almost inconsequential while others are large and all-encompassing: the mother's broken clock, a small and seemingly insignificant object, is used so carefully, extracting the maximum effect; the subtle, but more frequent use of dialectal words which contain darker, secondary meanings; the way blood is used throughout the story in many different ways, including several direct references in the familial sense; how Faulkner chooses to write about poor, common people (in fact to the extreme) and how this relates to the opinions of Wordsworth and Aristotle; and finally, the relationship between the reader and writer, Faulkner's choice of narrator and point of view, and how this is works successfully.
One of the formal choices Faulkner uses is the clock, the dowry of Sarty's mother, which does not work. On a simple level, the clock represents the Snopes' poverty, being all her parents could offer the newlyweds, and the only fancy object ever mentioned in the Snopes' possession. More important, however, is that it does not work-symbolizing the brokenness of their relationship and her happiness. To obtain the maximum effect, Faulkner mentions the mother's unhappiness directly after the clock:
...the clock inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which would not run, stopped at some fourteen minutes past two o'clock of a dead and forgotten time, which had been his mother's dowry. She was crying....(Faulkner 4)
Her unhappiness is justified in the story by Abner's treatme...
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...reates a more complex frame of ideals and virtues than would otherwise be believable in an uneducated ten year old boy.
By reading closely and paying attention to details, I was able to get so much more out of this story than I did from the first reading. In short, this assignment has greatly deepened my understanding and appreciation of the more complex and subtle techniques Faulkner used to communicated his ideas in the story.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. Selected Short Stories of William Faulkner, The Modern Library, New York, 1993.
Smith, James Harry; Parks, Edd Winfield. The Great Critics, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, ?.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, 1993.
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th Ed. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth, 1993.
Throughout Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” the reader acknowledges that the protagonist Sarty exhibits an intuitive sense of
6. West, Ray B., Jr. "Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'." William Faulkner: Four Decades of Criticism. Ed. Linda Welshimer Wagner. Michigan State University Press, 1973. 192-198. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 July 2011.
In a young boy’s life, making the morally right choice can be difficult especially when the choice goes against someone that is suppose to be respected, such as a parent. “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner is a coming of age story about a son of a poor and evil sharecropper. Showing the difference between good and evil, Faulkner uses character descriptions and plot, revealing Sarty’s struggles’s as he chooses between making the morally right decision or to be loyal to a dishonest father.
The cruel dominance of a father, can extinguish any flame of hope that builds in the people around him. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is that father. The story portrays a nomadic life of a family driven from one home to another. Abner had a craving hunger to belittle those around him that thought they were "better than him." Although the family accepts the nomadic life, Sarty (the son) dreams of having peace and stability. To have this peace, it only requires a lack of conflict. The Snope family was doomed to struggle due to Abner's constant instigation of conflict, the ongoing domination of his family and his complete lack of respect for the law.
Sarty's Point of View in Barn Burning by William Faulkner. 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.
In the early eighties, children were being diagnosed with a mental illness that consistently brings them out of focus. The mental illness was later named, ADD or ADHD, and not known as an illness but as a disorder. Soon enough ADD was no longer used for diagnoses and became considered an outdated term among doctors. Therefore, instead of ADD and ADHD being two different types of disorders they are now both claimed as attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Although these two types of deficits have inattention difficulties as the primary symptom, they both can not be combined due to ADD having its own preferences on what makes the child or adult inattentive in day to day situations.
Three key elements link William Faulkner's two short stories "A Rose for Emily" and "Dry September": sex, death, and women (King 203). Staging his two stories against a backdrop of stereotypical characters and a southern code of honor, Faulkner deliberately withholds important details, fragments chronological times, and fuses the past with the present to imply the character's act and motivation.
While the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association) put forth a list of behaviors which predominantly fall in the category of ADD and/or ADHD, many researchers still maintain that there is no set way to diagnosis or develop a treatment program to these disorders which will be guaranteed to work. At the same time there is another set of researchers who maintain that these disorders actually do not exist at all. However, in the real world, parents and educators still continue to struggle with the task of coping with children who are hyperactive and who have very low attention span and whose behavior often interferes with schooling and family life. [Armstrong, 1997]
Through 1930-40's stimulant drugs were first used to successfully treat many behavior problems due in part by Still's hypothesis. In 1960, Stella Chess researched in the field by writing about the "hyperactive child syndrome." She took Still's hypothesis further stating that the resulting behavior problems stem from a biological cause, although it is linked to a genetic inheritance rather then a birth defect from an injury. Finally, in 1980, the syndrome was named Attention Deficit Disorder, due in large part to Virginia Douglas's work to find accurate ways to diagnose it (Hallowell 2).
Children who have symptoms of inattention may be easily distracted, have difficulties focusing, become bored easily, have no organizational skills, or just can't seem to complete or turn in their homework. Children who have symptoms of hyperactivity may have trouble sitting still and being quite, or they may seem like they are constantly "on the go." C...
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), more commonly referred to as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), has only recently come to notice of scientists. It affects 3.5 million people under the age of 18 and 5 million people over the age of 18. Its current cause of existence is due to defects at neurotransmitter sites, rendering patients inattentive and impulsive. However, every year more progress is made in locating the cause and finding more effective treatments. ADHD's first diagnosis was made in 1902 by Dr. George Still. He observed 20 children who were inattentive, impulsive, hyperactive, and showed mood swings. He initially attributed their behavior to mild brain damage. By 1917 ADHD or constantly active was still thought to have this cause. At this time, viral encephalitis seemed to be linked to the disease because, after being infected, children had impaired attention, memory, and impulse control. In 1937 ADHD was known as minimal brain dysfunction and began to be treated with amphetamines, which made children with the disorder much calmer.
Attention Deficit Disorder is a long and some what mysterious sounding name that tries to describe something you probably already call Hyperactivity. But, attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is much more that Hyperactivity.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), once called hyperkinesis or minimal brain dysfunction, is one of the most common mental disorders among children. (Elia, Ambrosini, Rapoport, 1999) It affects 3 to 5 percent of all children, with approximately 60% to 80% of these children experiencing persistence of symptoms into adolescence and adulthood, causing a lifetime of frustrated dreams and emotional pain. There are two types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an inattentive type and a combined type. The symptoms of ADHD can be classified into three categories: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. This behaviour stops ADHD sufferers from focussing deliberately on organising and completing a specific task that they may not enjoy, learning new skills or information is proved to be impossible. An example of such behaviour is recognised by the report written by the National Institute of Mental Health where one of the subjects under study was unable to pass schooling examinations due to her inattentive behaviour. Such behaviour can damage the person's relationships with others in addition to disrupting their daily life, consuming energy, and diminishing self-esteem. (National Institute of Mental Health 1999) There are also secondary symptoms which are associated with ADHD, such as learning disorders, anxiety, depression and other mood disorders, tic disorders, and conduct disorders. (Spencer, Biederman, and Wilens 1999 in Monastra V, Monastra D, George, 2002)
Schwarz Alan and Cohen Sarah. “More diagnosis of ADHD causing concerns.” The New York Times 31 March 2013. Print.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a neurological disorder. It can cause behavior problems, issues with listening, problems with school work, including falling behind on school work, completing tasks, and social issues. There is also a condition ADHD which is Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity. Both of these conditions can be treated. There is no cure for either of the disorders. Children and adults can be treated with stimulant medications. Such as Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse. With these medication they can have better control of the ADD or ADHD. People with these conditions can also seek