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Barn Burning

William FaulknerÆs short story ôBarn Burningö is a tale of moral development and transcendence of the past. Sarty is a young man who recognizes that he must follow his own code of morality with respect to his willingness to tell the truth even though it may bring punishment to his father. SartyÆs father is a vestige of the past, a man who is self-serving and expects his family (an extension of him) to assist him in his self-serving aims. Because of his poverty and class distinctions which are pointed out to Abner, he resorts to thievery and profiteering during the Civil War and to arson against the wealthy after the war. In AbnerÆs mind, he is getting one up on the social forces that purposefully try to hold him down. He views himself as a ôlower-classö David, victorious against the forces of the bigger and more powerful Goliath-like ôupper-class.ö Sarty, in contrast, knows his fatherÆs conduct is wrong but is pressured by the emotions of blood ties to lie for his father. In refusing to life for his father, Sarty not only develops a more mature code of morality but he transcends the limitations of his fatherÆs character that are rooted in a previous eraÆs injustices. Through the use of symbolism, Faulkner illustrates the characters of Abner and Sarty as well as this transcendence over the past.

There are three primary symbols used by Faulkner in ôBarn Burningö to reveal the characters of Abner and Sarty and to illustrate SartyÆs victory over the limitations of his father: fire, blood, and the Bible. Abner is revealed as a man who resorts to the power of fire to level what he views as the unfair and unlevel playing field between rich and poor. Seeing himself as slighted socially by those who have more wealth or breeding, Abner uses fire to not only exact justice but as a means of reaffirming his self-worth in a society that views him as somehow ôinferior.ö As we are told, ôthe element of fire spoke to s...

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Barn Burning. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:13, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1710340.html