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Preston Shewell

Professor Karen Holt

E251 Fundamentals of Literary Interpretation

26 February 2014

Burning More than Barns

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” is a lesson in hatred, revenge, and morality. While

such subject matter is far from uncommon in both classic and contemporary literature, this short

literature’s most dynamic and complicated characters, yet it is difficult to say why at first

reading. Much is not said about Ab, though much is implied. The attempt made here is to take a

psychological approach to the story in order to understand (at least in part) his characteristics,

emotions, and possibly even motives. Psychological criticism is an “[effort] to explain the

growth, development, and structure of the human personality” (Dobie 54). Thus, when viewed

from the standpoint of a psychological critic, just by paying special attention to the subtle

implications presented by the narrator, one begins to understand the “what” behind Abner’s

menace, what the narrator reveals about him. The “why” is less evident, though not

unexplainable by the text.

A TROUBLED MAN

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Much of what there is to be learned about Snopes from the story is in the opening, where

he stands at trial, being accused of burning down a man’s barn after the man demands

remuneration for Snopes’ neglect to keep his hogs out of the man’s corn fields. The man’s claim

to monetary reimbursement seems reasonable, as he gave Snopes wire to fix his pig pen, which

was not in any way appreciated, let alone utilized (Faulkner 267). What, then, is the reason for

Snopes’ actions against the man (whose name is Mr. Harris)? He seems to ignore Mr. Harris’s

petitions to pen up his hogs simply to spite him, and arson seems like an extreme overreaction.

else’s expectations.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY

Ted Adkinson’s Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and Cultural

understand Snopes’ attitude and actions. As suggested by the book’s title, Adkinson explores the

idea that what takes place is at least partly influenced by the existence of social and economic

imbalance, toward which a man as independent as Abner Snopes would feel intense resentment.

According to Adkinson, most if not all of what Snopes does is in direct defiance of what he

believes to be a corrupt and unjust class system. Used as an example of this is the “case of

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Snopes vs. De Spain” (198). The author takes note of the fact that this time Abner is the plaintiff,

acting in rebellion against authority and “testing the philosophical principle that justice is blind.”

Adkinson further attempts an explanation for Abner’s obsession with burning barns. He

refers to the portion of the text that says that “the element of fire spoke to some deep mainspring

of [Ab’s] being, as the element of steel or of powder spoke to other men, as the one weapon for

the preservation of integrity” (Faulkner 269). To Abner Snopes, burning down his employers’

barns was not simply an act of vengeance, it was an attempt to create equal ground (Adkinson

get out of his way, “without heat too” (272). Snopes does a number of things “without heat,”

leaving one to wonder how someone so obsessed with fire is capable of doing anything “without

heat.” This seeming contradiction speaks volumes about the character of Abner Snopes. He is

someone so acquainted with adversity and inequality, consumed for so long by bitter memories

of his past as a renegade in the Civil War, that every instance of harsh mistreatment and every

act of vengeance comes as the almost involuntary reaction of someone accustomed to acting in

such a way; and the careful reader can almost sympathize with him and his plight. Almost.

CONCLUSION

Snopes consistently acts upon misguided ideals which he honestly believes are correct:

“There was something about his wolflike independence and even courage…which impressed

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strangers, as if they got from his latent ravening ferocity…a feeling that his ferocious conviction

in the rightness of his own actions would be of advantage to all whose interest lay with his”

(269). This single sentence is the most clearly defining statement of Snopes’ nature given in the

text itself. The narrator proves to be very informative in his subtle revealing of the character. The

concept that someone so wrong can think that he is so right is something that has fascinated

psychological critics for a very long time. Snopes appeals to students of psychological criticism

because he does not make sense to the vast majority of those who read “Barn Burning.” Rather,

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Works Cited

Atkinson, Ted. Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and Cultural Politics.

Athens: U of Georgia P, 2006. 194-217. Print.

Dobie, Ann. Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism. 3rd ed. Boston:

Wadsworth, 2012. Print.

Faulkner, William. “Barn Burning.” Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism.