Barn Burning

Born in New Albany, Mississippi, in 1897, William Faulkner became famous for a series of
novels that explore the Souths historical legacy, its fraught and often tensely violent present,
and its uncertain future. This grouping of major works includes The Sound and the Fury (1929),
As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1931), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936), all firmly rooted
in the fictional Mississippi county of Yoknapatawpha. By creating an imaginary setting,
Faulkner allows his characters to inhabit a fully realized world that serves as a mirror to and
microcosm of the South that the novelist knew so well and explored so deeply. Faulkners
legendary milieu serves as a safe and distantalbeit magnifyinglens through which he could
examine the practices, folkways, and attitudes that have united and divided the people of the
South.
Faulkner was particularly interested in the moral implications of history. As the South emerged
from the Civil War and Reconstruction and attempted to shake off the stigma of slavery, its
residents were often portrayed as being caught in competing and evolving modes, torn between
a new and an older, more tenaciously rooted world order. Religion and politics frequently fell
short of their implied goals of providing order and guidance and served only to complicate and
divide. Society, with its gossip, judgment, and harsh pronouncements, conspired to thwart the
desires and ambitions of individuals struggling to unearth and embrace their identities. Across
Faulkners fictive landscapes, individual characters often stage epic struggles, prevented from
realizing their potential or establishing and asserting a firm sense of their place in the world.
Barn Burning, in its examination of a boys struggle with family loyalty and a higher sense of
justice, fits firmly in Faulkners familiar fictional mode. Poverty and irrational, criminal
behavior divide a family and, in the end, leave them more indigent and dependent than ever.
The story first appeared in the June 1939 issue of Harpers magazine and received the O. Henry
Award for the years best work of short fiction. The story, a critical and popular favorite, was
included in Faulkners Collected Stories (1950) and later reprinted in the Selected Short Stories
of William Faulkner (1961). In his portrayal of the Snopes clan, an underprivileged family with
few economic prospects, Faulkner examines the deep-rooted classism and systems that rigidly
divided southern society along racial, economic, and familial lines. The Snopeses and their
struggle, in particular, symbolize the falling away of an old order, as the agrarian South slowly
shifted to embrace a new era of industrialization and modernization. Although Faulkners
merciless portrayal of Abner Snopes precludes any sympathy for his peculiar brand of vigilante
justice, the harsh reality the family faced was little more than institutionalized slavery and a
life sentence of poverty and subsistence living.
Abner Snopes represents a common trope in Faulkners fictionthe dispossessed male, shorn
of power and lashing out at a world that he perceives as habitually wronging him and thwarting
his felonious desires. Faulkner examines the sway that such menacing figures have over family
and community by portraying the individuals caught up in the shadows of these savage
personalities, individuals who are powerless and often culpable. Freedom comes only for
Sartoris, the youngest Snopes boy, but, as is frequently the case in Faulkners works,
emancipation comes at a price. Sartoris has defended his sense of honor and attempted to
restore the family name, but he ultimately faces an uncertain future alone.

Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, and he donated half the prize money to a
fund that supports new writers. His gift takes the form today of the PEN/Faulkner Award. He
died in 1962.

Young Colonel Sartoris Snopes crouches on a keg in the back of the store that doubles for the
town court. He cannot see the table where his father and his fathers opponent, Mr. Harris, are
seated. The justice of the peace asks Mr. Harris for proof that Mr. Snopes burned his barn. Mr.
Harris describes the numerous times Snopess hog broke through the fence and got into his
cornfields. The final time, when Mr. Harris demanded a dollar for the animals return, the black
man who was sent to fetch the hog gave Mr. Harris an ominous warning that wood and hay are
combustible. Later that night, fire claimed Mr. Harriss barn. While the judge claims that that
by itself isnt proof, Mr. Harris has Sartoris called to testify before the court. The boy knows
his father is expecting him to lie on his behalf. After doing so, the judge asks Mr. Harris
whether he wants the child cross-examined, but Mr. Harris snarls to have the boy removed.
The judge dismisses the charges against Snopes but warns him to leave the county for good,
and Snopes agrees to comply. Snopes and his two sons then leave the store and head to their
wagon. A child in the crowd accuses them of being barn burners and strikes Sartoris, knocking
him down. Snopes orders Sartoris into the wagon, which is laden with their possessions and
where his two sisters, mother, and aunt are waiting. Snopes prevents his crying wife from
cleaning Sartoriss bloodied face. That night, the family camps around the fathers typically
small fire. Snopes wakes Sartoris and takes him onto the dark road, where he accuses him of
planning to inform the judge of his guilt in the arson case. Snopes strikes Sartoris on the head
and tells him he must always remain loyal to his family.
The next day, the family arrives at its new home and begins unloading the wagon. Snopes takes
Sartoris to the house of Major de Spain, the owner on whose land the family will work. Despite
the servants protests, Snopes tracks horse manure into the opulent house, leaving only when
Miss Lula asks him to. He resentfully remarks that the home was built by slave labor. Two
hours later, the servant drops off the rug that Snopes had soiled and instructs him to clean and
return it. Snopes supervises as the two sisters reluctantly clean the carpet with lye, and he uses
a jagged stone to work the surface of the expensive rug. After dinner, the family retires to their
sleeping areas. Snopes forces Sartoris to fetch the mule and ride along with him to return the
cleaned rug. At the house, Snopes flings the rug onto the floor after loudly kicking at the door
several times.
The next morning, as Sartoris and Snopes prepare the mules for plowing, de Spain arrives on
horseback to inform them that the rug was ruined from improper cleaning. In lieu of the
hundred-dollar replacement fee, the major says Snopes will be charged twenty additional
bushels of corn. Sartoris defends Snopess actions, telling him that he did the best he could
with the soiled carpet and that they will refuse to supply the extra crops. Snopes puts Sartoris
back to work, and the following days are consumed with the constant labor of working their
acreage. Sartoris hopes that Snopes will turn once and for all from his destructive impulses.
The next weekend, Snopes and his two sons head once again to a court appearance at the
country store, where the well-dressed de Spain is in attendance. Sartoris attempts to defend
Snopes, saying that he never burned the barn, but Snopes orders him back to the wagon. The
judge mistakenly thinks the rug was burned in addition to being soiled and destroyed. He rules
that Snopes must pay ten extra bushels of corn when the crop comes due, and court is
adjourned. After a trip to the blacksmiths shop for wagon repairs, a light meal in front of the

general store, and a trip to a corral where horses are displayed and sold, Snopes and his sons
return home after sundown.
Despite his wifes protests, Snopes empties the kerosene from the lamp back into its fivegallon container and secures a lit candle stub in the neck of a bottle. Snopes orders Sartoris to
fetch the oil. He obeys but fantasizes about running away. He tries to dissuade Snopes, but
Snopes grabs Sartoris by the collar and orders his wife to restrain him. Sartoris escapes his
mothers clutches and runs to the de Spain house, bursting in on the startled servant.
Breathlessly, he blurts out the word Barn! Sartoris runs desperately down the road, moving
aside as the majors horse comes thundering by him. Three shots ring out and Snope is killed,
his plan to burn de Spains barn thwarted. At midnight, Sartoris sits on a hill. Stiff and cold, he
hears the whippoorwills and heads down the hill to the dark woods, not pausing to look back.

Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) - A ten-year-old boy and the storys protagonist. Small and
wiry, with wild, gray eyes and uncombed brown hair, Sartoris wears patched and faded jeans
that are too small for him. He has inherited his innocence and morality from his mother, but his
fathers influence has made Sartoris old beyond his years. He is forced to confront an ethical
quandary that pits his loyalty to his family against the higher concepts of justice and morality.
Abner Snopes - Sartoriss father and a serial arsonist. Cold and violent, Snopes has a harsh,
emotionless voice, shaggy gray eyebrows, and pebble-colored eyes. Stiff-bodied, he walks with
a limp he acquired from being shot by a Confederates provost thirty years earlier while
stealing a horse during the Civil War. Known for his wolflike independence and anger, he is
convinced of his right to unleash his destructive revenge on anyone whom he believes has
wronged him.
Read an in-depth analysis of Abner Snopes.
Lennie Snopes - Sartoriss mother. Sad, emotional, and caring, Lennie futilely attempts to
stem her husbands destructive impulses. She is beaten down by the familys endless cycle of
flight and resettlement and the pall of criminality that has stained her clan. Nervous in the
presence of her irascible, unpredictable husband, she is a slim source of comfort for Sartoris in
the violence-tinged world of the Snopes family.
Read an in-depth analysis of Lennie Snopes.
Major de Spain - A well-dressed and affluent landowner. De Spain brings the soiled rug to the
Snopeses cabin and insists that they clean it and return it. Snopess unpredictable nature
unsettles de Spain, and he uneasily answers Snopess charges in court.
Mr. Harris - A landowner for whom the Snopeses were short-term tenants. The plaintiff in the
first court case, Harris had attempted to resolve the conflict over the Snopeses hog. In the end,
he is left with a burned barn and no legal recourse, as his case is dismissed for lack of evidence.
Colonel John Snopes - Sartoriss older brother. Although his name is not given in the story,
Faulkners other works of fiction feature the same character and identify him. A silent,
brooding version of his father, John is slightly thicker, with muddy eyes and a habit of chewing
tobacco.
Net and an Unnamed Sister - Sartoriss twin sisters. In his brief description of the two
women, Faulkner focuses on their physicality and corpulence. They are described as large,
bovine, and lethargic, with flat loud voices. They are cheaply dressed in calico and ribbons.
Lizzie - Lennies sister and Sartoriss aunt. Lizzie supplies a voice of justice and morality
when she boldly asserts, at the end of the story, that if Sartoris does not warn the de Spains that
their barn is about to be burned, then she will.
Lula de Spain - Major de Spains wife. Lula wears a smooth, gray gown with lace at the
throat, with rolled-up sleeves and an apron tied around her. Assertive but intimidated by the
imposing presence of Snopes, she resents having her home violated.
The Servant - A man in livery who works in the de Spain mansion. When Snopes bursts in and
damages the rug, he calls the servant a racist epithet, viewing his presence as a mere extension
of the slavery that dominated the South until the Civil War.

Colonel Sartoris Snopes

Barn Burning explores the coming of age of Sartoris Snopes, as he is forced to grapple with
issues of right and wrong that require a maturity and insight beyond his years. Youre getting
to be a man, Snopes tells his ten-year-old son after delivering a blow to the side of his head. In
Sartoriss world, violence is a fundamental element of manhood, something he knows all too
well from living with his father. Sartoris is impressionable, inarticulate, and subject to his
fathers potentially corrupting influence, but he is also infused with a sense of justice. Sartoris
is in many ways a raw, unformed creature of nature, untouched by education, the refining
influences of civilization, or the stability of a permanent home. The sight of the de Spain house
gives him an instinctive feeling of peace and joy, but, as Faulkner notes, the child could not
have translated such a reaction into words. Later, Sartoris reacts instinctively again when he
prevents his father from burning de Spains barn. He cannot articulate why he warns de Spain
or ultimately runs away, but his actions suggest that Sartoriss core consists of goodness and
morality rather than the corruption that his father attempts to teach him.
Sartoriss worldview and morality may exist beyond the adult world of precise language and
articulation, but he displays an insight that is far more developed than many of the adults who
surround him. He sees through his fathers attempts to manipulate him by harping on the
importance of family loyalty as a means of guaranteeing Sartoriss silence. Sartoriss brother,
John, lacks Sartoriss insight, and he is an example of what young Sartoris could easily
become. Snopes has successfully taught John his ideas of family loyalty, and John blindly
follows Snopess criminal lead. Sartoris, far from silently obeying, instigates the climactic end
of Snopess reign of terror. At the end of the story, Sartoris betrays the family honor and
must persevere on his own. As his father warned, if Sartoris failed to support his family,
support would not be offered to him. As frightening as the unknown future might be, Sartoris
has decided that the kind of support his family can offer is something he can do without. His
flight marks an end to the legacy of bitterness and shame that he stood to inherit.
Abner Snopes
Snopes is an influential, towering presence in Sartoriss eyes, but he himself is simply a
primitive, thoughtless force of violence and destruction. With his family he is stiff, without
depth, emotion, or complexity. This stiffness makes him seem almost less than human, and
Faulkner often characterizes Snopes in metallic terms, portraying him as ironlike, cut from tin,
a mechanical presence whose lack of emotion underscores his compromised sense of morality.
Snopess physical presence fully reflects the inner corruption and love of revenge that he
embodies. His leg, shot in the war when he was stealing Confederate horses for personal profit,
drags lamely behind him, an external manifestation of his warped inner life. Because Snopes is
wholly unable to express himself articulately or intelligently, his sole recourses for selfexpression are violence and cruelty. These tactics have overtaken his worldview so completely
that they have infused his sense of who he is.
Not satisfied with confining his deep unhappiness to his personal realm, Snopes seems to
befoul everything he touches, and he becomes almost bestial in his lack of regard for others. In
the de Spain home, Snopes intentionally steps in horse manure and tracks it throughout the

house. Later, Faulkner compares Snopes to a stinging wasp or housefly, and Snopes lifts his
hand like a curled claw. These images suggest that Snopes is not actually human but instead
simply resembles the form of a man. Fed by jealousy and rage, Snopess need for revenge is
borne of his sense of inferiority, lack of power, and gradual emasculation by the dismal
sharecropping system. He compensates for these shortcomings by being a silent tyrant, ruling
his family with threats and the promise of violence, as well as by destroying the livelihood of
those individuals he believes have slighted him.
Lennie Snopes
Opposite Abner Snopes, with his penchant for revenge and destruction, is Lennie Snopes, a
voice of reason and morality in the family. Because her morals are so different from her
husbands, Lennie sharpens the conflict that Sartoris faces as he attempts to form his own ideas
of right and wrong. The fact that Lennie has not simply succumbed to her domineering, violent
husband makes her character remarkable. Surely, her spirit has been wounded by the grinding
cycle of poverty, crime, and rootlessness to which Snopes has subjected the family. She has
also endured physical violence throughout her married life. Lennies spirit has not been broken
completely, however. She repeatedly attempts to stop Snopes from lashing out at the
landowners who provide the familys livelihood, even though her attempts are unsuccessful.
Her unbroken spirit is perhaps most evident in the way she has influenced Sartoris. Although
Lennie is forced into a quiet, inferior position in the family, she has managed to instill her
values in Sartoris, despite the overwhelming, corrupting influence that Snopes tries to enforce.
Although Lennie is abandoned by Sartoris in the end, he leaves because she has quietly taught
him that it is the right thing to do.

Themes
Loyalty to Family versus Loyalty to the Law

In Barn Burning, Sartoris must decide whether loyalty to family or loyalty to the law is the
moral imperative. For the Snopes family, particularly for Sartoriss father, family loyalty is
valued above all else. The family seems to exist outside of society and even outside the law,
and their moral code is based on family loyalty rather than traditional notions of right or
wrong. Snopes tells Sartoris that he should remain loyal to his blood, or family, or he will
find himself alone. This threat suggests how isolated the family really is and how fully they
rely on one another for protection, even when their faith in this protection is unfounded.
Blood in a literal sense appears as well, underscoring the intensity of the ties among family.
For example, when the Snopeses are leaving the makeshift courthouse at the beginning of the
story, a local boy accuses Snopes of being a barn burner, and, when Sartoris whirls around to
confront him, the boy hits Sartoris and bloodies his face. The blood, dried and caked on his face
during the ride out of town, is, in a way, a mark of pride: Sartoris had defended the family
name. However, after Snopes once again plans to burn a barn, Sartoris understands that family
loyalty comes at too great a cost and is too heavy a burden. He rejects family loyalty and
instead betrays his father, warning de Spain that his barn is about to be burned. Only when
Snopes is killedpresumably shot to death by de Spain at the end of the storyis the family
free. They were loyal, but they still wind up alone.
The Search for Peace

Surrounded by violence and conflict, Sartoris is constantly overwhelmed by fear, grief, and
despair, and he knows that he must search for peace if he ever wants to be free from these
tumultuous emotions. Sartoris specifically refers to fear, grief, and despair throughout the
story, revealing the depth of his struggle to find his place among the demands of his family and
his own developing ideas of morality. To Sartoris, peace, joy, and dignity are the alluring
promises of a different kind of life, one that seems very far away from life in the Snopes
household. His sense that a different kind of life exists grows particularly acute when he and
Snopes approach de Spains house. Sartoris is enamored with the grounds and the imposing
house, and the domestic bliss that seems to emanate from the estate gives Sartoris a temporary
comfort. The spell of the house seems to change everything, and Sartoris foolishly hopes that
it has the power to turn his father from his criminal ways. For the first time, Sartoris has
glimpsed a peaceful future.
Although Sartoris eventually frees himself from his father and his oppressive family life, he
does not immediately find the peace and dignity that he expected would await him. Perhaps the
happiness he seeks does exist for him in the future, as he leaves his family and old life behind
without looking back. However, Sartoris has found a quieter, more subtle form of happiness.
Life under his father was lived in a heightened state of extreme fear, grief, and despair. Now,
the extreme emotions that loomed over Sartoriss young life have eased. His life may not have
undergone a radical transformation, but grief and despair [were] now no longer terror and fear
but just grief and despair. Sartoris cant escape entirely, but he has already achieved a kind of
peace.

Motifs
Darkness

The pervasive darkness in Barn Burning gestures to the lack of clarity that prevails in
Snopess thoughts and actions as well as the bleakness into which Snopes drags his family.
Several significant episodes in the familys life occur under cover of darkness. For example,
when the family camps by the roadside on their way to their new sharecroppers cabin on the de
Spain property, Snopes beats Sartoris and scolds him for planning to reveal his guilt at the
courthouse. Sartoris cant see his father in the darkness, which reveals the alienation that is at
the heart of their relationship. In the final portion of the story, darkness changes from being
suffocating to suggesting freedom and escape. Snopess plan to burn yet another barn is
hatched in the darkness, and the night seems to promise nothing but more crime and despair.
However, Sartoris rallies his own sense of morality during this night as well, finally standing
up for what he believes in. Sartoris embarks on his new life just as the darkness ends and dawn
approaches.
The Word Ravening

The word ravening, which means devouring greedily, destroying, or preying on, appears several
times in the story, and every time it highlights Snopess malicious character. In its first sense,
devouring greedily, the word resembles ravenous, which gestures to the poverty the family
must endure. When the family does eat, the meal is makeshift and cold. For example, when
Snopes and his sons are in town to pursue their case again de Spain, Snopes buys a small
portion of cheese, which he divides into three even smaller pieces. Faulkner also uses the word
to link Snopes and fire. Snopess latent ravening ferocity and his ravening and jealous rage
are expressed in the fire, which hungrily destroys the beams and dry hay bales of his
employers barns. Finally, Faulkners use of the word also suggests the overpowering
destructive impulse that defines Snopes. He is a parasite, preying on others to his own
advantage, gleefully seeking the destruction of others livelihood and property in his own
hunger for revenge.
Symbols
Fire

Fire is a constant threat in Barn Burning, and it represents both Snopess inherent
powerlessness and his quest for power and self-expression. After the family has been run out of
town because Snopes burned a barn, Snopes steals a split rail from a fence and builds a small
fire by the roadside, barely functional and hardly suited to the large familys needs on a cold
evening. Hed committed his fiery crime in a desperate grasp at power, but now he reveals how
utterly powerless he is to adequately care for his family. When Snopes turns the fire on others
property, however, his power increases, albeit criminally. Snopes has grown adept at
committing crimes and escaping undetected, and his entire family is drawn in to this pattern of
lying and evasion. Unlike the small, inadequate fire Snopes built for his family, the criminal
fire that Snopes set in Mr. Harriss barn sent Confederate patrols out for many nights of
searching for the rogue and horse thief. For Snopes, fire is a means of preserving his integrity
and avenging the slights he believes have been ceaselessly meted out to him throughout his life.

Powerless and poor, Snopes turns to fire to tilt the balance in his favor, even if it is only for one
brief, blazing moment.
The Soiled Rug

The rug that Snopes soils with horse manure in the de Spain home indicates a critical shift in
his typical method of operating, because this is the first time that Snopes has intruded into and
violated a home. Snopess destruction is a swipe at the financial security that de Spain has and
that Snopes lacks, as well as a clear statement of his unhappiness at being subservient to de
Spain for his livelihood. Without even knowing the de Spains, Snopes resents them simply for
being prosperous landowners and in a superior position. A barn holds a farmers livelihood,
including crops, livestock, and machinery, and this is Snopess usual target. Extending his
criminal reach to the rug signals that Snopess resentment now encompasses the domestic
sphere as well. The shocking act of smearing the rug with excrement eventually leads to the
rugs complete destruction, which then leads to another court hearing, another act of revenge,
and ultimately Snopess death. The expensive rug represents for Snopes every comfort,
opportunity, and privilege he feels he has been unfairly denied, and in destroying it, he
renounces all regard for his life and familys future.

Structure and Style

Faulkner is known for his distinctive style, especially his use of long sentences that are
frequently interrupted by clauses. For example, the lengthy second sentence of Barn Burning
would be considered typical Faulkner. This unique style lends Faulkners work a sense of scope
and continuity. Faulkner seems to suggest that human understanding and perception are
unstable and always changing, subject to the environment and other people. This style also
suggests a lack of clear resolution to the action. For example, at the end of Barn Burning,
Sartoris has finally escaped his fathers clutches, but we are left with an unresolved sense of the
impact that Sartoriss escape will ultimately have on him and his family. Faulkners syntax (the
way a sentence is put together) helps contribute to this lack of a definitive conclusion, because
many of his sentences meander and digress before endingsometimes to the extent that we
forget how the sentence began. This technique adds complexity to Faulkners fiction, which he
intended to reflect the struggles faced in everyday worldstruggles that usually dont have
clear resolutions.
Faulkners long, looping sentences form a stream-of-consciousness style in which a characters
roving thoughts and associations are reproduced on the page. The opening paragraph is a key
example of this style. The second sentence spills out, each subsequent clause modifying the
observations and thoughts that have come before it, ultimately forming a chain of loosely
connected impressions and ideas. In real life, thoughts are not linear, and Faulkner represents
the chaotic quality of private thought by interrupting the flow of the sentence with clauses. The
sentence thus gives us a peek into Sartoriss swirling sensory impressions, revealing much
more than simply his observations of whats around him. Sartoriss impressions reflect the
hunger, fear, and guilt he feels, an impoverished child watching his fathers hearing from the
back of a general store. The sight and smell of the foods surrounding Sartoris remind him of his
empty stomach, which then leads him to consider more abstract concerns, such as his sadness
and struggle to sustain his family loyalty.

Setting
Faulkner uses setting to evoke the class distinctions that fuel Snopess deep resentment. The
Snopes family lives in dire circumstances that are vastly different from the lifestyles of the
landowning families for whom they work as sharecroppers, and the story hinges on Snopess
destruction of property and violation of the home. Once content with avenging perceived
injustices by burning a landowners barn, thus compromising his livelihood, Snopes begins
avenging the vaguer wrongs that he feels he has endured simply by virtue of his poverty. At the
de Spains opulent home, for example, he rudely forces his way inside, staining the rug with
manure and then destroying it when he is ordered to clean it. He is avenging nothing: the de
Spains were strangers when he walked into the house, strangers who had chosen to allow
Snopes to reside on their property and sharecrop on their land. The storys setting, including the
Snopeses packed wagon and the expansive de Spain estate, highlights the outsider status of the
Snopes family and ignites Snopess rage.
Another unique aspect of setting in Barn Burning is the courthouse, which is simply a general
store that is used for legal proceedings. This is the place where justice is meted out to Snopes,
where he is punished for avenging the injustices he believes he has endured. The fact that the
courthouse isnt a real courthouse just augments Snopess perception that he isnt treated fairly,
and it highlights his status as a rogue outsiderhis own vigilante justice is punished in a
haphazard fashion, within the law but also outside it. The idea of a courthouse that isnt a
courthouse appears again when Sartoris first sees the de Spains home. Hits big as a
courthouse, he thinks to himself as the house comes fully into view. Because the only
courthouse Sartoris has seen is likely the inside of the general store, the courthouse to which he
compares the house is simply an image he has created in his imagination. His comparison
suggests how removed Sartoris is from the world beyond the small sharecropping community
in which the Snopes family lives.

Dialect and Diction

In Barn Burning, Faulkner mimics the dialect (regional speech patterns) of the simple
agrarian family he is portraying, which adds realism and immediacy to the story. For example,
during Snopess hearing at the beginning of the story, Sartoris looks at Mr. Harris and
concludes that he is his familys enemy for attempting to bring charges against Snopes,
thinking, ourn! mine and hisn both! When Lennie asks her youngest son whether he was hurt
after his scuffle with another boy, Sartoris replies, Naw, . . . Hit dont hurt. Lemme be.
Through the words the characters use, Faulkner reveals much about the education and
background of this farm family, and he stays true to their actual way of speaking.
The agrarian life that was only beginning to disappear in the turn-of-the-century South also
provides the story with a rich lexicon of specialized diction. As Major de Spain rides up to
confront Snopes about the ruined rug, Snopes is stooped over the plow, buckling the hame, one
of the two curved pieces, usually made of metal or wood, on a harness. Later, during the course
of the tense exchange, Snopes asks Sartoris whether he has put the cutter back in that straight
stock, referring respectively to the blade and frame of a plow. Later, before the second hearing
in the rural store, Sartoris dreams of his father reforming while running a middle buster, a
special kind of plow used to break up the tough clods of earth in the center of a field row.
Faulkner knew well the trappings and lingo of southern plantation and farm life, and he also
meticulously researched his stories. The specific language choices that Faulkner makes give his
tale the ring of authenticity, bringing the hardscrabble, labor-intensive lifestyle of the Snopeses
vividly and memorably to life.

1. Maybe he will feel it too. Maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he
couldnt help but be.
This quotation occurs as Snopes and Sartoris slowly approach the de Spain house and Sartoris,
overwhelmed by the peace and joy he feels in the presence of the large home, wishes for the
eradication of sorrow, envy, jealousy, and rage from his family life. Similar sentiments are
echoed later, during the incident with the rug. Sartoris hopes that his father will learn a lesson
from having to pay for the carpets replacement and will finally stop forever and always from
being what he used to be. Both of these statements reveal that Sartoris has a core of morality
that is separate from Snopess influence. Although Sartoriss loyalties are divided through most
of the story, Faulkner makes it clear where his wavering sympathies ultimately lie: Sartoris
desires to conform to a generalized sense of justice that applies equally to all, not the moral
relativism of his scoundrel father who expects the family to lie on one anothers behalf.
Sartoris believes in the capacity for change, even in his fathers case. His journey in the story
involves his gradual acceptance that some individuals are unwilling or unable to reform their
criminal ways.
2. Maybe it will all add up and balance and vanishcorn, rug, fire; the terror and grief, the
being pulled two ways like between two teams of horsesgone, done with for ever and
ever.
This quotation occurs after Major de Spain has informed Snopes that he owes twenty additional
bushels of corn for destroying the rug. It is notable for the way Faulkners narrative voice is
able to vary throughout the story, approximating and mimicking the thoughts of Sartoris, his
ten-year-old protagonist. The for ever and ever adds a childish lilt to the end of the phrase
and underscores the impossibility of Sartoriss hopes ever being realized. Sartoris wants all the
shame and burdens his father has heaped onto the family to merely disappear, to be erased.
However, Snopess transgressions are too vast to simply vanish as Sartoris hopes. Snopess
anger and sense of inferiority are not expressed merely through fire; rather, as is evident in this
brief listcorn, rug, firehe does not discriminate when it comes to destroying the property
of others.
The quotation also reinforces the idea of a lack of peace in Sartoriss life; he is always aware of
the reality in which he lives. The joy and peace of the de Spain property are fleeting, quickly
giving way to the dark-coated, limping figure of the father arriving to unsettle the home.
Faulkner fully captures young Sartoriss indulgent fantasies as well as the truly painful struggle
he undergoes. Divided between family loyalty and loyalty to the law, he feels as though he is
being torn apart by teams of horses pulling in opposite directions. Sartoris yearns for all of this
his fathers transgressions, his own tumultuous emotionsto simply disappear. In a way,
these things do disappear in the end, but only after Sartoris takes action by warning de Spain
about the imminent fire. Sartoris himself eliminates them rather than waiting passively for
them to vanish on their own.

How to Cite This SparkNote

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MLA
SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Barn Burning. SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007.
Web. 1 Aug. 2013.
The Chicago Manual of Style
SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Barn Burning. SparkNotes LLC.
http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/barn-burning/ (accessed August 1, 2013).

2007.

APA
SparkNotes Editors. (2007). SparkNote on Barn Burning. Retrieved August 1, 2013, from
http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/barn-burning/
In Text Citation

MLA
Their conversation is awkward, especially when she mentions Wickham, a subject Darcy
clearly wishes to avoid (SparkNotes Editors).
APA
Their conversation is awkward, especially when she mentions Wickham, a subject Darcy
clearly wishes to avoid (SparkNotes Editors, 2007).
Footnote

The Chicago Manual of Style

Chicago requires the use of footnotes, rather than parenthetical citations, in conjunction with a
list of works cited when dealing with literature.
1 SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Barn Burning. SparkNotes LLC.
http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/barn-burning/ (accessed August 1, 2013).

2007.

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Table of Contents
in-depth analysis of Abner Snopes.
in-depth analysis of Lennie Snopes.