Faulkner Barn Burning
Davita Washington
Professor Michael Lewis
American Literature II
30 April 2013
Faulkner’s Abner Snopes: Historical and Psychological Analysis
In many of his works of fiction, William Faulkner explores the lives of characters that live in the closed society of the American South, particularly at the point in time when its traditions and values are being changed and challenged by new, urban, sometimes Northern values. In the story, “Barn Burning,” Faulkner explores southern social themes, what happens when individuals lose their connection to this society and its values, and the significance of the “barn burning” phenomena, and how psychologically stimulating it is to Abner, and how this affects his son Sarty.
“Barn Burning was written in the early1930s this was a decade of the Great Depression and social and economic turmoil. This story offers readers insight into the years of the early South. In these readings, society is blamed for Abner’s 's barn burning, rebellious personality (Loges). He is struggling against the oppressive economic restraints placed on him, and at the same time represents the new face of the South, rising against the old aristocratic order (Loges). The second courtroom scene in which de Spain exacts a payment of "twenty bushels of corn against your crop" for the ruined rug can be discussed in the context of de Spain's use of the words "contract" and "commissary." The economic and legal authority exerted by the owner in this system of repressive, old-fashioned privilege which creates the near impossibility of the tenant's ever "getting out from under" will then become more understandable for readers to grasp the context and comprehend what was going on in the 1930s. This illustrates the oppressive factor going on with Sarty and Mr. Snopes as well as many other poverty-stricken individuals during that time. The contrast between the de Spain mansion and the Snopes tenant farmer shack highlights the terrible
Professor Michael Lewis
American Literature II
30 April 2013
Faulkner’s Abner Snopes: Historical and Psychological Analysis
In many of his works of fiction, William Faulkner explores the lives of characters that live in the closed society of the American South, particularly at the point in time when its traditions and values are being changed and challenged by new, urban, sometimes Northern values. In the story, “Barn Burning,” Faulkner explores southern social themes, what happens when individuals lose their connection to this society and its values, and the significance of the “barn burning” phenomena, and how psychologically stimulating it is to Abner, and how this affects his son Sarty.
“Barn Burning was written in the early1930s this was a decade of the Great Depression and social and economic turmoil. This story offers readers insight into the years of the early South. In these readings, society is blamed for Abner’s 's barn burning, rebellious personality (Loges). He is struggling against the oppressive economic restraints placed on him, and at the same time represents the new face of the South, rising against the old aristocratic order (Loges). The second courtroom scene in which de Spain exacts a payment of "twenty bushels of corn against your crop" for the ruined rug can be discussed in the context of de Spain's use of the words "contract" and "commissary." The economic and legal authority exerted by the owner in this system of repressive, old-fashioned privilege which creates the near impossibility of the tenant's ever "getting out from under" will then become more understandable for readers to grasp the context and comprehend what was going on in the 1930s. This illustrates the oppressive factor going on with Sarty and Mr. Snopes as well as many other poverty-stricken individuals during that time. The contrast between the de Spain mansion and the Snopes tenant farmer shack highlights the terrible