Barn Burning

A detailed Summary of Barn Burning

William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" describes a typical relationship between

wealthy people and poor people during the Civil War. The main character, Abner Snopes,

sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of resentment

for wealthy people, he goes and burns their barns to get revenge. Abner's character over

the course of the story is unchanging in that he is cold hearted, lawless, and violent.

First, Abner's unchanging character shows his cold heartedness. After being sentenced to

leave the country for burning a man's barn, he shows no emotions to his family. During

the story, there was not a time when he apologized or offered a word of encouragement to

them. His tone of voice when talking to them is bitter and bossy, and he never said thank

you. Later in the story after they had arrived at their next house, he orders his wife, her

sister and his two daughters to unload the wagon. He walks with his son to DeSpain's

house where he entered without given permission, and proceeded to wipe his feet that was

covered with horse manure, thus staining the rug. "Abner moves through life with no

regard for his fellow humans and with no respect for their right to material possessions"

of fire as the one defense available to all, regardless of social class"(855). Abner's act of

contract with him, to be paid to him out of your crop at gathering time" (226), thus setting

Snopes and his other son and shoots them before they can burn his barn (731). This event

in his role as being lawless. "Barn Burning" makes an interesting case for Abner Snopes as

People are still categorized by how much money they have. But, because of better law

his head" (221). This showed that Abner has no remorse for anyone. This started the

husband to a lawless and violent man, which, towards the end of the story, leads him to

The cold hearted, lawless, and violent roles Abner Snopes plays throughout the story,

and lawless but also as violent. It is seen throughout the story that Abner's act of burning

Abner's unchanging character is evident not only in his role as being cold-hearted but also

incident with the rug, which later led to the burning of DeSpain's barn.

the house with his older son and the can of kerosene, Sarty escapes from his mother and

Approximate Word count = 936
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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