Barn Burning by William Faulkner - Essay Example

Introduction The short story ‘Barn Burning’, written by William Faulkner, is a story that throws a light on the concept of psychological slavery in human beings. Through the characters of the story, Faulkner has described how human beings become a victim of slavery even when they have a choice of living a free and happy life. Faulkner has used the plot, and the interactions between the characters, to explain the concept of mental and emotional slavery in man. However, what strikes most in Faulkner’s story is the use of symbolism. Through different symbols in the story, the author has described the internal conflict that a human being experiences before he succeeds in getting freedom. Hence, it is a story of spirit of freedom in human beings. In the short story, Faulkner has also explained how slavery is not just situational in nature, but also psychological. The author has made an excellent use of symbolism to explain the nature of freedom in people’s lives. According to Faulkner, the strongest obstacles in achieving freedom in life is not the external circumstances, but the internal demons of emotional and psychological attachment to destructive and negative people in life, and hence, the only way for human beings to get freedom in life is to win over the internal demons, because they are more dangerous than the external circumstances of slavery. Symbolism The story ‘Barn Burning’ is an excellent work by William Faulkner, where he has used symbolism to explain the purpose of his story. Symbolism is a method of describing the essence of a story ‘indirectly’ through objects, events and actions of the characters in the story. In case of the short story ‘Barn Burning’, the author William Faulkner has used interesting symbols to describe the conflict, spirit of freedom, rebellion, and courage in human beings. Right from the first paragraph of the story, the readers sense the use of symbols in the story. The author has used symbolism not only through objects but also through the actions of the characters. The symbols that he has used are blood, Sartoris’s actions and peculiar behavior patterns of characters in the story. Blood Right from the beginning of the story, the author grips the attention of the reader by introducing him to the complex idea of smell and its associations in life. Human beings have a tendency of developing mental associations with things related to sensory objects. For example, if a person listens to a song that was his favorite in the childhood, then the memories of childhood floods to his mind and he relives the good and bad experiences associated with that song. Faulkner has used the ‘sense of smell’ as a symbol of conflict in the mind of Sartoris Snopes, a ten year old protagonist of the story. The story begins with the description of the court proceedings against Sartoris’s father, who is accused of burning the barn of his owner. The proceedings take place in a store where the tins of cheese are kept. The boy is shown going through an internal conflict through the sensation of smells. Sarty (Sartoris) is found torn between the smell of cheese and the smell of ‘blood’. Sarty is sure that he smelt cheese even though he is unable to read the letters on the tin cans. The smell is pleasant and he likes it. However, he is unable to enjoy the smell of cheese as it is polluted with the smell of ‘blood’. Here, the author has used ‘blood’ as symbol of ‘loyalty and duty towards the family’. The smell of blood is not ‘real’ but is a psychological symbol of ‘family’. Interestingly, the smell of blood that Sarty senses is also joined by the sense of fear. It reminds Sarty of the despair and grief that he has experienced. Sadly, the smell of cheese that he senses is momentary and comes intermittently. However, the smell of blood is permanent and consistent in his mind. The words ‘fierce pull of blood’ shows that Sarty is somehow being forced to be loyal to his family, and particularly, towards his father. The word ‘fierce’ describes the negative and wild nature of ‘blood’, which is the symbol of his family. It shows that his father, who is the main member of the family, is not a good man and represents ‘fear’, ‘despair’ and ‘grief’ in Sarty’s life. Hence, the ‘smell of cheese’ which is very momentary and pleasant, symbolizes freedom from his father. The ‘smell of blood’, which is permanent and consistent, symbolizes the agony of living with his father and showing loyalty to the family. The sensation of smell symbolizes the conflict in Sarty’s heart, between the desire for freedom from abusive father, and the pain of living a life of fear and grief under him. In this way, with the aid of symbolism, Faulkner grips the attention of the reader right from the beginning. Sartoris’s actions The quality of courage and rebellion in Sarty is evident in many of his actions and thoughts. Right in the beginning of the story, the reader gets the idea of his courage to do what he feels right, despite of the fear of his father. When Sarty is asked to testify about the barn burning incident, he is shown being ready to tell the truth that his father has burnt the barn, even in presence of his father. However, he is stopped by the barn owner Mr. Harris from testifying. Later, Sarty shows courage when he fights the boys outside the court who calls him ‘barn burner’. Sarty’s action shows that he is ready to fight people if they do or say something against his family. At the same time, it also shows an intensity of conflict in him as inside the court Sarty was ready to testify against his father but outside the court, he picks up a bitter fight against boys who tease him and his father. Even after being beaten badly by the boys, who are twice his size, he tries to fight with them forgetting all the pain and hurt in his body. This shows that he loves his father and cannot stand anyone calling him bad. Sarty gets hurt and bleeds badly from the fight. However, when his mother tries to wipe the blood off his face, he refuses to let her touch him and asks her to leave him alone. He says that he will clean it in the night. This action shows that he has accepted the grief and pain in his life and is not afraid of it anymore. The ‘blood’ symbolizes the ‘fear’ and ‘despair’ in Sarty’s life and his refusal to wipe it off after the court incidence marks the death of the ‘fear’ and the birth of courage in his life. With the ability to bear the feeling of blood on his face, he develops the ability to fight the fear of his father in his mind. The reader comes to know about the development of his courage later in the story when his father tries to burn the owner’s barn. Sarty shows courage to run to Major de Spain and tell him that his father is intending to burn his barn. In the past, Sarty did not have courage to go against his father even though he hated his wrong actions and his sadistic behavior. Hence, Sarty’s action of being ready to testify against his father, fighting with boys, refusal of wiping the blood from the face and warning Major de Spain, symbolizes the birth of courage and rebellion in his nature. This courage not only helps him to free himself from his sadistic father, but also helps him to run away from the psychological slavery running in his family. Peculiar Behavior of Mother The story reveals an interesting aspect about the Snopes family through Sarty’s mother’s action when Sarty tries to run to Major de Spain to warn him of his father’s intention of burning his barn. Sarty’s mother tries to stop him from going to Major de Spain. Instead of resisting her husband and stopping him from burning another barn, she does everything that her husband asks her to do as if she does not have any will or life of her own. When her sister asks her to let Sarty go, she tells her in despair that she cannot do that. Moreover, when Sarty succeeds in freeing himself from her clutches, she screams at him and asks her sister to catch him. Her actions show an odd behavior in face of the terrible situation where she could see that her husband is going to commit a crime again and they will be forced to be homeless. Sarty’s mother’s behavior symbolizes the ‘learned helplessness’ and lack of desire to free herself and her children from the torturous life given by her husband. It also shows that her selfish desire to save her husband from getting caught provokes her to stop her children from going on the path of truth, justice and freedom. This is evident from the fact that Sarty’s elder brother also picks up his father’s ways and grows up to be careless and heartless person. Her behavior shows that she wants her children to suffer the torture with her and hence, when they try to move towards freedom, she stops them. Hence, her attempt of stopping Sarty from going to Major de Spain’s house symbolizes her emotional and psychological slavery to her husband. Conclusion The message of the short story ‘Barn Burning’, by William Faulkner, is that human beings have to make powerful efforts to free themselves from the slavery. Freedom is a luxury of only those people who are ready to take responsibility of their own lives and become emotionally and psychologically free from the burden that has been put on their shoulders by the family and the society. In the short story, Sarty frees himself from the emotional and psychological slavery to his family and finally, finds freedom in life through courage, truthfulness and strong desire. Work Cited Faulkner, William. Barn Burning. n.d. Web. 9th April, 2011. Read More