“Barn Burning” by William Faulkner Throughout the story of “Barn Burning” written by William Faulkner, many different issues present itself with the Snopes family. From the constant moving from farm to farm, from the abuse from the town, to the father underfeeding and overworking the family. The family has to overcome many different obstacles during the mid-nineteenth century. Through the use of symbolism of the fire, the author creates a tone of hope and despair for both Sarty and Abner. Fire represents both positive and destructive qualities, fire provides both light and warmth but should be handled with care because it can destroy as well. In the novel a symbol of fire plays a very important role, showing the relationship of themes of …show more content…
Abner does not build a huge fire, “Small fire, neat, niggard almost, shrewd fire; such fires were his father’s habit and custom always even in the freezing weather (Baym, 2013, p. 1006.)” Faulkner does not go into depth about this sentence, but here we see that his father does not like to be seen at night and worries as if he were still enslaved. When Abner becomes angry, he becomes enraged with anger towards anyone who has ever done wrong by him. Because of this he destroys the property of whoever has done wrong by him. Although it is not mentioned this suggests to the reader that without fire, Abner is completely nothing. Abner needs to feel in control and through the use of fire he gets that feeling he yearns …show more content…
Abner instills fear into his son, and always reminds Sartoris that family honor and loyalty are the upmost importance qualities to have. Although Sartoris is young he is intelligent, and can look through his father’s mischief. Faulkner does not specifically explain what fire means to any specific character in the story, but the implication can made that fire to Sartoris represent the drive and motivation to never be like his father. Growing up in the mid-nineteenth century as a young African American was troubling in itself, but growing up with an arsonist for a father was also very difficult one can assume. Sartoris, needed something more and the fire inside him always pushed him to ensure he never grew up to be like
In “Barn Burning”, Abner enters the house at dusk and “could smell the coffee from the room where they would presently eat the cold food remaining from the afternoon meal.” (14) A warm meal would indicate fulfillment and cohesiveness within the family. The inclusion of the detail that the food was cold represents an inversion of these associations. The cold meal symbolizes the family’s distaste with Abner’s actions. The memory of the dinner lingers with the family as they get ready for bed and appears linked with negative images of “Where they had been were no long, water-cloudy scoriations resembling the sporadic course of a lilliputian moving machine.” (15) In addition, the emphasis that this dinner was in fact a left-over meal symbolizes that the pattern of Abner’s destructive behavior and its effects on his family will not change.
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
The word family evokes an image of trust and a bond of loyalty. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” and James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”, the main characters in both these stories demonstrate the idea of family loyalty in several ways. While they continue to express the values of family loyalty, the main characters have to overcome several obstacles. Searching for ways to communicate effectively with their families and maintaining their changing identities trap the characters. In “Barn Burning”, Sarty is conflicted with being loyal to his family and being loyal to himself and in “Sonny’s Blues”, the brother has to deal with being loyal to Sonny’s values. During this process, it changes their character and forces them to change and learn about themselves.
In William Faulkner’s story “Barn Burning” a young boy named Sarty is raised by an impoverished white family of sharecroppers, their circumstances leave little room for them to improve their conditions of living. Their family has to work on rich landowner’s farms and get paid a little share of the land owner’s crops. Given their situation Sarty’s father Abner when feeling wronged takes matters into his own hands, and often this is done by burning down the landowner’s barns. Sarty is constantly being placed into a situation where he has to choose between his beliefs in right and wrong, or his fathers. This causes the main psychological conflict in the story. Sarty starts to realize his father’s depravity and struggles between his loyalty to
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.
Bradbury first depicted fire as a hurtful force through Montag, a fireman, who burn books. With the converted mentality of his culture, “it was [Montag’s] pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (3). Montag’s culture sees burning as an enjoyment; however, the fire portrayed here demonstrates the destruction of knowledge and personality. While Montag’s profession brings him joy he does not understand that burning is the most permanent form of destruction. He is oblivious to his governments’ strong desire to eliminate the ideas and knowledge that books hold. In this society, where ignorance is bliss and their phobia of unhappiness controls all aspects of life, people believe that their destructive fire “is bright and…clean”, as it is used as a means to keep themselves oblivious and happy (60). In addition, Bradbury establishes the difference in the symbolisms of fire by naming part one of his novel “The Hearth and the Salamander”. The hearth is the fireplace of the home and is the most positive image of fire. This fire contributes warmth and restores relationships between people. The salamander, the symbol of the firemen, and who personify fire’s destruction is contrasted with the hearth, which represents restoration.
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.
In “Barn Burning” the setting is a time when people drove horse wagons and the workingmen were generally farmers. The major character in this story is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, called “Sarty” by his family who is a ten-year-old boy. In the beginning, Sarty is portrayed as a confused and frightened young boy. He is in despair over the burden of doing the right thing or sticking by his family, as his father states,” You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.”
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.
At the conclusion of his short story “Barn Burning,” William Faulkner strongly implies that Abner Snopes burns yet another barn, although whether he does or not is never made absolutely clear. In any case, his young son, Sarty, has run to warn the owner of the barn, Major De Spain, about his father’s intentions:
Although fire is linked to human life, as it is essential for survival, not only its use for food, security and warmth, particularly in the extreme cold weather but also it could harm and smolder entirely. In Mary Shelley 's novel, “Frankenstein,” fire exists
At first glance, the story “Barn burning” seems just to be about a tyrannical father and a son who is in the grips of that tyranny. I think Faulkner explores at least one important philosophical question in this story were he asks at what point should a person make a choice between what his parent(s) and / or family believes and his own values?
The figure of fire in the story is used many times throughout the story. The emotion that fire gives in the text is anger. In the story, “Barns Burning” Abner, the father is powerless and out of control. Fire is the one thing in his life he can control. Abner is the boss. This seems like another way of saying that Abner does not hit out of anger, or strong, burning emotion. Rather, his hitting is as calculated as his fire burning and he does it for a reason, to make the person or animal he hits do what he wants. Ironically, fire and hitting, the things that give Abner control over his life, without those around him makes him powerless. The quote “And older still, he might have divined the true reason: that the element of fire spoke to some deep mainspring of his father 's being, as the element of steel or of powder spoke to other men, as the one weapon for the preservation of integrity, else breath were not worth the breathing, and hence to be regarded with respect and used with discretion (Faulkner 228)” explains
...eard the gunfire, no longer in terror and fear, "Father. My Father he thought." Sarty tried to think good thoughts about his father thinking, "he was brave!" He served as a solder under Colonel Sartoris in the war! When the morning sun came up, he was finally on his own to be his own man, free to make his own individual decisions without worrying about what his father would do to him. It was from Sarty's dilemma of family loyalty and the desire to please his father that kept him from doing the right things. Was his father so bitter due to experiences he had during the Civil War ? Was it society's fault for what happened to his father? Was Abner just born with his us against them attitude? These are all questions that Faulkner leaves with us after reading the "Barn Burning." and is part of that fire in the back of our minds that we will never be able to put out..