Examples Of Sarty In Barn Burning

Characterization of Abner and Sarty in Barn Burning In the short story Barn Burning by Faulkner, the author provides an insight to life in America for poor whites in the 1900s. This setting alludes at the conflict of man versus society, which paints the image and sets the tone of the story. Faulkner’s intricate plot and characterization of Abner and Sarty respectively reveals the moral of the story as it juxtaposes to consequences of burning places in contemporary society. In Barn Burning, Faulkner uses descriptive adjectives and metaphors as a unifying device for characterization and setting. In Barn Burning, Faulkner uses descriptive adjectives and metaphors as a unifying device for the characterization of Abner and Sarty. At the beginning of the short story Faulkner paints the image of Sarty’s family economical and moral standings in the country as Abner; Sarty’s father is accused of burning down his neighbor’s barn. Faulkner describes the scene by appealing to the sense of smell that Sarty is experiencing at the moment, “smelled of cheese...from where he sat he could see the ranked shelves closed-packed with the solid, squat, dynamic shapes of tin cans whose labels his stomach read,” is an instance in which Faulkner uses descriptive adjectives to characterize Sarty (Faulkner, 1). From this example,

Given the time period of the story, Abner is representative of the poor whites in the south that was crippled by the war. This further reveals Abner’s antipathy for the Negro because during this period, poor whites were viewed and valued even less if not the same as Negroes. Hence this explains his wolf-like independence and stubbornness to amend his ways and the way he views the world. Even though time has progress, Abner has not and remains this outlaw and abusive man to his family and