Barn Burning, written by William Faulkner, is a story about the Sartoris family and their youngest son, Abner. Barn Burning takes place during an unspecified time period in Yoknapatawpha County (located in Mississippi). By focusing on Barn Burning as a short story with specific literary elements, we can come to understand how Barn Burning is a vital part of William Faulkner’s work. Barn Burning is the story of Abner Snopes and his family’s struggles with poverty and social classes in relation to their white land owning neighbors.
Barn Burning introduces readers to the main character, Sartoris, of Faulkner’s novel, The Hamlet. The themes that are introduced of class struggles and familial relationships are continued throughout other novels in Faulkner’s literary world. Barn Burning focuses on how the young protagonist, Abner Snopes feels towards society while gaining his experiences through interactions with his older brother, Flem Snopes. Barn Burning draws attention to the importance of setting which Faulkner uses to portray the struggle between classes.
Barn Burning introduces readers to Barn Burning’s most prominent literary elements which include Abner Snopes, the setting of Barn Burning, and introduction to Barn Burning’s most important characters, Flem Snopes. Abner is one of Faulkner’s youngest protagonists in Barn Burning. Abner has experienced immense suffering due to his father’s violence towards him as well as his family’s financial troubles. While being bullied at school for being poor, Abner looks up to his older brother Flem who is handsome and wealthy unlike himself.
His admiration for his older brother causes him to be envious of others that have wealth or are more popular than he is. The envy that Abner feels towards others eventually causes him to act violent towards others to gain power over them. Barn Burning aims at uncovering the ways that Abner imprints his childhood experiences onto himself and how he deals with situations due to this. Economic class is one of Barn Burning’s most impacting literary elements. Barn Burning portrays individuals who are struggling with poverty in a world where land owning upper-class people view themselves as financially superior.
Barn Burning’s Sartoris family is looked down upon by their upper-class neighbors due to lack of wealth and property, which separates families like the Sartorises from those like Flem Snopes and his family (who own property, businesses, and tend to be wealthy). The socioeconomic separation between Barn Burning families is a common theme which Faulkner addresses in several novels. Barn Burning’s Sartoris family must deal with the treatment that they receive from Barn Burning’s wealthier families, such as being unwelcome at Barn Burning’s social gatherings and being forced to pay Barn Burning’s taxes for them even though they do not own land.
The Sartoris family deals with this treatment differently from Barn Burning’s wealthier characters. In Barn Burnings, William Faulkner uses setting to portray social classes and their struggles towards one another. In Barn Burning, Barn burning takes place within Abner Snopes’ mind as he recollects his childhood experiences of family life as well as events that have taken place before Barn Burning begins. Barn Burning’s chronology is not linear but jumps back and forth in Abner’s memories of his family’s past interactions with Barn Burning’s wealthier white landowners.
Faulkner uses Barn Burning’s setting to portray mental states within Barn Burns characters’ minds. Barn Burning depicts the struggles between social classes which are portrayed through Barn Burnings’ characters’ socioeconomic backgrounds, events that take place throughout Barn Burning, and the novel’s setting itself. Flem Snopes is one of Barn Burning’s most important literary elements in relation to the theme of class struggle between families in Yoknapatawpha County (located in Mississippi). Flem is introduced as Barn Burning’s main antagonist who is wealthy, handsome, and manipulative.
Barn Burning introduces Flem Snopes as Barn Burning’s most important character who represents the upper class in Barn Burning’s story. Unlike Barn Burning’s protagonist Abner, Flem is seen as Barn Burning’s more privileged character due to his social status and great wealth. Barn Burning gives readers insight into Abner Snopes’ life through his interactions with other characters that he comes into contact with throughout Barn Burning. The novel addresses the way that Abner reflects on these interactions due to having grown up within them.
As a result of his childhood experiences (including suffering abuse from Barn Burnings’ father), Abner looks up to wealthier individuals like Flem Snopes while holding resentment for Barn Burning’s father because Barn Burning’s father remains abusive towards Barn Burning. Barn Burning connects Abner Snopes’ envious feelings towards wealthy individuals with his past experiences of being abused by Barn Burning’s father to develop the character development that takes place within Abner throughout Barn Burning.
Barn Burning’s setting contributes to the novel’s theme. Barn Burning’s chronological order jumps back and forth between different moments in the protagonist Abner Snopes’ life to express memories of his experiences growing up as a Sartoris living in poverty. Barn Burnings various settings are used to show how certain characters interact differently with one another based on their socioeconomic backgrounds. For example, Barn Burning’s wealthier families have large mansions while less wealthy families are forced to live in Barn Burning’s smaller shacks.
Barn Burnings’ chronological order is also used to portray the way that Barn Burning’s protagonist Abner reflects on his experiences growing up within poverty by Barn Burning jumping back and forth between memories of these experiences. Barn Burning takes place mostly in Mississippi where its wealthier characters have large mansions while poorer families have smaller shacks, but Barn Burning’s setting also takes place outside of Mississippi’s borders in New Orleans where wealthier individuals live at luxurious hotels while Barn Burns lower-class characters are seen living out in the shadows of these establishments.
Barn burning develops over time as a story about class struggle throughout Barn Burnings’ history in Yoknapatawpha County. Barn Burning’s chronological order jumps back and forth throughout Barn Burnings’ protagonist Abner’s memories of his experiences growing up in poverty. Barn Burning uses Barn Burnings’ characters’ backgrounds to portray social class struggles between different socioeconomic statuses that feature prominently within Barn Burning.
Barn Burning’s setting is used to convey a connection between past experiences and present perceptions which develop Abners character throughout Barn Burning through showing the way that these events have shaped how he views the world around him. Barn Burning chronological order also shows how Abner interacts with others based on their backgrounds (including Flem Snopes).
