The Image of Fire in Faulkner’s Short Stories, Barn Burning and Shingles for the Lord
The image of fire was very prominent in Faulkner’s short stories “Barn Burning” and “Shingles for the Lord.” Throughout the two stories, fire emerged as a destructive device. The production of fire directly or indirectly destroyed property and the image of the characters, Snopes and Pap. Fire symbolized the character’s deceitful ways and destruction of his identity in society.
The fathers present in the two stories possessed deceitful natures. In the story “Barn Burning,” Snopes’ ill manner erupted into arson. He appeared as the defiant worker. After destroying the landowner’s expensive rug, he refused to pay the ten bushels of corn and burned the landowner’s barn (18-21). His resort to fire symbolized his derogatory ways. Fire was his most destructive tool to facilitate his revenge. In comparison, in “Shingles for the Lord,” Pap indirectly produced fire. In his misleading plot, he tried to outsmart a fellow worker by removing shingles off the church roof at night. However, the lantern he used for light created a fire in the church (39). His accidental manufacture of fire was a result of his deception toward his fellow worker. Fire was an ultimate consequence of his behavior.
Each character used fire as a destructive weapon and ultimately destroyed himself. In “Barn Burning,” Snopes’ use of fire in the beginning of the story presented him as an outcast. At a trial for arson, the judge told Snopes, “I can’t find against you, Snopes, but I can give you advice. Leave this country and don’t come back to it” (5). Snopes’ use of arson destroyed his self-image in front of societal figures. He was banished due to his actions. In “Shingles for the Lord,” Pap’s destruction of the church by fire destroyed society’s perception of him. The use of fire labeled him as an arsonist, a reduced man, and an untrustworthy individual. The preacher, Whitfield, told Pap, “If there is any pursuit in which you can engage without carrying flood and fire and destruction and death behind you, do it. But not one hand shall you lay to this new house until you have proved to us that you are to be trusted again with the powers and capacities of a man” (41). Pap’s arson destroyed society’s respect for him and labeled him as an outsider among the people.
Faulkner’s use of fire signified the father figure’s deceitful ways and the ultimate deconstruction of each father’s presence in society.
Throughout Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” the reader acknowledges that the protagonist Sarty exhibits an intuitive sense of
The Significance of Family Meals in Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Shall Not Perish, and Two Soldiers
The novel “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi tells us as readers narratives of different people that tie together through genealogy. This story also significantly focuses on the psychological side of a few characters such as Maame and, mainly in the end with Yaw. Throughout the story, something that really intrigued me was the Motif of fire: how it is portrayed during times of trauma, how it shows the significance of anxieties symbolically throughout the story, and how it also ties back to the family lineage of Effia in dreams.
The imagery of fire continues in the story; the building of their fires, how the man molds the fires, and how they stoke the fire. When the boy gets sick the father is referred to many times of how he builds and rekindles the fire. This actual fire is a symbol for the fire that the man and the boy discuss carrying within in them. The man fights to save his son and the fire within the boy
Fire has become less a means of human survival and more of a form of entertainment. This world of shallow hedonistic people strives to be the same and the word “intelligence” is considered a dirty word. This society maintains a focus on a certain equality, where people born unequal made equal. Funerals for the dead are eliminated due to the sadness they bring and death is forgotten about quickly, with bodies being incinerated without a proper ceremony. Fire is idolized by this society and is considered the means to cleanliness.
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.
Throughout the story “Barn Burning”, author William Faulkner conveys the moral growth and development of a young boy, as he must make a critical decision between either choosing his family and their teachings or his own morals and values. The reader should realize that the story “Barn Burning” was written in the 1930’s, a time of economic, social, and cultural turmoil. Faulkner carries these themes of despair into the story of the Snopes family.
William Faulkner, recognized as one of the greatest writers of all time, once made a speech as he accepted his Nobel prize for writing in which he stated that a great piece of writing should contain the truths of the heart and the conflicts that arise over these truths. These truths were love, honor, pity, pride, compassion and sacrifice. Truly it would be hard to argue that a story without these truths would be considered even a good story let alone a great one. So the question brought forward is whether Faulkner uses his own truths of the heart to make his story "Barn Burning." Clearly the answer to this question is yes; his use of the truths of the heart are prevalent
In Barn Burning, Sartys father enjoys setting fires to burn down others properties. Sarty faces the problem of loyalty and honesty. On one hand, he wants to be loyal to his father; on the other hand, he does not endorse his fathers behavior. His father teaches him: Youre getting to be a man. You got to learn to do it.
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. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.
Hers, H. G. "a- Glucosidase Deficiency in Generalized Glycogen-Storage Disease (Pompe's Disease)." Biochem J (1963): 11-16.
Dunn, George et al. National Strength and Conditioning Association. National Strength and Conditioning Association Journal. 7. 27-29. 1985.
In many of Faulkner’s stories, he tells about an imaginary county in Mississippi named Yoknapatawpha. He uses this county as the setting for his story “Barn Burning” and it is also thought that the town of Jefferson from “A Rose for Emily” is located in Yoknapatawpha County. The story of a boy’s struggle between being loyal to his family or to his community makes “Barn Burning” exciting and dramatic, but a sense of awkwardness and unpleasantness arrives from the story of how the fictional town of Jefferson discovers that its long time resident, Emily Grierson, has been sleeping with the corpse of her long-dead friend with whom she has had a relationship with.
In the story “Barns Burning” Abner Snopes, the father is accused of burning a neighbor’s barn. Sarty is faced with a decision that will shape the rest of his life. Sarty is called to the stand, but because the plaintiff is ultimately unwilling to force him to testify against his own father, the case is closed, and the father is advised to leave that part of the country. As the family Sarty,
Perform strength-training exercises at least twice a week on nonconsecutive days. (See References 3) Working against resistance stimulates muscle tissue. Maintaining and building muscle tissue during weight lo...