In "Barn Burning," the father, Abner Snopes, does indeed burn barns because he has problems within himself, but I think there are more pressures coming from the outside world that lead him to decide to commit the arson. A big reason that Abner feels the need to burn the barn is because of his social status. Being in the binary of WEALTHY/poor spurs on his actions.
While his actions are irrational and over the top, the cause of his actions come from society. More evidence of this is seen when the half-grown boys hiss "Barn burner!" at him. This is very similar to poking a wasps nest with a stick, in the way that the social oppression Abner faces contributes to his frustration, which he bottles up.
I think if he had shown more of how he was feeling then he wouldn't have had such destructive tendencies. He is always calm, cool, and collected, even when physically punishing his family, which is usually an emotion filled act. Maybe if he blew off some steam once in a while, and showed his true colors, he wouldn't let all of his anger out in the act of burning barns.
His actions are a vicious cycle, and every time he burns another barn, his reputation is further smeared, and another barn burning becomes even more likely. While someone breaking this cycle from within is unlikely, I think the cycle could have been broken from outside, by someone like the Justice of the Peace's court, or Major de Spain. The Major could have not pressed the rug issue, or at least let him off with a smaller fine, which wouldn't have pushed him over the edge, and left Sarty with a concrete life, without his father and brother's lives up in the air.
I totally agree with your idea of Mr. Snope's internal struggle of wealth/class. I think he always wanted to be wealthy rather than serve the wealthy and that's why he does these destructive things. However I still feel that even if he were to express his emotions he would still have these desires to burn barns. I think his anger towards a non-equal society made him hate the wealthy out of jealousy and therefore pushed his actions.
ReplyDeleteUntil reading your post, I had not really thought of the barn burning as a reaction to society, but now I totally agree with you. I think that society was really putting a lot of pressure on Sarty's father, so instead of getting his anger out normally, he used burning barns as an outlet. It's almost as if burning barns was how he tried to fight back against society.
ReplyDelete