The novel by William Faulkner is about Abner Snopes who is charged with arson. The charges are that he burnt his employer’s barn. At the beginning of the novel, he is shown being tried as his son Colonel Satoris ‘Sarty’ Snopes sits in the makeshift courtroom, and there is also a jury ready to charge the mean drunk who constantly burns his employer’s barns. The plaintiff calls young Sarty to testify against his father, but it refrains from forcing the boy to testify against his father. The case is then closed, and Abner Snopes together with his family is advised to leave the part of the country. As they camp in the night, Snopes strikes his son Sarty claiming that he was ready to testify against him which was a sign of disloyalty. For Abner Snopes, barn burning is the only way he maintained his integrity among men who had more power and wealth than he did.
Later, Abner finds a new employer named Mr. de Spain who owns a plantation. Even before he starts his employment, Snopes gets into a confrontation with his employer. As they walk up the drive with his son, Snopes steps on some horse droppings which is something he could have avoided. He ends up ruining Mrs. de Spain’s rug along the entrance hall. Mr. de Spain asks Snopes to clean the rug, and it is destroyed even further in the hands of the Snopeses. Mr. de Spain will not have any of it, and he asks Snopes to pay for the damage. Snopes resolves to burn Mr. de Spain’s barn instead. Satoris tells on him before he could burn the barn and he leaves him forever.
Works Cited
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Faulkner, William. Barn Burning: Short Story. Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2013.
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