Barn Burning

A detailed Summary of Barn Burning


"Barn Burning" is about the struggle of a boy to do what is right during the Post Civil War era. The main character, Sartoris Snopes, is a poor son of a migrant tenant farmer. In the opening scene he is being asked by a circuit judge about the burning of a farmer's barn by his father. The boy does not tell on his father and is not forced to do so, but he thinks that he would have done so had he been asked. The father, Abner Snopes, served in the Civil War for both sides and has difficulty venting his anger. Usually he does so through the burning of other people's barns when they wrong him. The symbol of blood is used by Faulkner to contribute to the theme of loyalty to the family.

One use of blood is shown when the boy is called to testify and is pressured by his father to lie. When the boy is on stand he


The boy despises his father for all the horrible things he has done to people in the past, yet he still sticks up for him. After Abner has deliberately destroyed Major DeSpain's expensive imported rug his son states, "You done the best you could", "If he wanted hit done different why didn't he wait and tell you how?"(488). Thus providing evidence that the boy still has some respect for his "blood", and though he is against his father's actions he still supports them because he is family.

The use of blood is also utilized when the father explains that the family must stick together. Following the courthouse scene the boy and his father talk about the incident and Abner states, "You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you"(484). In saying this, it is almost as if he is trying to convince

Some common words found in the essay are:
Civil War, Ourn Mine, Major DeSpain's, Sartoris Snopes, Barn Burning, own blood, barn burning, Abner Snopes, theme loyalty family, blood father's actions, blood barn burning, blood barn, loyalty family, father boy, short story, father's actions, blood father's, civil war, theme loyalty,

Approximate Word count = 573
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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