“Barn burning” begins with the main character, Sarty Snopes, sitting in a courtroom where his Father, Abner Snopes, is being charged with burning down Mr. Harris’ barn. Sarty peers at the jury and automatically feels disgust for them as they are in opposition of his Father. Then Faulkner flashes back to the event in question, where Mr. Harris had warned Abner Snopes to keep his hog out of his crops or he would have to pay. Mr. Harris goes to the extent of giving Abner enough wire to pen the hog up, but the hog does indeed find his way into the Harris farm again and Mr. Harris becomes furious and threatens Abner Snopes with a dollar “pound fee” (Peers). Abner takes this as an insult and fires back with a comment that would become relevant in the trial. He says, “wood and hay kin burn” (Peers), which implies that Mr. Harris’ barn can burn with ease. After the barn is indeed burned to the ground, this comment would be the only evidence against Abner Snopes during the trial. The comment becomes insufficient evidence and Abner Snopes is found innocent. The Judge did, however, banish Abner Snopes from the county for life.
The Judge calls Sarty to the stand to testify against his Father and before he can do so, the Judge dismisses him form the courtroom. Although Sarty respects his Father, he struggles with his own conscience throughout the story. There are instances when Sarty thinks his Father is wrong and other instances in which he remains loyal to him. Shortly after Sarty exits the courtroom, he overhears some kids outside making fun of his Father and calling him a “barn burner” (Peers). Even though Sarty may not think it was the best decision for his Father to burn the barn down, he still defended him with all his might. He started a fight with the other boys and was beat up in the process. Abner Snopes, who was injured during the Civil War and now walks with a limp, is portrayed as a crude and weasel-like man who starts fires to keep his integrity intact. The illusion that he loyally served his country (as Sarty believes) stands as a foundation for respect from Sarty towards his Father. Faulkner later explains that Abner was injured while trying to steal his own band’s horses and that the only reason he joined the army was to gain opportunity to steal goods.
After the Snopes leave the courtroom, Abner tells his family to pack up and move to a different farm in a different county, in which he had already planned. When the Snopes gets to the campsite where they will live, Abner tells Sarty that he would like to take a walk with him. During this walk, Abner tries to reconcile the loyalty from his son by constituting the importance of family and blood loyalty. In the midst of this conversation, Abner remembers that Sarty was going to tell the Judge the truth in the courtroom and proceeds to slap him. Sarty then realizes that rebelling against Abner will not do him any good.
The new farm that the Snopes would be working belonged to a man named, Major de Spain. Major de Spain is very wealthy and has a “courthouse” (Peers) sized home that Sarty admires. Abner notices this admiration and becomes angry and somewhat jealous. In his anger, Abner walks towards the home and purposely steps in a pile of horse dung along the way. When he gets to the door, the butler (who is African-American and inferior in this time) tells him that he cannot enter. Mrs. De Spain then tells him to get out and this maddens him more to which he proceeds inside and wipes his messy shoes on a nice, white rug, smearing the dung into it. Later that day, Major de Spain hears of the event and takes the rug back to Abner and orders him to clean it and return it to the house good as new. Of course, Abner takes offense to the order and ultimately ruins the rug while cleaning it.
The next day, after Abner returned the ruined rug to the house, Major de Spain returns to tell Abner that he owes him 20 bushels of corn for ruining the rug. Abner soon files a complaint and takes Major de Spain in front of the Justice of Peace to complain that the 20 bushel fine was too harsh. The Judge rules in his favor and cuts the fine in half to 10 bushels, which Abner and Sarty still think is too harsh. This ruling infuriates Abner and later that evening, he starts toward the house to burn down, yet another barn. Abner tells Sarty to get more oil and he refuses. When Abner leaves, he tells the Mother to hold Sarty down for he knows Sarty will warn Major de Spain about the burning that would take place. After he leaves, Sarty gets away from his Mother and runs to the house to warn them. Running in the house Snarty yells out, “Barn! Barn!” (Peers) Major de Spain almost runs over Sarty with his horse on the way to the barn. Sarty then hears some gunfire and cries out for his “Pap” (Peers), to which he hears no response. Afterwards, Sarty reflects on the experience and soon falls asleep. Upon awakening, he realizes that he is a just person and he must start anew on his own. He leaves his family and walks down the road into the darkness.
“Barn burning” is the tale of the growth of an impressionable boy into a good and just man. The importance of family values is instilled into Sarty from birth, even though these values were wrong and ignorant, he finally realizes that justice and good must prevail, no matter what the cost may be. Faulkner reassures hope to the audience by delivering a tale of a child that is bred into ignorance and crime, but finds his heart strong enough to break the chains of injustice that his Father had shackled him with and emerge from despair and immorality into a good and just man. Faulkner leaves the decision to be good solely in the heart of the individual and, at all costs, portrays that justice, truth, and good live within all of us if we only believe in their importance enough to shed the restraints that hold us back from obtaining them.
This story is a wonderful tale of growth and the battles between a person and their conscience during the growth. I think that if Faulkner were a modern writer and this a contemporary story, despite its quality, it would not be as renowned for excellence as it is for being a classic work. I think that a lot of people could gain a great, outside perspective on the conscience and how it should work. People need to realize that great decisions are made only after the right amount of thought. This story could also relate heavily to the world as it is today; with as much terrorism and turmoil that we face daily, there is still much hope for the collective conscience of our world.
