Barn+Burning

__**Summary**__**-** Barn burning is a story about a man who is accused of an arson. Pulling his family into legal difficulties, Abner Snopes forces his son Colonel Sartoris Snopes to lie to the Justice and say that his father wasn't accountable for the accusations thrown at him. Afterwards, advised to leave the town, him and his family set out on the road. Settling down in their new location Abner takes is son to Major de Spain, the owner of the land which the family will work. Against the servants please Abner tracks in manure on the rug in the house. Soiling the rug he is instructed to clean it after it's dropped of at his home. The next day after returning the "cleaned" rug de Spain says it was ruined do to improper cleaning and must be accounted for. He charges Abner 20 bushels of corn instead of a $100 replacement fee. A mistake the involving information about the rug the next day causes the Judge overseeing the case to issue an extra 10 bushels of corn for the rug being "burned" as well. Upon returning home Abner goes and empties the kerosene lantern back into its five gallon container, set on burning down de Spains' home. He orders Sartoris to fetch the oil. Trying to dissuade his father, Abner grabs is son and orders his wife to restrain him. Sorters escapes and runs towards de Spains home. He blurts out the word Barn! Sartoris runs back down the road as de Spain thunders by on his horse, followed by three shots forever silencing Abner Snope. Sartoris finds himself out on a hill at night he hears the whippoorwills and continues into the dark forest.


 * __Topics__-** Family, loyalty, arson, truth, lies, racism,


 * __Evaluation__-**

Through Faulkner's "Barn Burning" we get a glimpse into the injustices of the rural southern society for poor black and white alike. Specifically, the southern institution of "sharecropping" is introduced which is a form of tenant farming. The "sharecropping" system differs from other forms of tenantry in that "sharecroppers have no money or equipment. For this purpose, the landlords supplied the farmer with land, a house, a few tools, seed, and sometimes a mule. In return, farmers would promise the landlord a large share of the annual crop.It starts in the back of a store that acts as a town court as well. A boy is seated on the keg in the corner unable to see his father or the man that is accusing him of burning down his barn. You can feel the anxiousness of the child and he is put on the spot. Knowing what is right, but also knowing what his father expected of him. "Burning Barn" involves a sharecropper, Abner Snopes who is sickened by the society he is forced to make a living in and as a result of this intense exasperation he results to a protest of vandalism by burning the property of those who he feels has wronged him. On the other hand, his son Colonel Sartoris Snopes is rather idealistic in the fact that he does not conform with his father's philosophy on life.

Every moment in "Barn Burning" seems important. This helps us feel the fragile nature of Sartoris's perilous existence. If he doesn't do something big, and fast, he could easily become a casualty in his father's battle. The momentous tone also puts us in the moment. The narrator constantly describes Sartoris's emotions and his sensory experiences. The story's highly emotional and sensory tone is established in the very first paragraph when the hunger induced by the smell of cheese and the sight of the cans of meat in the store/courtroom, combined with the fear, despair, and grief. Throughout the story Sartoris is described as being emotionally stressed that he can't hear, see, or feeling anything. This made the reader incorporate what he/ she knows to supplement the missing senses. At the end, while on the hill listening to the whippoorwills, his senses were alive with the fresh spring air and the sound of birds.

This poem took me more than one time of reading it in order to grasp it. At first I really didn't like it, I found it hard to follow and had to spend some time picking it apart. After reading it again and again I don't mind it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for free reading purposes.

Faulkner, William //. " // Barn Burning // ". Literature and the Writing Process, // Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, Robert Funk, Linda Coleman. Tenth Edition. Pearson, 2014. 262-275. Print.
 * __ Citation __**