Barn Burning
William Faulkner’s Barn Burning is a story about a poor family that moves from one rural Mississippi town to another because of the father’s, Abner Snopes, actions. The story begins at Abner’s hearing for setting fire to The Harris’s barn after a dispute over a bothersome pig. We get a glimpse into his son Sarty’s mind and see that Abner has completely brainwashed him into thinking that everybody is their enemy and out to get them. Although Sarty maintains his loyalty to his father for as long as he can, he is eventually driven by numerous reasons to leave home. One of the reasons Sarty leaves is because he realizes there is a life out there for him that is not full of the fear, grief, and despair caused by his father that he feels now. He is called to the stand to testify and thinks to himself “He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair.”(page 398) He is so blinded by these emotions that he “could not see that the Justice’s face was kindly” and saw him only as his and his father’s enemy, though the judge had done no harm to them.(page 398) As he is working the fields with his brother, he hopes that everything vanishes, “corn, rug, fire, the terror and grief; the being pulled two ways like b
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Abner Snopes, De Spains, Colonel Sartirus, Sartirus Sarty, Civil War, Barn Burning, Nonetheless Sarty, de spains, Calvary Abner, sarty leaves, realize father, begins realize father, begins realize, father wrong, colonel sartirus, sense hope, father father,
Approximate Word count = 891
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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