barn burning

barn burning

“Barn Burning”
          “Barn Burning” was written during the great depression about a nomadic family, the Snopes. The Snopes family was always being forced to move due to the unlawful actions of Abner Snopes, the father of the family. Abner burned down two of his landlord’s barns along with ruining one of their rugs with horse droppings. The story begins in the Justice of the Peace’s Court where Abner is on trial for the burning of Mr. Harris’s barn. The court could not find any proof that Abner did it, but still tells him to move out of the country and never come back. The story’s theme is focused on the despair and grief that the youngest son, Sarty, is going through. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” Faulkner illustrates how a young boy named Sarty goes from the “Paranoid way of life” like his father to the “Apollonian way of life” (Wilson 416-417). Sarty’s attitude changes toward his father from the beginning of the story to the end.
          The story begins in court where they call Sarty to the stand to testify against his own father. According to Gayle Edward Wilson, Ruth Benedict describes two major ways of life: the Paranoid and the Apollonian ways. Abner is the Paranoid Man, as Benedict describes “has no political organization, no legality, and relies upon blood ties to form social alliances” (416).   The young boy is not scared to take the stand, but confused of what to do. His father expects Sarty to testify for him even though Sarty knew he committed the crime. This illustrates how Abner is a Paranoid man. Fortunately for Sarty, the court does not allow any questioning toward him so he was freed from the stand. That same night Abner asked Sarty if he was going to tell the court the truth, but Sarty did not answer him so Abner hit him in the head. Abner tries to persuade Sarty to be a Paranoid man as he says, “You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to...