When described as stiff, we see Abner's abruptness and coldness towards his family as well as others in his community. Abner's authoritative figure makes his coldness more threatening and his patriarchal figure puts more force into his coldness. Faulkner portrays him as wolf-like and without heat as well; this description shows us that Abner is not only cunning in his crime, but also emotionless when committing the crime. For example, when burning barns, he dispassionately watches the barns burn down.
Abner Snopes sharecrops for a living. His sharecropping results in his resentment of the wealthy. As you know, sharecroppers are tenant farmers who pay as rent a share of their crop for wealthy people. Sharecropping was common during this era; McCullough notes that "when the sharecroppers receive their portion of the money from the crops they plant, the debts they have developed comes out of their half of the money. This often leaves the sharecropper with nothing. Between the debt and the hard working conditions, a second form of slavery is created. It was not slavery with a person literally being owned but one of holding a person because they have no choice to go elsewhere. The landowners were the dominant persons in society while the workers were part of the lowest class." (Sharecropping, athena.english.vt.edu). From the reading, it seemed that Abner did not like his sharecropper living because he believed that this kind of life makes him exactly like the slaves owned by the rich and wealthy--and his resentment comes from there. As a result of