William Faulkner's Literary Analysis

William Faulkner, a well known poet from the 20th century first caught fame in the literary world due to his writings such as “The Sound and the Fury” and “As I lay dying”. This was majorly due to his use of complex sentence structure and detailed story telling through the infamous writing style known as stream of consciousness. Although Faulkner primarily used this style in his more lengthy works, he often strayed from it while writing his less known short stories such as “Barn Burning” to create a more fluid and detailed story without exhausting the reader. The reasoning behind why Faulkner wrote any of his stories is for the most part unknown, but the central theme behind his writing is always apparent if interpreted correctly. In his short story “Barn Burning”, Faulkner portrays the
The title Faulkner chose for this story gives the readers insight on how one of the characters might react, and foreshadows the upcoming climaxes of the story. Although the title isn't as straightforward one might assume, it creates the element of mystery and curiosity by providing the reader with enough information to predict that a barn burning is somehow involved within the central idea of the story, without revealing too much detail. Upon reading, readers will find that even though it is an important part of the main idea, the central theme isn't based on the character's particular actions, but rather it is based on every action as a whole and the motivation present behind these actions. The story is all about choices, and the struggle of deciding between right and wrong. In Faulkner's “Barn Burning”, we are presented with two main characters, Abner Snopes and his son Satoris Snopes. In the opening act, the two are attending a court trial between Abner and his landlord Mr.Harris over whether or not Abner burned down Mr.Harris’s barn. Mr.Harris then goes into