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.