The Barn Burning by William Faulkner
In William Faulkner’s famous short story “Barn Burning,” we see clearly that the story grapples with a universal theme of justice, but what about justice does this story focus on and how, if at all, are the complexities of this theme resolved? To help understand Faulkner’s very sophisticated narrative techniques and to see an example of a scholarly analysis of the short story, please read: Ford, M. (1998). Narrative legerdemain: Evoking Sarty's future in 'Barn Burning'. Mississippi Quarterly, 51(3), 527. View the videos in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES for further understanding of the story “Barn Burning” and the Nobel Prize winning author William Faulkner. As before, you may want to review from Module 1: St. Martin’s tutorial on the Elements of Fiction http://bcs(dot)bedfordstmartins(dot)com/virtualit/fiction/elements.asp Write an essay of 500-750 words maximum on your understanding of the primary theme of William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning.” You should quote short passages (4 lines or less) from the story to support your argument. Of course, there are many essays on this classic story, so if you use another author’s commentary on the story, such as the one you are asked to read in this module, make sure to cite that author’s article and to include the website using APA formatting.
Assignment 3
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William Faulkner was born in oxford, Mississippi during 1897. He was a colonel who served in the civil war. Besides that he was a great writer, financier, public figure, and lawyer. He was assassinated by a political rival during 1962. William Faulkner was an American author who composed the short story (Barn Burning). He wrote stories that were emotional and provocative about life in the south.
The Barn Burning was written during 1993, which was about twenty years period after the civil war (Ford, 1998). Faulkner describes poetry as certain moving desirous occasion of the human condition refines to its significance. Supposing this significance is changed into narrative, the narrator becomes the story. Faulkner applies narrative strategy to depict the narrator as the story. In Barn burning, Faulkner uses a narrative strategy to develop a doubling perspective help to fuse an omniscient narrator with Sarty to create contextual texture of the story. The story is a narrative about young boy (Sarty) growing to become a man, but he faces many challenges from his childhood. His father (Abner Snopes) is a callous person who not only mistreats him, but also causes problems to people in the society. In this story, Sarty struggles to follow the quests of his own conscience, but his father influences to act unjustly.
The theme of justice is manifested in this short story. There are different views concerning justice, which indicate how certain individuals are not ready to accept justice prevails in the society (Ford, 1998). For Sarty Snopes, justice neither encourages hurting nor cheating others. For his father, justice seemed to be harsh on him for he is suspected to have burnt barn belonging to Mr. Harris. The story starts in a court room that is situated in a store smelling cheese. Sarty is frightened. Abner Snopes is inside the court because is accused of burning the barn own by Mr. Harris. Sarty is present to give his testimony against his father. He understands that he has to cheat and testify that his father has not involved in burning the barn (Ford, 1998). The judge realized that he is putting Sarty in bad position considering his tender age. Sarty is spared not to give his testimony. The judge realizes the Abner is not guilty, but decides to send him away from the county. Abner Snopes is suspected to have burned the barn and therefore is expected to leave county.
Abner Snopes and his family leave the county and settle in a different region. He settles at a new house in a compound own by Major de Spain. Abner Snopes advises...