"Barn Burning" Literary Analysis

Barn Burning, by William Faulkner, describes a boy whom comes from an abusive father and the post Civil War time era. Knowing this information, we can predict that this boy, Sarty probably doesn't enjoy his life and suffers. The conflict inc;uded in the story is that Sarty's father burned someones rug and for that reason Sarty and his family have been deported. Saty's father bosses around Sarty as if he were a slave. Mr.Snopes, also known as Sarty's father, not only abuses Sarty but abuses Sarty's mother as well.

Though, Sarty was hurt and bleeding, Mr.Snopes continued to be demanding and careless. "Get back in the wagon." (Faulkner, 2). He tends to be arrogant and demanding often times, " Get out of my way nigger." (Faulkner, 5). He displays arrogance when talking to "niggers" or perhaps even his own son! Its sad that his own son probably cannot even say something decently "nice" about his own father.

"The constellations wheeled on." (Faulkner, 10). This statement describes his freeness. this is predicted because, stars are described as free. When we see stars in the sky, we wish we were as free as they were. This has connection with the story because, once Sarty ran away from his home, he didn't know what to do. But his feelings were so tangled that in a way he began to feel free.