Introduction
In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” the central theme revolves around the moral conflict experienced by the protagonist, Sarty Snopes, as he navigates between loyalties to his family, particularly his father, Abner Snopes, and his sense of justice. Faulkner, through Abner, goes down the complex ethical territory and illustrates how a feeling that justice has been done wrong can bring a person to morally controversial deeds. Additionally, his behaviour is not only caused by his social distance but also by his feelings for those he resents from being in the higher echelons of society. Faulkner’s masterful use of characterization, setting, and symbolism helps convey these themes, challenging readers to reconsider their notions of loyalty, morality, and social class.
First Argument: Commitment and Family unity
The central theme in William Faulkner’s” Barn Burning” is the conflict between Sarty Snopes, the central character, and his struggle to be loyal to his family, especially his father Abba Snipes, at the same time, knowing that his father’s unacceptable deeds (Fennell). Faulkner paints a picture of Abner as a multi-layered person whose inbuilt feeling of being unjust to society and the injustice experienced in the hands of influential people pushes him to an extreme level and becomes a devastating action. For example, buildings are burned down as a bitter revenge.
This logical loyalty underlined by Abner Snopes is well revealed in how he handles his family and his boy, Sarty. Just because they are poor, living in poverty and facing hardships, the attitude of Abner gets the enslaved person to be his slave at all costs, even in situations which might compromise their security and well-being. This scene impresses the viewers in this regard as Sarty, who would not take sides with his father and his growing sense of morality, alerts the Spanish family to his father’s intention to set their barn on fire (Crocker and Evans). Abner, reading Sarty’s thoughts and in the background Sarty’s inner war and between the lines of Sarty losing his family, intends to stop Sarty and hide his honest thoughts behind the loud sound of loyalty. It successfully illustrates a mentality of unquestioning loyalty, which can eradicate one’s conscience and result in doing stuff without one’s conscience.
Abner’s assertion that it is necessary to prove loyalty at any cost makes it clear that his distorted perception of justice and revenge has grown from hatred towards a society that he feels is unfair (Crocker and Evans). Such a behavioural pattern results from his entrenched anger and the need to harm those he thinks are more fortunate and mighty; therefore, he takes his anger out differently. This is the best example of what loyalty means if loyalty is not in the framework of morality and denotes the effect of social class on individual action (Fennell). Abner’s choosing family over moral ethics as the primary determinant of action shows the eventual disease-riddled morality, where justice and survival are more important than ethics. In Abner’s character, Faulkner shrewdly uses a slice of his work to show how loyalty, morality, and social class interact, creating an intricate scene of a man who is caught in the destructive whirlpool that has been propelled by a misconstrued loyalty and justice (Fennell). Faulkner uses this illustration to argue the counter-productive consequences of unquestioning allegiance in such a way that absolute loyalty should be derived from morality regardless of the bones the mother gives (Crocker and Evans). The story’s climax is portrayed when Sarty realizes that his allegiance to the family imperatives and his increasingly disrupted moral congruity contradict each other (Fowler). Though he remains proud of his father’s courage and diplomacy, Sarty increasingly becomes aware of the enormity of his father’s actions and the pain they bring to others.
On the other hand, Faulkner examines the status of social class, which determines the quality of loyalty and moral standards. The agents of action Abner is driven partly by his resentment towards the persons he thinks are higher in social power, which finally forces him to deal violently (Fowler). It reveals the complicated interdependency between loyalty, morality, and society, indicating that human beings are deeply influenced by their surrounding and the method by which they are upbringing.
Second Argument: Moral Ambiguity
In “Barn Burning”, Faulkner’s genius captures an individual’s morally murky conduct through the character of Abner Snopes. Though the motive for Abner’s actions is mainly based on his perception of something unjust and needing retribution, how he acts in his burning barns is unfortunate and very irritating to the morally upright (Fennell). Faulkner employs moral ambiguity in this way to question the reader’s conception of right and wrong, suggesting that there might not be a single line of differentiating between right and wrong but that context can matter heavily instead.
Sarty’s moral struggle is elucidated graciously by a striking instance of his ambiguity. At the beginning of the book, Sarty, as a young man, feels an inner conflict between his duties towards his own family, especially his father and his conscience (Crocker and Evans). On the contrary, Sarty has yet to grasp the iniquity of his father’s doings fully. Moreover, he admires Abner’s courage and spirit in asserting his beliefs, no matter how difficult. This inner turmoil portrays the difficulty in moral judgement, which is even a burden for a single young person and a girl like Sarty, who is unprepared for life’s complexity.
Moreover, Faulkner explores the factors of education and background significantly affecting an individual’s moral stature. The ethics of Sarty are individualized by the wandering lifestyle of his family, in which the family hood’s bond is the main boundary between human beings regardless of their loyalty to it (Fennell). Such a background makes Sarty rather well-disposed towards his father, and it virtually does not matter that Abner is sometimes cruel and sometimes merciful (Fowler). Sarty’s aspiration to be like his father, who demonstrated his brave spirit, can also be attributed to the social norm that courage and bravery are highly esteemed against those who appear as a threat.
Faulkner uses Sarty’s shaky relationship with his paternal Abner figure to stress the different feelings and moral choices that the character is stuck with. Appalachian culture and Sarty’s father want him to be a loyal son of the family while he sees the worst in Abner and how his actions affect the people around him. This justifies exaggerated family devotion by realizing the harm caused by Abner’s behaviour. This underscores the story’s central theme, which determines how strong one is spiritually in remaining faithful to the family or acknowledging high moral values (Fennell). Faulkner discovers the depths of his characters’ souls. Hence, Sarty falls into his internal debates while trying to realize his contradictions.
The dilemma of “Barn Burning” is whether family values can be kept intact amidst moral values or whether moral values might interfere with family dynamics. To a certain extent, the answer lies in how an individual manoeuvres with the complex moral problems, which is at the heart of “Barn Burning.” Sarty’s inner conflict reveals an aspect of the human fate of being in a situation where we must choose between faithful subservience to kin and abiding by our ethical principles. The moral dilemmas that Saul must contend with are a point that Faulkner illustrates masterfully when he portrays how people sometimes conflict with their moral allegiances. The way this morality and family allegiance involvement in the story explores the tactics makes it complicated and exposes the reader to issues similar to moral questions in their lives.
Hurricane Faulkner implies that moral ambivalence is not only characteristic of Abner but also an all-pervading attribute of humanity. The characters in this story are all morally complex since they all deal with their sense of morality (Fowler). These moral compasses are sometimes influenced by their past experiences and the social environments in which they grew up. The composition of such a story is challenging for a reader who will have to think about what matters in a Moral decision-making process and what has been blurring the borders separating right or good from wrong or bad.
Conclusion
William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” is a powerful exploration of loyalty, morality, and the impact of social class on individual actions. Sarty Snopes, the protagonist, brings to life the lethal effect of unquestioning loyalty and the ambiguity of making moral choices, all central themes of the story told by Faulkner in “The Bear”. By examining Faulkner’s use of characterization, setting, and symbolism, as well as critical perspectives on the story, this paper has sought to deepen our understanding of the moral dilemmas faced by the characters in “Barn Burning.”
Works Cited
Crocker, Michael W., and Robert C. Evans. “FAULKNER’S ‘BARN BURNING’ and O’CONNOR’S ‘EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE.’” CLA Journal, vol. 36, no. 4, 1993, pp. 371–83, www.jstor.org/stable/44322539.
Fennell, William. Vengeance, Justice, and Sarty Snopes in William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning.” 2020, core.ac.uk/download/pdf/291811003.pdf.
Fowler, Virginia C. “FAULKNER’S ‘BARN BURNING’: SARTY’S CONFLICT RECONSIDERED.” CLA Journal, vol. 24, no. 4, 1981, pp. 513–21, www.jstor.org/stable/44321674.
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