Review of "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner

Sarty Snopes has some tough decisions to make for just being a child. He is faced with the choice of standing up for his immoral father or standing up for what he knows and believes to be right. Sarty’s father, Abner, has a terrible way to get revenge on those that have life better than he does. He burns down their barns. Abner does not own his own land. He works the land of others and must share his crops. It appears that he attempts to get himself into situations where he feels like revenge is necessary. For example, Abner barges into de Spain’s home with his nasty boots even after the house person requests he wipe his feet. When de Spain brings the rug for him to clean, he suddenly feels like he has grounds for revenge. To me, it seems totally opposite, that de Spain should be looking for revenge. I really have a problem with people such as Abner. No one owes him anything. Life for him is what it is. It’s possible that he could eventually move up the societal ladder, very slowly if at all but he needs to grasp reality. He is not a land owner, he is at the bottom of society, and there is absolutely no reason he needs to be setting peoples barns on fire. As far as the reader can tell, de Spain has done nothing to Abner.



I compared this story to current day society in some aspects. Abner felt like the higher society people owed him something. Some of these people were born into their lifestyles while others worked their way up. I kept thinking of the Earned Income Credit that the government offers low-income taxpayers. Abner would have loved this; redistribution of wealth. Put the wealthy, many who have worked their entire life for what they have, in a higher tax bracket and give it to the poor. To me this doesn’t completely make sense. I understand helping people out but there are so many people who are like Abner and feel that society owes them something. He had a house, food, family, and a farm, although not his, it sustained him and his family. If he were a nicer man, he could have had more. Perhaps the landowners would have hired him for odd jobs. Eventually he could have saved up and bought his own small piece of land. Abner could have stayed in one location and not had to have run away every time his temper got out of control.


The ending of “Barn Burning” is so tragic. My heart ached for Sarty. He was attempting to do the right thing and got his father and brother killed. That’s a tough decision for a child and he will be questioning it forever. Perhaps he will have a huge struggle with what is right and wrong in the future.


Overall, this was an interesting read. It gives the reader a lot to think about.