A Story of William Faulkner; The "Barn Burning"

The boy's struggle to reconcile his father's views with the more than than civilized kioskards of their neighbors is contrasted with his father's strong belief in his own wilfully independent way of doing things and with the passivity of former(a) members of the family. The shabby possessions of the family and their short- spankingd lifestyle reflect their uncertain social status, while the landlord's admit has a peace and stability emblematic of a more settled way of life.

Since the story is told from the boy's point of view, one knows from the in truth beginning that thoughts of his father bring him unhappiness. His father has been brought before a Justice of Peace's court, where he is being charged with barn burning. With "desperation and grief," the boy feels the "old fierce pull of blood" (Faulkner 3). He is still trying at this point, however, to remain loyal and compliant to his father. A thought that his father faces his enemy is transformed by the boy:

('our enemy' he thought, in that despair; 'ourn! mine and hisn both! He's my father!') (Faulkner 3)

In addition, he is prepared to lie to nurse his father in court if necessary.

As the boy reacts to sequent fifty-fiftyts, however, factors that favor his eventual break with his father become increasingly apparent. The boy regards his father as a man who possesses " wolflike independence," "courage," and a "ferocious conviction in the rightnes

Lennie's decisive actions at the end of the story stand out in sharp contrast with the detachment and passivity of his brother and sisters, and with the futile protests and actions of his aunt and mother. The lowly state to which the father's actions contribute reduced the family as a whole is signified by details such as the sisters' cheap ribbons and the boy's too slim trousers, as well as by the sisters' anticipation that the nursing home they're moving to probably won't even be fit to live in. The family's position in society is the precarious one of transients: the beach waggon bears a "sorry residue of the dozen and more movings which even the boy could remember" (Faulkner 6). The stove is battered, the beds and chairs broken, and the clock has stopped.

the element of bang spoke to some deep mainspring of his...being...as the one weapon for the economy of integrity, else breath were not worth the breathing, and hence to be regarded with treasure and used with discretion (Faulkner 7, 8).

Faulkner, William. "Barn Burning." Collected Stories of William Faulkner. NY: Random, 1950.

The boy's longing to cogitate in what the house stands for as opposed to his father's anarchic economy of apportion is further evinced when he hopes that the house will deviate his father's behavior. His father immediately proves that he will not be dwarfed, stopped or changed by houses or their inhabitants, by invade the house without leave and ruining the rug.

s of his own actions" (Faulkner 7). These qualities sometimes enable the father to convince strangers that it is to their advantage to associate with him. At closer view, however, the father's sense of self seems to hinge upon the freedom to conduct his own affairs with a minimum of respect for the rights of other persons, including members of his family. He is described as a former thief, who chose to purloin rather than to fight in the last war. In peacetime, when his mercurial hog damages a neighbor's corn, he refuses to mend its
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