Southern Masculinities in Faulkner’s The Unvanquished and Barn Burning

William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone

William Faulkner has said that when you are writing a novel, there is a lot of room to add some fluff and be a bit careless with your ideas, but when writing a short story there is no room for “trash”, as he calls it. However, this can be a tough thing to do when you have a lot to say. Even Faulkner could have difficulty following along with his beliefs. After having read and considered A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning, I do believe that William Faulkner has been true to his beliefs in both of these short stories.

William Faulkner was born in 1897. Growing up in Mississippi inspired Faulkner to incorporate his southern roots into many of his works. Many of his works intertwined when it came to the setting and even some of the characters of his stories. William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning” is no different. In “Barn Burning” Faulkner brings in his native south through the setting, family dynamics, and social class.

Faulkner has distinctively outlined the differences between the antagonist and protagonist. As on account of Colonel Sartoris Snopes, youthful wiry with blurred pants and uncombed dark colored hair is left in a predicament of equity and his family (Faulkner 226). The boy looks pale and miserable, but he is the determinant of the case at hand. He fears the gaze of his father and the look of people around him. He has a crucial decision to

William Faulkner born and raised in the South. Faulkner being a Southerner had intimate knowledge of the history of the south. Faulkner wrote “Barn Burning” on what he heard growing up. He would listen to stories of famers from the small town he grew up in. Faulkner’s family history gave him inspiration to write the story about Colonel Sartoris in “Barn Burning.” William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” is about a relation between a boy and his father. The young boy is expected to side with the family to protect his family and his father. In Joseph Flora’s essay about “Burning Barn” he points out “how two brothers in the same family could be so different” (Flora 755). Colonel Sartoris a young boy who is faced with knowing his father is a barn burner who has been getting away with his crime. Sarty must decide between family loyalty and doing the right the thing.

If we compare William Faulkner's two short stories, 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Barn Burning', he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a father¡¦s teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present major idea through symbolism that includes strong metaphorical meaning. Both stories affect my thinking of life.

The central theme in William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" is initiation and morality. Young Colonel Sartoris "Sarty" Snopes is confronted with the conflict between loyalty to his family and to honor and justice.

William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning” describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during the Civil War.

developing a mind and will of his own. He is no longer unperceptively loyal to his father.

“Barn Burning” first appeared in print in Harper’s Magazine in 1939 (Pinion). It is a short story by William Faulkner which depicts a young boy in crisis as he comes to realize the truth about his father’s pyromania. Faulkner takes the reader inside the boy’s life as he struggles to remain loyal to his unstable father. In the end the boy’s courage and sense of justice wins and he not only walks away from his father’s iron clad control over his life, but he is able to warn his father’s next victim. To understand how this boy could make such a courageous, difficult decision we must review the important events in the story and the effect they have on him.

3.Fowler, Virginia C. Faulkner's 'Barn Burning': Sarty's Conflict Reconsidered. College Language Association Journal 24.4 (June 1981).

actions to show that no one will own or control him. He has no regard

Elements of a Southern Atmosphere in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”

Oxford provided Faulkner with intimate access to the rich character of the rural south which was conscious of its past and separated from the urban-industrial mainstream that Faulkner found very distracting. He wanted to accurately portray life in the south and he “could not have done otherwise than to include Blacks among the people who inhabit the lands of his novels”(Glissant, pp. 56). Faulkner did not pretend to understand the suffering and complexity of the lives of the black community but, because he grew up witnessing their struggle he was able to represent them in an honest and sometimes brutal fashion. He spent his whole life in the south and, “Blacks lived there … They were servants in the Falkner family or perhaps workers for the railroad company founded by his great grand-father. They were surely mule drivers or farm laborers …”(Urgo and Abadie, pp. 137). It is difficult to say whether or not Faulkner felt sympathy for these people but it is clear through Faulkner’s writing that he believed their story needed to be told.

William Faulkner was said to be one of the best Southern Gothic writers and the Southern Gothicism was brought about by Edgar Allen Poe in 1839. His novels and short stories such as Absalom! Absalom! (1936), The Sound and the Fury (1929), and “A Rose for Emily” (1930) were of the Southern Gothic genre. This paper will discuss what Southern Gothic is and its characteristics, along with William Faulkner and how Faulkner’s work conforms to the Southern Gothic genre.