‘Instructor’s Name’
"Barn burning", by William Faulkner
‘Barn Burning’ is a short story written by William Faulkner, a Nobel Laureate and two times Pulitzer winner, and was first published in the year 1939, in the Harper’s Magazine. As found in all Faulkner stories, this story too deals with the societal issues of the South, and it tells a great deal about the life during the Great depression years. It serves as a window to the reader, to peep into the economic, race and class turmoil of the depression decade. Faulkner stories are known for their grim portrayal of grotesque characters and the explicit depiction of disturbing violence. In this story too violence plays a major role and it goes on to show how this violent behavior of a person affected an entire family. The story is recounted from the perspective of a ten year old boy, who struggles to choose between his allegiance to his family and his personal moral codes.
Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) is placed as a witness in a trial court, in the opening of the story, where his father Abner is accused of burning the barn of his landlord. Though Abner’s guilt is not proved, he is asked to leave the country and the entire family consisting of Sarty, his parents, his Aunt, an elder brother and two sisters, move in their wagon to a new place, where they work on a share cropping basis for a Major de Spain. Abner, who is portrayed as a person who resents class authority in any form, tracks Horse droppings in the carpet of the De Spain’s house despite their servant’s warning. When asked to clean the carpet he deliberately uses harsh lye which further spoils the expensive carpet, and he drops the rug in the porch of the De Spain household. Since the rug is now ruined beyond repair, Abner is asked to pay 20 bushels of corn to De Spain as a penalty, and he appeals against this punishment and the fine is reduced to 10 bushels.
Feeling that he was excessively punished, Abner tries to burn down the barn of his landlord as revenge. Knowing that Sarty would try to warn the De Spains, Abner asks his wife to prevent Sarty from going out of the house. But Sarty manages to escape and goes ahead and informs Major de Spain of his father’s intentions. He then flees to meet his father but he is overtaken by Major de Spain, and Sarty hears a couple of gun shots. Though it is not revealed whether anyone was killed, Sarty assumes that his father is dead and he walks into the woods, never to return back to his family.
Throughout the story the author expresses many themes such as the economic and class disparity of the Southern agrarian society, the lack of fair play and racism. Abner Snopes, though portrayed as unpleasant and violent, sort of embodies the resentment among the embittered farmers who had to endure years of economic exploitation. He sees his position as a tenant farmer, as an outcome of his class disadvantage. (Towner and Carothers, 2006, Pg. 5) The following words which he says to his wife, when he goes to meet Major de Spain, indicates his frustration towards the economic system of share cropping.
"I reckon I'll have a word with the man that aims to begin to-morrow owning me body and soul for the next eight months." (Faulkner, 1939)
He also exclaims to his son that the house of the major was built with the sweat of the black people, and that the major is now trying to extract his wealth from White people’s hard work too. He was clearly resentful of the system which requires some people to put in the hard work, while the others just reap the rewards out of it. Barn burning is his way of exhibiting his rebellion, and this crime is serious because barn plays a very important role in an agrarian community.
But above all the significant theme in the novel is the coming of age of young Sarty, and his moral struggle. The story of ‘Barn burning’ is in effect is the initiation of this young boy into the adult world, whereby he finds out after a long struggle with his feelings and moralities, that he cannot travel in two paths simultaneously. (Towner and Carothers, 2006, Pg. 3) From the very beginning of the story this small boy is forced to take difficult decisions regarding morality and justice. We see how reluctant he was to lie about Harris’ barn burning incident, and how he tried hard to empathize with the feelings of his father.
Despite his aversion to lie, he justifies his act by assuming his father’s enemy to be his/his family’s enemy. This act of his conveys how he sincerely tries to picture his father as a good man and tries to stand by him. He does this throughout the story, like saying to his father that, they can hide the output from the field, and consoles his father saying he did try to clean the rug. Even in the end he tries to have a positive picture of his father, who had beat him, forced him to lie and put the family in dire state due to his violent nature
"He was brave!" he cried suddenly, aloud but not loud, no more than a whisper: "He was! He was in the war! He was in Colonel Sartoris' cav'ry!" (Faulkner, 1939)
Here is a boy who has strong morals and a sense of justice and he hates his father’s act of causing damage to others property. But he still tries to balance his loyalty towards his family and obligation to do what is right, by warning the landlords (both Harris and de Spain), and at the same time siding with his father, first by lying to the judge and next by running off towards his father after tipping De Spain.
Through this story, Faulkner has expertly portrayed the social disparities between the proletariats and the land owners of that era. The young boy Sarty acts as the voice of the author in the story. Like Sarty the author too, opines that the economic systems of that period dealt with the tenants of the sharecropping unfairly, but at the same time suggests that violence is not the answer to the problem. Though he condemns the greed, injustice and immorality of the affluent land owners, he also denounces actions that are violent and are done in self-interest. In short, the story though empathizes with the plight of the deprived it categorically rejects, violence as the solution for class conflict.
References
- Theresa M. Towner, James B. Carothers. “Reading Faulkner: Glossary and Commentary. Collected stories”, Mississippi: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2006. Print.
- William Faulkner. (1939). "Barn burning". Web. Accessed on November 14, 2013. Retrieved from http://english.hyde.wikispaces.net/file/view/Barn%20Burning%20by%20William%20Faulkner.pdf/453687696/Barn%20Burning%20by%20William%20Faulkner.pdf
