Barn Burning

A detailed Summary of Barn Burning


"Barn Burning"

"Barn Burning", written by William Faulkner shows, the transition of Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) from boy to man. At a young age, Sarty is faced with many situations that can make or break the ties he has with his family. He is troubled by the anger his father has toward people and the fact that he would go through anything to destroy their belongings. Sarty's father, Abner Snopes is looked upon, as an outcast and pariah among men "Leave this country and don't come back to it"(p.482) were the words given to him by the Justice. Deep Down knowing the behavior of his father is morally incorrect, Sarty begins to have mixed emotions about his father.

In the beginning of the story in the courtroom, (p.481-482) you will see the conflicts that begin to arise between Sarty and his father. When Abner is on trial for allegedly burning his neighbor's barn, Sarty becomes troubled when deciding whether he should lie to the justice, and protect his father, or tell the truth and suffer shame from his family. With that in consideration, Sarty


decides not to say anything at all. Later on Abner father gives him advice: "You're getting to be a man...you have got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you." Faulkner leads us to believe, Abner has bitterness to having to work as a sharecropper. After the court trial is over the family decides to move to a different farm to start making their living. Along the way, Sarty tries to figure out why is father is who he is. Sarty blames his internal bitterness on the war he was in. Faulkner, on the other hand leads us to believe this internal hatred was in him long before war. "For booty-it meant nothing and less than nothing to him if it were enemy booty of his own."(p 493)

Ruining the Majors rug lands Abner Snopes another day in court. The Justice finds Abner to be responsible for ruining his carpet. Due to Abners financial circumstances, he decides to lessen Abners fine from twenty bushels of corn to only ten bushels of corn paid to the Major. Later that evening angry by the ruling, Abner intends to go burn the Major's barn. Knowing

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 743
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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