Barn Burning

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Relationships
4 Interpretation
- 4.1 The meaning of the fire in William Faulkner's "Barn Burning"
- 4.2 Other topics
5 Author
6 The historical context
7 Media Adaptations
8 Universal
9 Vocabulary

[bearbeiten] Plot

The short story "Barn Burning" written by William Faulkner tells the story of a needy Southern-American family after the American Civil War: Abner Snopes, his wife and their four kids: the twin girls, Sartoris (often referred to as "Sarty" and the main character of the story) and his older brother Lennie. With them is their aunt Lizzie, the sister of the mother.

Barn Burning is a short story by William Faulkner about a young boy named "Sarty", who is the son of sharecroppers in the Old South and his feelings and emotions concerning his father. Sarty´s father has been charged with the burning of a barn in connection with a hog that had obviously run loose on another owner´s property. He then goes to the barn where the father is about to set it on fire and shoots the father.

[bearbeiten] Scene in the store

The story begins with a scene in a store in which the Justice of the Peace's court leads a hearing:

Mr. Harris, Snopes' neighbour, accuses Mr. Snopes, of burning up his barn. The reason for his suspicion is a conflict between them about Mr. Snopes' hog, which sometimes ran into Mr. Harris' barn. Mr. Harris is angry about Mr. Snopes; he didn't build a fence though he gave him material to do this.

One day, after Mr. Snopes' hog ran into his barn again, Mr. Harris kept it. Then he rode down to Abner's house and saw that the wire, which he had given him for building a fence, was still furled on the spool. With the sentence: "You can have the hog, when you pay me a dollar pound fee!", Mr. Harris tried to blackmail Mr. Snopes. Instead, on the same evening a black man came to Mr. Harris and said something like: "Wood and hay can burn!". In that night the barn burned.

Mr. Harris thought that this was Snopes' revenge, so he accused him. In the end, Mr. Snopes is acquitted because there is not enough proof, which might speak against him. But the Justice of the Peace tells him that it would be best if he and his family would leave the country and never come back.

[bearbeiten] On their way to a new home

Leaving a country is not a new thing for Abner, as he and his family often worked on farms for seasons to earn their living. So the Snopes charge the carriage, which has two mules in front of it, for leaving.

[bearbeiten] First contact at Major de Spain's mansion

After a few days of searching they find a new employer who gives them a part of a field which they are to till for one season. On the same day, the father and the youngest son (Sarty) go to the home of their new master, they are both very impressed of the luxurious house. When Sarty sees the house, he forgets all despair and grief for this moment, he actually thinks that this new life will change his father. But before they enter it, Abner Snopes steps into the horse droppings on purpose. His aim is to show that he is not a person you can fool around with.

Then they go into the house. In the lobby there is a bright and expensive rug and Mr. Snopes steps with his dirty shoes on it deliberately, so that there is a huge blot. The staff of Major de Spain, the owner of this house, is disgusted and a woman (Miss Lula) calls: "Will you please go away? Major de Spain isn't at home. Will you please go away?"

[bearbeiten] The rug

Without saying any word Abner Snopes and his son leave the house. On the next day the man ("The Negro") who had appreciated them at the house rides on his chestnut mare to the house of the Snopes, followed by a black boy, who carries the dirty rug. He says to them that they should wash the rug and bring it back to him. Abner Snopes takes a horny stone and cuts designedly the rug. Afterwards they bring it back to Major de Spain.

But he isn't content. On the next day Major de Spain comes to the Snopes house and says to Mr. Snopes, that the rug is ruined and that he will make him responsible for that. As punishment he wants twenty bushels of corn from their crop. That's too much for them and so Abner goes with his two sons to a store, where he wants to discuss with a Justice about his punishment.

It comes to a compromise: Abner has to pay only ten instead of twenty bushels as punishment.

[bearbeiten] Major de Spain's barn

After the supper in the evening Sarty hears a conflict between his father and mother. His mother is crying, because Abner fills kerosene of the lamp back into a five-gallon kerosene can. When he notes Sarty, he orders him to go to the barn and get the can of oil with which they always were oiling the wagon with.

When he is running outside, Sarty doesn't know what to do. He thinks about running away and never coming back. However he takes the oil can and returns home. There he asks his father, if he had send a nigger to Major the Spain for warning him, but his father hadn't done this. That makes Sarty very angry so that he shouts at his father. Abner, who wants to anticipate that Sarty goes to Major de Spain for warning him, orders the others to hold Sarty. Then he goes outside, with the two bottles of oil.

Immediately, Sarty begins to struggle and becomes free. He runs outside to Major de Spain's house. Without knocking he enters and cries: "Barn! Barn!" until Major de Spain hears him.

Then he runs away. He runs without stopping until he hears two shots. He is able to escape and later he sits on the crest of a hill. From his thoughts the reader gets the impression that he believes his father is dead. He becomes very despaired. He says that his father was a brave man - after all he had been in the war. But the reader comes to know that Abner only has been in the war for booty.

Sarty never returns home to his mother, his aunt and his sisters. In the story it is said that he did not even take a look back.

[bearbeiten] Characters

[bearbeiten] Relationships

[bearbeiten] Interpretation

[bearbeiten] The meaning of the fire in William Faulkner's "Barn Burning"

Fire is one of the four elements. If we go back in history of philosophy, we find the Greek Aristotle the first to define that the whole world is composed out of only four elements: Water, fire, earth and air. In fact the ability to spark a fire was one of the essential steps in history of civilisation, culture and mankind. Whereas we primarily associate with fire warmness and comfort, a brand is commonly connected to uncontrolled fire.

In Faulkner’s text “Barn Burning” the fire plays a central role.

See Barn Burning (fire)

[bearbeiten] Other topics

Barn Burning (questions)

[bearbeiten] Author

William Faulkner, * 25th September 1897, † 6th July 1962

[bearbeiten] The historical context

"Barn Burning" is a story about the feudal states of the American South and a social outcry.

The Story is set after the American Civil War and at this time, the southern states of the USA were especially agrarian-oriented. Faulkner's conceived Yoknapatawpha County, in which "Barn Burning" is set, shows this nature, too. Many farmers had not got the necessary funds to buy and cultivate their own farm, so they leased land to cultivate it. The leaser didn't pay money but a stipulated part of his crop. There was a disproportion between the leaser without land and funds and the rich owner of the plowed land. In the case of "Barn Burning" this pertains, too.

[bearbeiten] Media Adaptations

In 1980, this "Barn Burning" was adapted into a short film by director Peter Werner. It starred Tommy Lee Jones as Abner Snopes, and Shawn Whittington as Sartoris Snopes.