A letter to Abner Snopes

Dear previously valued member,

Here at Pyromaniac's Anonymous, we famously accept those of all stars and stripes. However, we have been made privy to a situation that we cannot and will not tolerate. The egregious relapse that Abner Snopes has experienced is dangerous to the victims and to all current members who have been, for lack of a better word, in a tizzy all week. One member, who had made admirable strides in his recovery, was especially excited by the news that he went home and burned several bales of hay. To burn a bale of hay is one thing but twelve barns is grounds for immediate expulsion from our organization. We apologize to for any inconvenience that Mr. Snopes' reckless actions have caused his family but he does still owe us 12 bushels of corn in membership fees.

Gregory Chaffin

Personal Relations Head

Pyromaniac’s Anonymous

Why did Sarty Snitch?

In our discussion of William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" during class today, there was much disagreement over what the main character, Colonel Sartoris Snopes', purpose was for telling Major de Spain that his father was setting out to burn his barn. Quite a few people were in agreement that Sarty's main motive for telling Major de Spain about his father's intentions was so that he could receive the proper punishment for his actions. At first, I believed this to be a reasonable explanation for Sarty's actions, however I was soon dissuaded.

The previous argument would, in my opinion, explain why Sarty chose to reveal Abner’s plan, only if Abner had not received punishments prior to this occasion. At the beginning of the story, Abner is tried in a different county for burning the barn of his previous landlord, Mr. Harris. Even though Mr. Snopes is never proven guilty of this crime, the Snopes family is still forces to leave the county due to his aforementioned actions. Later in the story, Abner is brought before a judge after he ruins Major de Spain’s rug by attempting to wash it with harsh, homemade lye. Abner is deemed guilty and is required to pay 10 bushels of corn of his crop to Major de Spain at the end of his harvest.

From this, we can see that Sarty’s father has been punished many times for his actions, yet has seen no considerable growth in attempting to correct his mistakes. I think that Sarty’s only motive for telling Major de Spain of his father’s intentions was simply because he felt like de Spain did not deserve to have his father enact such unjust means just to get even with him. Although my answer to the question may not be quite as complex as some of the other possibilities, it still serves to fill a gap in the information we are given directly from Faulkner’s short story.

Societal Situations with Mr. Snopes

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.

Barn Burning and Blade Runner

After I read the ending of "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner, I couldn't help but think about the ending of the movie Blade Runner, which we watched in Ms. Kinnan's class sophomore year.

The movie revolved around a man whose job was to identify "replicants" (genetically engineered humans) who are unaware that they are not actually human. At the end of the movie, we are left unsure of whether or not the man is a replicant or a human, suggesting that the character would be the same either way.

In class we were trying to decide whether Sartoris Snopes' father was shot, but to me the answer to that question is irrelevant. By ending the story so ambiguously, I think Faulkner is trying to suggest that by taking action and breaking down the binary between himself and his father, Sartoris would be free from his father's abuse, whether he was dead or alive. Sartoris would be the same either way.

Life Is Full of Binaries, Isn't it?

In the short story "Barn Burning" there are a variety of examples that embody the characteristics of the model that Benjamin discusses. For example, the relationship between Mr. Adner Snopes and his wife is completely of the Freudian model as the father is the Subject and the mother is the object. However, the relationship between Young Colonel Sartoris Snopes and his father is the one complicated because in the very beginning Sartoris does as Freud says and agrees to submit to his father but as the story progresses he realizes the difference between right and wrong and changes the dynamic. This story also makes several judgements regarding the relationship between rich people and poor people. It seems as though Adner has become a serial arsonist is due to the inferiority that he feels especially when he is belittled by his "employers". "Barn Burning" makes many statements regarding class and personal relationships that are also directly discussed in Benjamin's article.

Burn Burning

I found this short story incredibly interesting just because of the actions of the father. He is this power force that almost seems to be unmatched and he feels that he can do whatever he pleases. This is shown when he repeatedly destroys property, from the burns he has burned to the rug that he ruined. Even when he is punished and taken to court because if it, he seems unchanged in his ways and he continues to do what he wants. It makes him an interesting character because he is this ultimate man of the house that demands that he is respected and that his family obeys him. The respect that he receives from Colonel Satoris and most of the rest of his family is almost forced upon them because they are so scared of what he'll do if they don't respect him. He uses fear and dominance as well as his position as the father to gain respect and control from his family.

Who is Colonel Sartoris?

In William Faulkner's Light in August, Joanna Burden names Colonel Sartoris as the killer of her grandfather and brother. This isn't the first time our class has encountered Sartoris. Colonel Sartoris Snopes, the protagonist of "Barn Burning," also by Faulkner, is named for this character. 

The extent of the original Sartoris' role in "Barn Burning" is limited to the justice's remark in the beginning of the story: "I reckon anybody named for Colonel Sartoris in this country can't help but tell the truth, can they?" In Faulkner's other works, notably the novel Sartoris, however, Colonel Sartoris plays a larger role.

I did a little research on Colonel John Sartoris and found out that Faulkner based this character on his grandfather, a Civil War colonel in the Confederate Army. Sartoris is a distinguished, respected Southern man, a reputation that is evident in the justice's words in "Barn Burning." Furthermore, his allegiance with the Confederate South is consistent with his killing of Miss Burden's ancestors, who are implied to be Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction. 

Faulkner's works share a common setting and characters, as Mr. Heidkamp mentioned.  Colonel Sartoris is an example of one of these connections in the two works of Faulkner that our class has read this year. Faulkner uses these shared characters and events to incorporate antebellum Southern society and his own Southern roots into his writing.

Living to Dying - a Coming of Age Story

Media connections seem to be all the rage this week, so I thought I'd throw my two cents in.  I'd like to focus on the story "Barn Burning" in relation to Paul McCartney's song "Live and Let Die".

"Live and Let Die" is what I imagine would be Abner's anthem.  He is all about doing what he wants and letting others take the burn (literally).  One verse of the song goes, "What does it matter to ya, when you've got a job to do you've gotta do it well.  You gotta give the other fella Hell."  Abner's burning impulse is easily compared to this line.  He never questions his impulse to burn; he in fact treats it like something he simply must do, like a job, that involves no choice on his part.  This particular non-choice in his life just happens to involve giving the other guy - usually someone threatening his dominance - a fresh serving of the lake of fire.

What really is disturbing about this parallel is the very beginning of the song.  It opens with the lyrics "When you were young and your heart was an open book you used to say, 'Live and let live.'"  This line establishes a perhaps loving or at least non-sadistic youth.  If the rest of the song is taken as a parallel to Abner's life, then we have to consider the possibility of a more innocent childhood that developed into the burning-impulse which ended his life. Beyond conjecture, however, the one character in the story that for sure fits this description is Abner's son Colonel Sartoris.  Colonel Sartoris wants his father to live his own life and let other people live theirs - live and let live.  But if Abner may have grown up the same way, what does that mean for Colonel Sartoris's life?  It is hard not to suspect the worst.

Family Burning

Perhaps my favorite short story that I've read so far is William Faulkner's Barn Burning, which has some incredibly interesting ideas such as that of family loyalty vs loyalty to the law.  In fact, Faulkner doesn't present it as a conflict so much as a complete binary, where only one is allowed.  You can't really be both completely loyal to your family and the law at the same time.  At any given point in the story, Colonel Sartoris allegiance lies only with one.  For most of the passage, it was his father.

However, despite the fact that he was loyal to his father for much of the passage, the story seems to believe that loyalty to the law is the better of the two options, at least in Sartoris' case.  When he is loyal to his father, he is constantly hung over with feelings of "grief" and "despair", as well as a constant sense of terror because of his dominating father.  When he finally obey's his lawful instincts and turns his father in, he becomes at peace. The final paragraph's imagery suggests that after his father's death, Colonel Sartoris will emerge from the stressful, dark times to some somewhat happier times, as "soon there will be sun".  However, at the same time, as Colonel Sartoris' is leaving in the final few sentences, he is going to the "dark woods".

I think that perhaps the reason the story leaves the ending as both peaceful but a little ominous is because Colonel Sartoris might be destined to repeat the same things his father did, as in be a dominating man prone to mischief and abuse.  That was how he was raised, and even at the end, after his father is shot and killed, he believes that he was a brave man worthy of respect.  Despite the fact that he was able to escape his family's domination, he still fails to see the true evil of it, and therefore it can't be said with certainty that he will be better off.

Faulkner seems to believe that there is no perfect way out of a poor family situation such as Colonel Sartoris, though it seems that he does seem to favor loyalty to the law over blind loyalty to the family because Colonel Sartoris is marginally better off without his family, at least until he takes up the role of his father.

The Cycle Only Continues

Since we were not able to get to it in class, I thought it was important to evaluate the ending of Barn Burning, specifically focusing on how Colonel Sartoris feels regretful about turning his back to his family and specifically his father. At the end, after Snopes has been shot, he reaches the hill and Faulkner writes, "At midnight he was sitting on the crest of a hill. He did not know it was midnight and he did not know how far he had come. But there was no glare behind him now and he sat now, his back toward what he had called home for four days anyhow, his face toward the dark woods which he would enter when breath was strong again, small, shaking steadily in the chill darkness, hugging himself into the remainder of his thin, rotten shirt, the grief and despair now no longer terror and fear but just grief and despair" (Faulkner 157). It is important to notice how Faulkner focuses on describing the setting as dark and gloomy. He describes the time being midnight and how he saw "no glare," it is pitch black, he also describes it as cold. One is led to believe that breaking out of the horrible oppression under his father's domination would be later described as happy. Thinking back to Jessica Benjamin, she says that when someone breaks out of the binary they typically end up not knowing what to do with their new found power and turn into their old oppressor. We see this start to sprout in the last paragraphs.

Faulkner, towards the end, uses pronouns such as "he" and "him" when talking about Colonel Sartoris to show how he in himself is his own self. By using pronouns, it seems as if Sartoris is a whole new person since his disengagement with his father. He separates himself from his father but then defends him and says "he was brave!" (Faulkner 157). This example reinforces Benjamin's statement that after a revolution, the rebels then scramble to find a form of government or power and end up resorting back to the only thing they know, the previous form of power, and thus the cycle only continues.