Barn Burning

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"Barn Burning" is a short story by William Faulkner, which appeared in Harper's in 1938. The story deals with class conflicts, the influence of fathers, and vengeance as viewed through the third-person perspective of a young, influential child. It is a prequel to The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion. These three stories make up the "Snopes" trilogy.

[edit] Plot summary

The story opens with Abner Snopes, the father of young Sartoris Snopes, being driven out of town after burning down a neighboring farmer's barn. No palpable proof can point to Abner as the culprit, which allows him to evade the usually severe punishment for such a grave crime. The Snopes family simply moves along to begin life anew, but Abner Snopes cannot seem to control his pyromania and hatred for society. Consequentially, he moves to exact his revenge and assert his superiority at the cost of his current landlord and aristocrat, Major de Spain. Sartoris warns Major de Spain of his father's intentions to burn down his barn, yet flees when he realizes "the white man" was moving to get his gun. Narrowly escaping, the young Sartoris hears the sound of two gun shots perhaps indicating his father's murder and potentially that of his older brother, an accomplice. However, as Faulkner often does, he makes references to the characters in a later work, revealing that neither the father nor the brother were killed by the gunshots. Profoundly affected by his father's legacy, the boy does not return to his family but rather continues on with his life alone.

In the 1980s, Barn Burning was made into a short film starring Tommy Lee Jones as Abner Snopes. The film is worthwhile, presenting a good perspective of the story.