Tragic? Sure. But Hero?

Abner Snopes is not your traditional tragic hero. In fact, he is hardly a hero at all. Abner does not come across as a “nice guy” and the reader feels little compassion for him. Instead of staying and fighting the battle during the Civil War, he deserted on a stolen horse, which is when he sustained his injury, a bullet to his foot. The injury to his foot is also something that he has in common with tragic heroes Oedipus and Achilles.

Most tragic heroes have a flaw beyond their control or make an understandable mistake, yet Abner’s flaw is burning down barns…and it’s not a mistake. Of course, burning a barn for him is a symbol of destroying the upper class and Abner truly is a champion of the poor people.

When Faulkner wrote Barn Burning, it seems like he did so with the intention of showing the versatility of perspective. If a reader only looks at Sarty’s point of view, he sees a man that is cruel to his children and unreasonably violent. If a reader only notes the point of view of the rich landowner, he sees a poor man, angry at having to repay for a rug that he ruined, taking vengeance. Yet, Abner burns barns in order to fight the status quo.

The impact that the status quo has on Abner is evident throughout the story, as is his defiance of it. When the black servant answers the door and tells him to go away, Abner, outraged at being ordered, particularly by someone he would have considered a class below himself, ruins an expensive rug by wiping his muddy shoes across it. When he is taken to court for the rug, he is further insulted by having the fine pressed against him by the owner lowered by the judge due to his “station.”

Abner is a tragic hero, though he may not be the most likeable. He fights social oppression and the limits placed on people based on their class, yet he does so, strangely enough, by burning down the barns of the rich.

Protagonist or Antagonist?

In a tragedy, the audience has to fear yet pity the protagonist. In Barn Burning the protagonist is Abner, a man who burns the barns of his enemies. On the surface the reader obviously has a fear of Abner, someone who willing burns and destroys the possessions of anyone who does him wrong. Abner fits the role of a tragic figure in his physical similarity to Oedipus, where Oedipus has a scarred heel, Abner has a damaged leg.The pity though is found once the reader looks deeper into the reason why Abner is the way he is. The reader’s pity comes from reading about a man who is so consumed and damaged that he is “shaggy [and] dark gray haired.” Faulkner wrote so that once Abner is shot to death by his enemy, the audience experiences catharsis, or extreme pity for the protagonist’s death.

The story as a whole also fits as a tragedy if the reader looks as the basic structure of the story. Abner, the protagonist, the king (of his family) is first loathed and feared because of his hubris, or narrowed view. Through Faulkner’s unity of action, the reader only knows the bad in Abner until they look deeper into whom Abner Snopes really is. The audience starts to pity Abner as Faulkner shows his damaged and frail life. Once the protagonist is realistically killed, the audience pities him and his family that is torn apart. The irony comes into play in that Abner can also play the antagonist to Sarty. Depending on how the reader views Barn Burning Abner can either be the feared, yet pitied protagonist, or the despised antagonist.

Bye Confusion, Hello Solution!

I would have never believed that Abner Snopes would fit the definition of a hero in any interpretation of the word, but after viewing the story from a different perspective it is certainly clear that Faulkner intended the story to be a tragedy with an unclear meaning, invoking mixed feelings of fear and pity while Abner plays the role of the hero.

Abner burns barns and destroys others' property for the mere satisfaction of ruining those lives that he always desired to live. Faulkner describes Abner as being stiff and without emotions or depth, invoking a sense of fear within the reader. Yet as Abner continues to burn barns and soils others property and goods, the audience may begin to empathize him, understanding that he commits these crimes because he feels powerless to those more powerful and rich (Mr. Harris and Duke de Spain). Faulkner's method of combining fear with pity is a clear exercise of catharsis on the author's part. Catharsis, being a theme most common in Ancient Greek tragedies, is Faulkner's way of utilizing dramatic tragedy in Abner's already insane life. Although I do not believe Abner to be a hero of society, I can view him as a hero of sorts, particularly a hero of the lower class. While everyone experiences feelings of resentment and jealousy, the lower class (Abner being a sharecropper) is more inclined to feel so towards those more powerful, privileged, and inferior to themselves. This feeling of resentment toward the more privileged is the same feeling Abner exerperiences toward Mr. Harris and Duke de Spain. Mind Abner's way of conveying his resentment is a tad extreme, it is the only way he can accurately express himself. By the closing of the story the audience may be confused whether or not to pity Abner, but the audience should be able to relate to Abner on logical sense -- everyone experiences jealousy towards those with more power and privileges.

Another Barn Burning post

Upon first reading "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner i did not characterize the short story on the same level as a classical tragedy such as Oedipus, or Romeo and Juliet just to name a few, but now looking back and re-reading the tragedy has definitely jumped out and become obvious. While reading, I can see that this story is a heroic tragedy about Sarty Snopes, Abner's son, and the paths that he takes while trying to grow into his own awareness and morality while trying to cope with his fathers unusual and bizarre acts.

Sarty, who dislikes his father's destructive behavior, ultimately must choose between family and morality. Sarty is torn between doing the right thing, which is telling the truth about his father, and staying loyal to his family. He does not want to lie for his father anymore, but feels like he has to because the right thing to do would be staying loyal to his family. What Sarty does not realize is that Abner does not really care about his family or what happens to them and that he only cares for himself and getting revenge on all of the people that have controlled, and taken advantage of him. By Sarty running away, that is his way of showing that he really cares for his family, but he is not going to lie for his father anymore. "Barn Burning" is a tragedy because it very clearly shows the classical struggle between the "privileged" and the "underprivileged" classes.

-Exactly 250 words!

Didn't Think This Story Was Tragic.... but it is

Faulkner creates a character who almost perfectly fits into the mold of a tragic figure. Abner Snopes causes catharsis in the audience, and also has a crucial flaw that leads to his downfall.

Abner Snopes is a character that everyone fears at the beginning of the story. His harsh “black, flat, and bloodless” features invoke a sense of fear in, not only the audience, but also in Abner's family. This sense of fear begins the critical development of catharsis. As the story progresses, Abner maintains this “dark” and lifeless “tin” persona, causing both physical and emotional harm to his family because of his rage. However, at the end of the story, the final piece to catharsis is added: pity. In, what would be, his final attempt to rebel against the oppressive upper class, Abner sets fire to de Spain's barn and is killed as a result. One can only for sorry for the man who was only trying to proclaim his equality to the upper class, although in a very destructive and cruel manner. This feeling of pity completes the feelings of catharsis and helps develop Abner into a tragic character.

Abner also maintains one crucial flaw that leads to his downfall, one crucial aspect to a tragic figure. Abner feels an endless sense of pride in himself and goes into an uncontrollable rage when this pride is damaged. Abner feels as though he is equal to everyone else in society. However, he is constantly reminded that he is not because he is forced to be a sharecropper. This damages his pride and causes him to perform incredibly destructive acts of arson. This eventually leads to his downfall at the end of the story when he is killed because of one of his acts of rage.

Although this may not actually be irony, I think that it is ironic that the fall of one character leads to another character rising above his challenges. Abner experiences a tragic fall at the end of the story. Along with this fall, Sarty rises to the occasion and becomes a man. As one character is destroyed by his flaw, another discovers the truth about life, escapes the creation of a possible flaw in them self, and becomes a man. This irony, not only enhances the development of Abner as a tragic character and Sarty as a character, but also contributes to the tragic aspect of the story by providing some kind of irony.

Abner fits the basic characteristics of a tragic character. He invokes feelings of fear and pity in the audience and is destroyed in the end by his tragic flaw of hubris.

Done.

Is he really tragic?

Abner Snopes is a tragic man, not a hero even though he desperately wants to be one. Snopes can be compared to many tragic heroes, but he himself is not enough human being to be admired. Like Achilles and Oedipus, Snopes shows his warped inner self through his “stiff foot” that he wounded by unlawful proceedings. But that is where the comparisons can end. The man “cut from tin” shows no emotion to his family or to anything else except his exaltation of fires. Abner has no redeeming qualities-he shows no love for his family, but only uses threats “without fire” to be in control. Snopes is cold and calculating as he hits his son, ruins his new employer’s property, and controls his family. Even his eyes, which many poets have said are the window to the soul, are “gray… [and] glint coldly.” It is ironic that Abner uses fire, an uncontrollable and destructive element, when he lives so meticulously.

One important facet of a tragedy is the point at which the protagonist realizes his mistakes. Some people would say that Snopes tried again and again to start his life over and so in turn he had realized his mistakes. But if someone does not learn from their mistakes than they had never realized them at all. He was already dressed in “his Sunday coat” ready to be sent from the town. Abner does not see that he is wrong, he just realizes the pattern of why his family has to leave town. He shows no remorse for what he has done. Even though Abner is indignant, readers still feel sorry for him. Many can see Abner’s prideful actions in themselves and the relatives or friends around them and as they determine what Abner did wrong, many begin to see what they have done wrong in their own lives. Abner Snopes is tragic in his own way. He is not beloved or remorseful, but he is pitied, something that he would have hated.

Burn, Baby, Burn!

“Barn Burning” conforms precisely to most of the necessary elements present in a tragedy but it also tends to scorch through other aspects. By including and excluding certain characteristics of a tragedy, William Faulkner has succeeded in composing an original, incredibly human story that integrates a wide range of contrasting and overlapping themes that arouse from highly complex and realistic characters.

The most obvious similarities to tragedy that appear in “Barn Burning” are the constant disclosure of negative emotions. Fear, anxiety, bitterness, uncertainty, revulsion, pity, despair, and submission are all strongly revealed through the characters thoughts, actions, and dialogue; particularly by Sarty, Abner, and Lennie. This emphasis on catharsis binds the story together in a writhing torment of tension between the interrelationships of the characters as well as the overarching ethics addressed and questioned. Hamartia is also present as Faulkner chose to allow Sarty moments in which his state of youthful, blind innocence and obedience causes him to falter in the choices he makes. Faulkner exposes these episodes by magnifying the viewpoint to include Sarty’s direct thoughts; “He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do hit.”

The few streaks of irony that do exist in the story are hard to differentiate from the mysterious and interpretive symbolism that is woven into the plot. This lack of direct, apparent, and informative irony is perhaps the greatest missing element essential for “Barn Burning” to be considered strictly a tragedy.

Typical Tragedy Taking Time to Tell Tales

William Faulkner has created a story in Barn Burning that represents the classical tragedy style of the ancient times. It follows the scheme of evoking fear and then pity, a process called catharsis. You fear Abner while reading the story; he is intimidating, powerful, and dangerous. Faulkner's descriptions as being cold, dark, with iron like qualities feed even more into this fear we feel for him. His actions are uncontrollable, and his power makes him seem like an unstoppable force in this story. We also grow to dislike him because of the fear and because of his immoral actions. But by the end of the story when Abner is shot, the reader is obligated to pity Him, or at least his son. One feels bad for Abner because of how out of hand his life got and how unfortunate it is that he had his extreme resentment towards others. Sarty also gains some pity for he is forced to grow up and a mere age of 10 years old, forcing us to feel bad for his unfortunate family life and his unfair upbringing. He gains this pity from his embodiment of innocence; children always pull at the strings of our hearts. The story makes us think about what his life could have been and the cruelness of it all. ofThe transition from fear into pity in this story represents the classical tragedy quality of Catharsis.

Abner Rex

Every side has a hero. History is written from the perspective of the winners, and a tragedy leaves no winner. Does this mean that there is to be no history either? I would be lead to believe so. William Faulkner sets Abner to parallel the classic tragic hero that lives his life in despair due to a flaw in his humanity. Abner is a hero that would live up to every aspect of a tragic hero other than any form of catharsis. Abner’s has a hubris that cannot be denied. He believes that everything he does is right and that he cannot be wrong because he is white. This egocentric attitude causes him to elevate himself above that of other people and he believes that he should be equal to the aristocrats. This foolish pride simply exacerbates his most prominent fault, which his fiery and uncontrollable rage. There is no build up to a final fall unless you look at it in a different aspect where the buildup is to a final area where everything is to be settled. In the end the audience gets no catharsis in the form of Abner having retribution; however the final scene gives a sense of hope that Sartoris will be able to begin life anew.

If you were to adhere strictly the the traditional sense of the term Tragic Hero, then Abner does not fit other than having foolish pride and a fatal flaw. However, you can connect with this man. There has been a point in everyone’s life where they feel the need to level the playing field for them or even for their family so that they may live a better life.

Of All Tragedy

From the court case to the inevitable ending, Faulkner presents the reader with a sense of tragedy and a moral that ultimately prevails in encompassing the story and all it entails. Abner is representative of a man with a weakness - ultimately suffering from a wound to his heel from a bullet wound he received during the Civil War from a Confederate soldier. Likewise to Abner, Achilles from Homer's Iliad also suffered from a single weakness that presided in his heel that ultimately gave him human weakness beyond the exterior of robotic perfection. Abner is described as mechanic and like a piece of moving tin with sharp edges and his stiff limp from his wound is a reminder of the humanity that presides within him, a weakness that many originally could not see in him until closely examined. His humanity is seen in his methods of handling himself and the situations around him, particularly when it comes to expressing his absolute disdain towards those of "higher authority" than he.

The procession of tragedy is seen through Sartoris whom is conflictive on how he views his father and the mindset of his own independence that is blooming. Fate is something predictable for the Snopes family as Abner is frequent at burning barns and causing them to move to an entirely new location for survival. The final burning is significant to the launch of Sartoris into his own newfound freedom that is met with great hesitation but at the point his fate is met he can no longer do anything to change the path he has taken for himself.

Barn Burning Response: Part Deux.

Faulkner's allusions to Abner being a tragic figure are not one hundred percent obvious in the first reading of "Barn Burning." Though it takes the reader more than a quick glance to make the connections, the connections are still present in the text. The most prominent one, after a few read-throughs, is the fact that Abner was shot in the heel when he was stealing horses. This ties into the story of Achilles, whose only weak spot was his heel. There are more connections between Abner and Achilles than just the location of their only injury. Abner was stealing horses from whom the reader can only assume to be the more upper-class, land-owning members of society. Achilles had stolen (figuratively) the wife of a neighboring kingdom's king. Both were shot--Achilles by arrow, Abner by bullet--in their attempts to get out clean from the situation.

Abner is not only a tragic figure, but the whole premise of "Barn Burning" follows several elements of the tragic format of Greek playwrights. The element that stands out the most is that Abner continually makes the mistake of burning the barns, which causes his family to leave town and start over completely new someplace else, but he never seems to learn anything from his pyromaniac tendencies. This could be explained by saying that he enjoys burning barns and uprooting his family month after month, or it could be that he is continually falling into a trap set by fate. Some smart historian-type man somewhere in the world once said, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Abner does not learn from his past, thus plunging him into a cycle of burning and relocating that could seem to be set down by the Fates themselves.

-Sarah Meirose

I'm Sick of this Tragedy

William Faulkner’s Barn Burning is constructed to be a classic tragedy from the very beginning, to its bitter end. The author presents a pressing issue as the opening scene of his story, which is common in all tragedies. Faulkner chooses a court hearing in which Abner Snopes is on trial for having possibly set fire to another man’s barn. During this trial Abner’s son, Sarty, is called forward to testify. This situation establishes the struggle of each character throughout the rest of the story. When the judge announces, “This case is closed. I can’t find against you, Snopes... Leave this country and don’t come back…” he is giving the Snope family their life sentence, a life of instability under the oppression of society and that of their own father, Abner.
Throughout the story Sarty will search for peace and happiness which he sees in other families but never in his own; a characteristic he will never find within the context of the story as long as he is with his family. Beyond all the wrong-doings of his father, Sarty is a tragic character; one which is ignorantly hopeful for something positive to happen within his family. He is also obligated to remain “loyal to the family” has he recollects, “he aims for me to lie… and I will have to do hit.” The fact that this degrading lifestyle is not reconciled during the course of the story makes it a tragedy.
Finally, Faulkner closes the story without discarding any of the original problems except one; Sarty is freed from the tyranny of his own father. “With his back turned” he leaves the life of manipulation and self-oppression behind. However, the sorrow in his life still remains and does not subside during the course of the tragedy.

It's like Sophie's choice...

Faulkner’s use of a sophisticated diction found in Barn Burning helps create a glimpse
behind the reasoning of many choices that Abner and his son Sarty make
throughout the story. Sarty, the main character, is faced with a difficult
choice of whether or not to remain loyal to his family or be true to
himself/right path. This is heavily
presented in the opening scene where Sarty is faced with following the rule of the
law or following his father’s idea of what is right after the Barn Burnings. However,
through the choice of diction used in the story, Faulkner is able to highlight
many important factors that are key in the reasoning behind Abner’s intense pressure
on Sarty. One can infer that with Abner’s apparent diction, which includes broken
or choppy syntactic schemes, yet brutally realistic comments, Abner grew up in
the south with little education, therefore most likely not given the tools
needed to think independently and develop his own ideas. The symbolism of
education and the fact that Abner fought in the civil war and is now a poor
sharecropper, who was treated like a slave by upper-class landowners, engraved moral
values in Abner of hard work, a strong dislike for a system of financial
classes, and the law . This poses a challenge when Abner continues to carry
down these same morals through his children and attempts to create the loyalty
that he had to his parents with his son Sarty. Sarty initially suffers from
being a puppet to his father’s image of who he should be. However, in the
latter half of the story, Sarty is able to dismiss these ideas and begins to
find himself, while trying not to be “…pulled two ways like between two teams
of horses…” (258). Faulkner cleverly uses diction and symoblism as key elements in understanding
the logic of Abner's decision making.

Barn Burning Tragedy

Abner comes across as a bad guy for the most part, not really as a hero, but it is hard to tell because he does have somewhat of a tragic life. Abner may burn barns for the satisfaction, but maybe it is so much more than that. Perhaps he is getting revenge on certain people that have badly effected him, and in return it is causing him to be a madman and abuse his family. He is terrible towards his family, one son in particular, Sartoris. Sartoris does what his father tells him and knows that what he is helping him do is wrong, which is tragic. I do not consider Abner a hero because I believe that he is a selfish man who does not care for his family and always gets them in trouble. That in itself is a tragedy.

Faulkner has indeed written a tragedy. Abner was an abusive father, tormenting citizen, and in the end was shot and killed right in front of his own son. "...He heard the shot and, an instant later, two shots, pausing now without knowing he had ceased to run, crying "Pap! Pap!"..." (Pg. 262). Throughout the story, it is hard to feel sorry for Abner since one would think he is the stupid one ruining his own life, but then again, he is also ruining his family's life and being cruel to them. I don't understand the morals behind his actions, but the ending was enough to make this story tragic. He died and his son was there, that is all there is to it.

- Megan Burch

Oh! The tragedy!

“Barn Burning” is a short story that incorporated many scenes which promote tragedy as the central work of this story. Throughout the story, tragedy is the dominant element that surfaces in most scenes due to the incorporation of sadness, death, oppression and some sort of abuse.

From the very beginning, Faulkner establishes the grim feeling of poverty as the narrator describes how Sarty “smelled the cheese” and mentions how “his intestines” were grumbling due to the smell of food. This exemplifies tragedy due to the representation of the oppressed life that Sarty’s family was experiencing at that time. The poverty of their family establishes the tragic mood for the story as things only get worse from there. It almost feels like the issues for the family take place in a snowballing pattern (one major element of tragic stories). The story starts of with the court case for arson against Abner. After that scene, the family’s life gets worse and worse as they move out of the town and experience more issues raised by Abner.

The story ends with the implied death of Abner. Once again, the tragedy is established with the death of Abner which leads to the destruction of the Snopes family as Sarty runs away and the other family members are left to fend for themselves. Other forms of tragedy that Faulkner incorporates are plentiful throughout this story, ranging from the abuse and manipulation of Sarty to the flashback of how Abner obtained his stiff leg. Thus, one can see how Faulkner has made use of the elements of tragedy in almost every aspect of the story. It is clear that the plot was created by Faulkner with tragedy in his mind in order to fully represent and relay the lives of these characters to the readers.

Katie "Barn Burning" numero dos

Katie Philpott

Barn Burning
Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning,” can easily be characterized as a tragedy. The author’ description of poverty and hopelessness can obviously be categorized as “serious subjects,” and the story “involves persons of significance.” Sarty’s journey as the protagonist pulls at the audience’s heartstrings as he endeavors to stay true to both himself and his family. Towards the end he experiences a revelation concerning his duties as a member of the family and this allows his honorable traits to show through. The unfortunate ending and the death of Abner serve to further categorize this work as a tragedy.
While there are certain similarities between famous tragic heroes and Abner, there fails to be enough convincing evidence in order to characterize Abner as a hero. The most compelling likeness between Abner and a hero is the infamous heel shot. The fact that “a musket ball had taken him in the back of the heel,” accounts for his pronounced limp. The famous Greek Achilles is a famous hero whose death was declared after an arrow pierced his heel. Achilles physically died after being shot in the heel, whereas Abner only symbolically died, due to the unfortunate turn his life took after his incident. Other tragic heroes are often oppressed during their lives. Abner’s poverty and status as a sharecropper are obvious forms of oppression. Yet the defining feature between other famous heroes and Abner is that they at least attempt to overcome their difficulties through honorable means. The hero often sacrifices something near and dear to them in order to protect those they love. Abner is the complete opposite. Instead of trying to dutifully provide for his family, he abandons them and seeks personal revenge against his employers. His unkind treatment of his family and the fact that he “strikes him,” (Sarty) serves to characterize him not as a hero, but a villain.
All the elements necessary to categorize “Barn Burning” as a tragedy are present. Even though there are certain aspects of the story which may hint at Abner’s status as a hero, his harsh treatment of his family and the pride he takes with him to his grave serve to categorize him not as a hero, but rather as a villain.

Chris' Post

In this story, William Faulkner portrays Abner Snopes as the antagonist for his cruel treatment of his son, Sarty, and his drive to burn his ememies' barns. Faulkner depicts Abner as a violent man who only cares about his own desires and is not afraid to destroy the possessions of those who he thinks get in his way. This often results in him burning the barns of the men who he sharecrops with. The fires that Abner sets contrast with his personality which is emotionless, and cold. His son Sarty unvoluntarily gets involved in his father's burnings and is then asked to testify in court. Abner hits Sarty "with the fat of his hand" because he thinks that Sarty will testify against him. Fortunately, Abner ends up getting shot and killed by his enemies, allowing Sarty to be set free from the violence that surrounded his life.

Adam's Post

It's like Sophie's choice...

Faulkner’s use of a sophisticated diction found in Barn Burning helps create a glimpse behind the reasoning of many choices that Abner and his son Sarty make throughout the story. Sarty, the main character, is faced with a difficult choice of whether or not to remain loyal to his family or be true to himself/right path.  This is heavily presented in the opening scene where Sarty is faced with following the rule of the law or following his father’s idea of what is right after the Barn Burnings. However, through the choice of diction used in the story, Faulkner is able to highlight many important factors that are key in the reasoning behind Abner’s intense pressure on Sarty. One can infer that with Abner’s apparent diction, which includes broken or choppy syntactic schemes, yet brutally realistic comments, Abner grew up in the south with little education, therefore most likely not given the tools needed to think independently and develop his own ideas. The symbolism of education and the fact that Abner fought in the civil war and is now a poor sharecropper, who was treated like a slave by upper-class landowners, engraved moral values in Abner of hard work, a strong dislike for a system of financial classes, and the law . This poses a challenge when Abner continues to carry down these same morals through his children and attempts to create the loyalty that he had to his parents with his son Sarty. Sarty initially suffers from being a puppet to his father’s image of who he should be. However, in the latter half of the story, Sarty is able to dismiss these ideas and begins to find himself, while trying not to be “…pulled two ways like between two teams of horses…” (258). Faulkner cleverly uses diction as a key element in understanding the logic and background of Abner.

Casey's Post

Throughout the story, Abner shows great hostility towards both his son and his wife. The reader is never exactly told why Abner burned the barn, but it can be concluded that he did so in an act of aggression, being that he is always used to do doing what his wife requires of him. Throughout the story, Faulkner describes Abner’s characteristics and features by using imagery. He is described to have large claws and aggressive attitudes. Revealed to us is the fact that Abner in fact likes fire and the destruction that it causes, just as other men enjoy steel and the power they can have with the uses of steel. It can be assumed that fire makes Abner feel that he has power and control over others. The diction used in the story helps to better portray Abner and his relations with his large family, particularly his wife and son who is most like him, Sartoris. During the story, Abner’s wife is trying to stop him from doing the wrong things by encouraging him to make better decisions, but Abner always treats her with disrespect and hostility, while he encourages Sartoris to continue to do what his family believes to be best for him.

Barn Burning Response

In the short story “Barn Burning,” Faulkner uses a plethora of images and symbols such as fire, tine, poverty, and a soiled rug to characterize Abner.
Throught the story Faulkner describes Abner as methodical. He is never hurried, even when setting expensive barns on fire. This unhurried approach coupled with the fact that Sarty uses the word tin to describe Abner’s smile several times gives the reader the comparison between Abner and a tin machine. This methodical characterization of Abner contrasts sharply with the danger and unpredictability of the fire he employs.
Fire symbolizes Abner’s innate desire to control the lives of his superiors. The use of fire shows how destructive and malevolent Abner can be. This contrasts sharply with his seemingly relaxed and controllable manner at most other times when he is described as calculating and methodical. Such contrasting images serve to highlight the fact that it is only when Abner is burning barns that he feels completely free. Therefore sire also symbolizes liberation- the only way Abner is capable of symbolically freeing himself from the chains of poverty.
In “Barn Burning,” poverty symbolizes ignorance. Abner is ignorant to the needs and wants of his family as well as the means and desire to improve his lot in life. Instead of actively attempting to escape poverty through honest and decent hard work, he seeks his adrenaline rush through burning his boss’s barn. Besides the fact that Abner is a bitter, horrible old man who seeks to harm others just because they are better off than he is, he also does it because he feels it defines him.
The use of such images and symbols serve to highlight Abner as a heartless, unpredictable old man who seeks yo escape poverty through the use of fire.

Still up at three

Abner Snopes is the patriarchal figure of the Snopes family in the short story Barn Burning by William Faulkner. Abner is an influential, towering presence in his son Sartoris’s eyes, but he himself is simply a seemingly primitive, thoughtless force of violence and destruction. Now throughout the story Faulkner characterizes Abner with metallic terms describing him as “iron like” and “cut from tin” to underscore his complete lack of humanity and comprised sense of ethics. Faulkner also uses fire a symbol to allow us to explore the warped mind of Abner Snopes. Faulkner portrays Abner and the Snopes family as victims of a society that has unrightfully robbed them of all their power and voice. And Abner forces that power away from the tyrannical landowners who for all intents and purposes own him and his family, and back into his hand with the pernicious majesty of flame. But on the other hand fire is also used to demonstrate how Abner is completely incapable of caring for his family. This aspect of his personality is portrayed by when he makes the small fire in an attempt to provide his family with essential warmth. This shows that Abner is complelty incapable of making a fire for any reason other than expressing his abhorrence toward a society, which consummately juxtaposes his pyromaniacal nature. The final element that Falkner uses to define Abner is with his leg, which was shot in the Civil War when he was stealing Confederate horses for profit, sags lamely behind him, and is an external manifestation of his twisted logic. With this tiny bit of symbolism Faulkner perfectly uses Abner’s physical presence to reflect the inner corruption and infatuation with revenge that he embodies.

"The Burning of Barns"; an Abner Snopes Story

Abner Snopes is indeed the character that stands out from all of the rest in this short narrative by William Faulkner by his personality and attitude towards the world. With Abner being a poor white tenant farmer in the south, he feels like he is being oppressed and taken advantage of just like the former black slaves. With Abner, a veteran of the Civil war, being on the same poor level as former slaves just barely getting by and hardly able to provide for his family, he flips to the dark side and "ignites" a social class war between the rich and poor.

Abner is undoubtedly a terrifying and mysterious figure in the story, and if it wasn't for Sarty's (Abner's son)thoughts to the reader he would just be a one-dimensional bad guy who just gets mad, burns stuff, then gets killed. Sarty even go's far enough to call his father "brave" for doing what he does, for doing what he feels right despite all of the odds of getting caught, and risks of what type of consequences he might encounter. Sarty even helps Abner's true personality come out by accompanying him in burning barns of the upper class. Abner may seem flat and without personality throughout the story, but under the tough outer shell there is a fiery passion for revenge on all of the people around him that make him feel inadequate, pathetic, and useless to society, and most importantly, his family.

But for a ruthless man who controls his family with physical and psychological violence, and makes them accomplices in his favorite pastime: burning barns, he is definitely not brave, just uncontrollably mad at the rest of the world for having it better than him.

Abner: Sociopath/Pyromaniac. Bad Combo.

The mysterious aura that surrounds Abner’s character in “Barn Burning” saturates the entire story in gloomy abstruseness. His motives, his actions, and even his exact visage are never fully explained by William Faulkner. Instead, he chose to leave a subtle trail of clues for the reader to interpret as they see fit.

Abner is introduced in an indirect manner from the very beginning of the story From Sarty’s position in the room, he can barely see his father, who does not even turn to acknowledge the presence of his son, sitting “stiff in his black Sunday coat”. This moment immediately establishes the nature of Abner; cold, dark, and difficult to read. The pattern of only ever depicting Abner with vague, indistinct, shadowy details continues throughout the story. The most powerful examples of such influential imagery comes when Sarty is following his father during the night, knowing that he will be unfairly punished. The lack of light gives Abner a ghoulish, deathly quality “without face or depth-a shape black, flat, and bloodless.” Faulkner reinforces the steel brutality and immorality Abner exhibits by using various descriptions of him as being “cut from tin” and “clocklike.” The combination of hollowness and metallic bitterness rivet Abner together to form a baneful, ominous, machine of a man; a vengeful, calculating sociopath.

Such ruthless, dangerous characteristics are reasons for concern and interest for the reader. They are placed into the position of a criminal detective, to search through the text to reach an understanding of Abner. Only a deeply rooted grudge could grow such animosity in a person.