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In the story Barn Burning by Faulkner, we first encounter Mr. Snopes in a courthouse. He is accused of burning Mr. Harris barn. The justice of the court tells Mr. Harris to prove his allegations but he is unable to do so because Mr. Snopes is cunning and does not leave evidence of his crimes behind. Although he had threatened to burn Mr. Harris barn earlier by saying that hay and wood go up in flames easily he is found innocent and the case dismissed due to lack of evidence. However, we know he burnt the barn because he had expected his son Sartoris to lie for him in the courthouse. After this incident, Mr. Snopes is ordered to leave the country with immediate effect and never to return. He complies and leaves and on the way, a child who accuses the Snopes of burning barns attacks his son Sartoris. The father is not happy with Sartoris and strikes him because he thinks he was going to sell him out in the courthouse for barn burning. He tells the son that he must always remain loyal to the family. From this, we can see that Sartoris does not support his fathers behavior but he condones it because of family ties. The fathers behavior of barn burning puts him in a conflict with his son who obviously does not support the vice. The son is torn between family loyalty and his own conscience.
Later, the family moves to a new home. Mr. Snopes finds work at Major de Spains Land. He is angry with the rich because when he takes his Sartoris to major de Spains house he soils the house rug with horse manure and leaves after protests from Miss. Lula. Resentfully he claims slave labor was used in the construction of the house thus his lack of respect for the house and its owners. He is ordered to clean the rug and he gives the responsibility to his two daughters. He uses a stone to clean the rag and destroys its expensive surface. Later, he returns the rag to Major de Spains house accompanied by Sartoris. He is bent on destroying the rug further and he flings it on the ground and ruins it further. Major de Spain returns the rug to him the following morning and orders him to pay twenty bushels of corn. During the confrontation, Sartoris remembers his fathers word about being loyal to the family and defends him saying that he did all he could to clean the rug and the fine was very high thus they could not pay. In his mind, he hopes that his father will change and leave his devious ways. This pushes the conflict further and becomes complicated once again; we see that Snopes grip on his son is strong as he defends him even though he is in the wrong.
The story reaches the climax when Sartoris gets enough of his fathers behavior. This is because Snopes intends to burn Major de Spains barn and wants Sartoris to be his accomplice by fetching the oil to burn the barn. He runs away to de Spains house and shouts the word barn as a warning of his fathers plan. Major de Spain grabs his gun goes to look for Snopes whom he shoots and thwarts his plan. Sartoris runs away and does not look back. This signifies that he has become his own man and is ready to make his own choices even if it means going against his family.
There are symbols used in this story in its development. Fire is a major symbol and symbolizes Snopes quest for power. He is powerless and uses fire to destroy other peoples property to give him the satisfaction of watching the property go up in flames. He makes very big fires in his destruction yet he cannot do so for his family. For example, after the family is chased from the town he makes a fire using a split rail that does not build a fire warm enough to keep the family warm. This shows that his life is difficult and he cannot take care of his familys needs and thus his powerlessness. To regain this power and maybe get back at the people in society who he feels are an obstacle to his success he burns their barns and thus feels that he has got even with them. The destructive fire and not being caught make him feel powerful and he enjoys this feeling.
The other symbol is the rug. In Snopes eyes, it represents the affluence of the rich that he does not have and thus his willingness to destroy this privilege. He destroys the rugby soiling it with manure and mishandling it during the washing. He wants to destroy the properties of the rich and he will destroy anything he can lay his hands on in addition to barn burning. He wants to destroy their livelihood and maybe they can feel what it is like not to have the comforts of life.
The setting of the story also contributes to the events. The Snopes family lives on rich peoples land and survives through sharecropping. This shows that the family is poor as opposed to the rich landowners such as Major de Spain who has a very big house. Mr. Snopes is an outsider and this is symbolized by his wagon packed outside de Spains estate. Due to these circumstances, Snopes is angry and seeks to avenge his situation by destroying the landowners barns. The other setting is the courthouse. The courthouse is not a real courthouse because it is a general store. This shows that Snopes is punished by the law but out of it because the judgments are not given in a real courthouse. He, therefore, feels like an outsider even in the eyes of the law. To avenge his difficult life he commits crimes and he is brought to this courthouse to answer for his actions. The fact that Snopes is not taken to a real courthouse may to some extent support his assumption of unfair treatment in his society thus barn burning.
References
Faulkner, W. (2013). Barn burning: Short story. HarperCollins.
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