Term Paper on "Barn Burning Faulkner"

Term Paper 6 pages (2298 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Barn Burning; Faulkner

William Faulkner has rightfully been considered to be one of the most representatives American writers of the 20th century. He has successfully managed to create different images of characters that achieve their maturity throughout his works. (Flora, 1994) Such characters also include Sarty Abner, the hero of "Barn Burning," one of the first short stories of the second period of creation in Faulkner's career.

It is a depiction of Sarty's attempt to evolve from the state of dependence of the "blood bond" relationship to the integrated morality of the society. Although it is a personal effort for surpassing his primary condition, this evolution is the result of Sarty's interactions with each character of the story. Therefore, Sarty succeeds in detaching himself from the family through a complex process of accumulation of experience in relation to the other characters and their attitudes throughout. Moreover, there are additional elements that influence and contribute to emphasizing the important situations which the character faces. Such elements are the presence of the narrator and the scenery which in many occasions acts as an accomplice to the state of mind of the character. Altogether, the short story is in fact the account of the transformation of a boy from a family member to a member of the society under the influences of different elements of the story.

The central aspect of the short story is the mere and unimpressive existence of a ten-year-old boy, Sarty, who is the continuous target of his father's abuses and attempts to educate him, not so much through physical manifestations but rather through moral pressure. He fights an interior battle between the loyalty for his own family and the spiritual necessity to discover and obey moral principles and the rules of the society. This is presented from the every beginning of the short story when the child is put in the eventuality of having to testify against his father in order for the latter to be accused of setting barns on fire. In the first part of the story however, the child refuses to do so, and finally the Justice agrees on him not to make him testify against his family. This moment comes to show the loyalty the child nurtured for his parent despite the fact that it relied greatly on the threat of force and on physiological blackmail, as he himself is reported by the author to have said "If I had said they wanted only truth, justice, he would have hit me again." His conscience rightfully sees his father's intention to use him in order to breach any sense of morals in the court "He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do hit." This is the starting point and the situation which will come to develop and evolve throughout the story. This submissive attitude will offer the boy the will and power to be able to stand up to his father who is here the symbol of injustice and immorality.

From this perspective, that is the road towards maturity, there are those who consider a certain resemblance between Sarty and Huckleberry Finn. (Zender 1989, Flora 1994) Karl Zender points out, that "if we cast our minds back over American literature in search of a precursor for Sarty Snopes, one figure comes immediately to mind -- Huckleberry Finn. The resemblances are obvious: a tyrannical father who dies an initiation -- extended in the one case, brief in the other -- into an awareness of American social and economic injustice, a final journey into freedom." (Zender, 1989) There are indeed common points in discussing similarities; nonetheless, the most important one is their shared desire for freedom, for one from social grips and for the other from the family environment which stands as a vision of immorality. Each of the characters presents a certain contribution to the creation of such a perspective.

Sarty's father is the main opponent of his son emancipation and at the same time the main cause for it. In the beginning, he did entail a certain degree of respect and demanded obedience from Sarty. Through strict behavior, he managed to use family loyalty as a means and reason for supporting his actions in front of the world. In this respect, in one situation he points to the child that everybody was an enemy, of his father and consequently of his entire family. Therefore, family loyalty was somewhat strong, as Sarty him self ends up believing that all people are "our enemy... hisn and ourn.."

This point-of-view focuses on the influence Ab has over the perceptions of his son. Indeed, he promotes and tries to inoculate his son with the spirit of competition and of fight between the different classes of the society, seeing that they were the representatives of the least privileged they had to despise and fight against rich people.

His rage and revolt does not come in response to a single individual but rather as a manifestation of hate against an undefined human creation. This is obvious in passages in which Ab's vilification is emphasized by the author "His father spoke for the first time, his voice cold and harsh, level, without emphasis: "I aim to. I don't figure to stay in a country among people who..." he said something unprintable and vile, addressed to no one." Thomas Bertonneau points out that "Abner Snopes is not only at odds with other people, in this sense, but he is also at odds with the very notion of social order" (Bertonneau, 1998).

The construction of the social mechanism is put into question each time Abner sets a barn on fire. This can easily be explained through two elements, on the one hand, the setting, and on the other the time of the action.

The setting, despite the fact that it cannot be exactly identified, points to a region in the South part of the U.S., while the time considers a period after the disastrous Civil War. Therefore, it was essential to place, at least in a secondary plan, the situation of slavery and the treatment of slaves. Even though slavery was officially abolished, the tradition still remained among rich landowners. Ab considered that such owners are in conflict with the world he is representing "Don't you know all they wanted was a chance to get at me because they knew I had them beat." Moreover, he despises the work he is forced to give in return in order to ensure his living while addressing his new employer as "the man that aims to begin tomorrow owning me body and soul." It is this attitude that Ab wants to transmit to his son and thus influence his later behavior.

Sarty's mother and sisters represent a rather mediocre presence throughout the story. They are the classical symbols of the submitted and limited elements that support in its entirety the actions and manifestations of the head of the family. Susan Yunis notes that "In his wife and daughters and children, Abner and Sarty silence the anger, fear, despair and human sympathy which they fear would overwhelm them. The women's voices are reminders of vulnerability." (Yunis, 1991) The mother even abides Ab is trying to sequestrate Sarty and prevent him from acting morally correct in regard to Major de Spain. However, their creation is yet another means used by Faulkner to present the difficult obstacles Sarty must overcome in order to embrace social morality.

A positive role in the course of Sarty's emancipation from the control of the family is played, in Bertonneau's view, by Mr. Harris, the Justice that tried the first of the fire charges against Ab. It is presented in the first scene of the story and he has a pivotal role in offering the young boy the opportunity to take a stand in line with moral issues. Moreover, by asking him to testify and labeling Sarty as one that "knows the truth," but ultimately accepting the boy's loyalty for his family, Mr. Harris has become a model of moderation and decency that "were not available to Sarty in Abner. (Bertonneau, 1998)

Similarly, Major de Spain can be attributed a significant role in the evolution of the boy. From the description of the author, "a linen-clad man on a fine sorrel mare" he appears to be the typical landowner against whom Ab would direct all his controlled anger. When the Major appears with the destroyed rug, Sarty sees in him the symbol of the entire society which is affected by the demonic manifestations of his father. By entering into contact with the normal human instances of the society which is represented through the Justice and Major de Spain, Sarty is directed towards making the choice between "his father's violence, and his own submission to an authority whose demonic character he begins to recognize" and "an abstract morality, the foundation of community" (Bertonneau, 1998)

At this moment in time, Sarty realizes the difference… READ MORE

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