The symbol in "Barn Burning"

Wiliam Faulkner is making a point on symbolism in the story "Barn Burning". The specific piont he is making is about the symbol (the rug). The symbol in "Barn Burning", written by William Faulkner, is the white rug in Major de Spain's house. The rug symbolizes the wealth of people in that time like de Spain. Snopes stepped in fresh horse droppings and walked to de Spain's house. A black butler answered the door and Snopes said, "Get out of my way, nigger", and walked into the house. Snopes was a sharecropper.

He felt like an unsuperior man in his life because he was a sharecropper, so answered the door like that way to feel superior because the black buttler couldn't do anything. When he was inside he purposely walked all over the house in his messy shoe to dirty up the hundred dollar carpet. Back in the early 1900s people had a hard time trying to get one hunderd dollars, so to use it on a rug meant de Spain was wealthy. A woman said "Will you plaese go away", and Snopes said nothing for a moment then smeared his foot in a circle on the white rug.

Symbolicly Snopes was saying that since wealthy people like de Spain are so rich he should hate them. That ended up having a negative efect. De Spain rolled up the rug, and sent it to Snopes. Snopes washed the rug then rolled it back up and sent it back to de Spain. Then de Spain charged Snopes twenty bushels of the crops he earned from being a sharecropper. That ment that his family would go hungy, so she said to his son, "Go to the barn and get that can of oil we were oiling the wagon with" and burned down de Spain's barn.