... his two daughters to clean the rug in pots of lye; with the bubbling wash-pot and the corrosive lye soap Abner's daughters began to scrub at the stains. Abner watches the progress and decides that the soap is not doing the level of destruction he desires. "Sarty saw his father ... the woods hiding from all men, blue or gray, with his strings of horses (captured horses, he called them)" (Faulkner 26). Following the war Abner's escalation of lawlessness took on a more personal level. He uses the weapon of fire to attack the people who's status or achievements he most envies. ... struck hi...

• Word Count: 1095
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... DeSpain's house where he entered without given permission, and proceeded to wipe his geet that was covered with horse manure, thus staining the rug. "Abner moves through life with no regard for his fellow humans and with no respect for their right of material possessions" (731). After being told to clean the rug ... the social system only works on behalf of the rich, and he sets out that night to redress this wrong by burning DeSpain's barn (855). Abner's unchanging character is evident not only in his role as being cold-hearted but also in his role as being lawless. "Barn Burning" makes...

• Word Count: 633
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... venting his feelings, he holds them in, as he contains the small fire, until he can lash out with the full force of the hatred. Abner's son Sarty was the character with the most internal conflict throughout the story. He was faced with many different situations that required him to choose between his ... and wants to get away, even if it means going against his own blood. Through his sheer enjoyment of the negative sides of his anger and power, Abner rips his family apart. At the end of the story, he is faced with a very difficult decision. He must decide between his blood, and his moral...

• Word Count: 684
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... morally challenged father or asserting his own morality and individuality by running away and leaving his family and his pain behind. The antagonist in the story is Abner Snobes. Abner Snobes is a angry and inconsiderate man who has hate for almost anybody who is not "blood-kin", and he portrays that hatred and contempt throughout the ... the readers can first get a sense of the moral dilemma that Faulkner is trying to portray in this story. Next, we are introduced to the antagonist, Abner Snobes, when he talks for the first time since the trial began. He also establishes the fact that ...

• Word Count: 845
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of them drowning in a pond or the sea, and he was relieved when he came home in the evenings and they were there- (Meyer, 88)]. Abner does not care for his children and only views them like farm animals, just there to help with the work. This is evinced best by Faulkner's line ... do the unthinkable. He kills Richard Strout not because he wants to but because he has to, for his wife's sake as well as his own. Abner Snopes, on the other hand, represents the "New South." He is a symbol of the downfall of the Old South after the Civil War and its ... the land and "leased" it out to farmer...

• Word Count: 701
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... family centered- approach: "Barn Burning- and "A Rose for Emily,"" "Barn Burning- is the story of Sarty Snopes' maturation and separation from his father, Abner. The story appears to be told by an older Sarty looking back on the events of his childhood. From the beginning it is obvious that he is not ... tone for a strong, healthy family unit. The opening scene, his trial, gives a good indication of the kind of man Abner is. Concepts like love or compassion are lost on him. Abner does not talk to his family, he simply gives orders. Also, he thinks nothing of inflicting physical punishment...

• Word Count: 1080
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... at a glance appears to concentrate mainly on the character of the young boy Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) and his inner conflict. Pressured by his father (Abner Snopes) to lie in court to protect his father, he feels as if he is "being pulled two ways like two teams of horses.""(Faulkner 381) ... , however, although the character that the reader most sympathizes with, is not however the only important character in the story. The character of Sarty's father, Abner, is also vital to our understanding of the story. Portrayed in the story as a cruel and heartless character consumed by hatr...

• Word Count: 721
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... people in a proletariat fashion because it comes naturally to him. Growing up he was wealthy and his writing gives the impression that he is above the others in his neighborhood. Abner Snopes, from "Barn Burning," is also a character in Faulkner's The Unvanquished, The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion, "My Grandmother Millard," and "Vendee." He is a well developed character in part because ... name Colonel Sartoris appears in both short stories. In "A Rose For Emily," the Colonel is the Mayor of Jefferson and in "Barn Burning," he is the man who shot Abner Snopes, when Abner tried the stea...

• Word Count: 1097
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... different tangible objects as symbols to contribute to the story's meaning. The first symbol to be discussed from "Barn Burning", are the fires that the father, Abner Snopes, makes. He uses an extremely small fire, just large enough for cooking and light in the evening but at the same time, the father uses a ... standing in the community and by smearing the horse droppings on he carpet, the father is making the statement of what he thinks of their wealth. Abner Snope's coat is also used to symbolize him in the book. In one passage from the story, Sarty describes following his father as ...

• Word Count: 536
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... such as "nigger- (Faulkner 146) also make up the diction of the story. Such racist slurs are used to build a certain attitude toward the character who says them. Faulkner describes Abner's walk as "stiffly- (Faulkner 146) which also affects the reader's feelings about a character. Sarty uses the word "bovine- (Faulkner 152) to describe his fat sisters. For many readers who are ... the theme. William Faulkner once again does not resemble Ernest Hemingway with the details he includes in "Barn Burning-. Details Faulkner gives are rather more rich and overdone than Hemingway. Abner's charac...

• Word Count: 1748
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... story are not seen through the eyes of the ten-year-old Sarty but a mature Sarty Snopes. One of the best examples of this is the scene where Sarty's father, Abner strikes his son. Immediately after this scene the narrator invokes the mature Sarty to ponder young boy's tormented childhood. According to Rio- Joliffe, Faulkner combines conventional narrative techniques of flashback ... such example where the reader is surrounded with the smell of cheese. (Faulkner 148). Another instance with quite detailed references to smells is in the description of the house where Abner and his family m...

• Word Count: 1767
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... their constant opposition towards an unjust social system. Barn Burning is such a short story, which defines the limits of the individual under the pressures of an unfair sharecropper system. For Abner Snopes, the only means of revenge towards the system is an act of primitive violence, that of barn burning, the ultimate reaction against the unjustice. Ironically, this act finally leads ... to the construction of the identity of Sarty Snopes, Abner's son, who perceives it as destructive and evil, and wants to shape an opposite identity to that of his father, based on moral human values....

• Word Count: 2241
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the old South with her. The short story, "Barn Burning" was the story of an itinerant family of farm laborers moved from place to place after the violent pyromaniac father, Abner Snopes, would become angry and set fire to his employer's barn. The atrocities he witnessed during the Civil War seemed to have burned a hole deep into his psyche. The story ... ...

• Word Count: 694
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... may also be internal or psychological. In "The Black Cat," the conflict begins when the main character starts to become violent towards his cat. He suddenly starts to become more moody and "ill tempered." (pg 546, 6) He is violent and rude towards everyone including his wife, his pets and eventually Pluto, his cat. His violence grows so much that he cuts ... ...

• Word Count: 2283
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School