Literary Analysis Of Barn Burning

In The Fire Next Time, author James Baldwin describes with graphic detail the struggles of the black community. “The whores and pimps and racketeers on the Avenue had become a personal menace…my friends began to drink and smoke, and embarked-at first avid, then groaning-on their sexual careers” (Baldwin 16). The African-American community is plagued with an economic problem; jobs and money have been cut off from the grasps of families, and desperate men have often turned to habits of drinking, gambling, and drug abuse. Even (insert however many years ago it was) years ago, black communities faced these problems. Baldwin’s friends turned to these habits because they were constantly oppressed, and had begun to seek outlets for their problems. His friends were now “…busy, as they put it, ‘fighting the man.’ ... unable to say what it was that oppressed them, except that they knew it was ‘the man’—the white man.”(Baldwin 18).

In Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Sarty choses to solve his problems through defiance, his rebellion can be seen as a replication of his father’s, the very thing he is resentful of. Irony is persistent throughout the story. Also, Abner constantly stresses to Sarty the importance of being loyal to your family. Abner tells Sarty “You gotta learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t gonna have any blood to stick to you” (Faulkner 3). In other words, Abner was telling Sarty that if you are not loyal to your family, no matter the circumstances, then you will not have any place to turn to when you need help. This is ironic, because though Sarty was defiant towards his family, and broke his loyalty with pure intentions, what his father said proved to be true. At the end of the story, Sarty faced a dilemma, though he had good intentions, he was still left with nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. Billingslea briefly discusses the irony of this

“It was a pleasure to burn,” especially for Guy Montag, the fireman in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. Fire is a recurring symbol of the book, usually showing up with Montag when there is trouble or change. By examining to the novel and its deeper meaning, the reader is shown how Bradbury provides two different meanings of fire, and can learn how truly significant fire is. Bradbury uses the symbol of fire to represent both powerful destruction and beautiful creation. From poetic phrases to simple statements, fire is shown in two different lights, both of which show the true character of the element. After all, there can be no destruction without creation, and no life without death.

Being isolated can affect people in many ways. In "To Build a Fire", the protagonist, a man traveling along the Yukon trail, is isolated in terms of his separation from civilization. Furthermore, in "An Episode of War," the protagonist, a lieutenant, is isolated in a terms of his medical condition. The protagonists' different forms of isolation effect them in differing ways.

The book Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison, by Nell Bernstein is a compelling expose on the inherent evil of juvenile detention facilities. In her eye-opening account of the danger that lies within locking up this nation’s youth, Bernstein utilizes a plethora of rhetorical strategies to urge her audience to recognize and act on her claim. In writing this account on the heinousness of juvenile detention centers and why the system as a whole must be reformed, Bernstein uses personal cause and effect examples, studies and statistics, as well as concrete refutations to advocate the world for change.

In the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, fire is used throughout as a symbol of goodness and rebirth. Fire is one great example of symbolism in this book.. Each of us has our own image of fire burning within us, and depending on experiences, it could be positive or negative. Fire has a dual image in the book, a symbol of destruction, and a symbol of warmth. Bradbury’s use of symbolism throughout the novel makes the book moving and powerful by using symbolism to reinforce the ideas of anti censorship. The Heart and the Salamander, the title of part one, is the first example of symbolism. The title suggest two things having to do with fire; the hearth is a source of warmth and goodness, showing the positive and nondestructive side of fire.

Throughout “Incarnations of Burned Children”, David Foster Wallace uses symbolism, diction and syntax to foreshadow the story’s ending. The subtlety of Wallace’s symbolism is not revealed until the baby’s life concludes. There are two major items that resemble a bigger meaning in the story. For example,the author constantly mentions a hanging door which symbolizes the child’s fate. The Daddy constantly tries to fix the door as well as his son’s fate. When the door is hanging half off its hinges, it resembles the parallel between life and death. This comparison is evident when the child is rushed to the ER and doesn't make it, and the author says, “the hinge gave”. Wallace uses the door multiple times throughout the story to foreshadow the death of the baby. The bird is mentioned as another symbol and represents nature as a whole. The author tries to explain that no matter what’s going on in someone’s personal life, nature and the world around them will continue. In the story the bird saw everything that was going on, it, “appeared to observe the door”, but the bird didn’t do anything about it. Instead, it continued its daily life as if nothing happened.

Government organizations often use symbols to portray their power or military strength. Writers also use symbols to convey a message to the reader. In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols to help readers track the loss of civility of the boys.

Everyone is raised differently from the minute they are born. These differences range from small to extreme actions. There are little things like learning how to read or bigger things like being raised to believe in a higher power. Some children are disciplined by word or with a physical action. Everything varies from the very start. In “The Veldt”, the children believe they can do and have anything. This has caused them to act stubborn and foolish when it came to making decisions. In “Barn Burning”, the family is in poverty and the children are not being treated fairly. Both of these stories seem to unveil in a similar way despite their different backgrounds.

In preparation for this paper I chose to read Fire in the ashes: twenty five years among the poorest children in America by Jonathan Kozol. In this book Kozol has followed these children and their family’s lives for the past twenty five years. In his writing Kozol portrays a point of view most from his background and standing would not be capable of having. He portrays what life is like for those who have been let down by the system that was meant to protect them. Kozols writing style can be very blunt at times, not for shock value, but for the sake of portraying these children’s realities, and not sugarcoating the inequalities that they are faced with. There was a lot of balance within this book. In the book there are two parts: part one

In William Faulkner’s story “Barn Burning”, the reader sees a young boy who struggles with his relationship with his father Abner Snopes. Sarty, the young boy, knows what his father has done is wrong. Because of this he is stuck in between being faithful to his father and family and telling the truth about what his father has done. As the story progresses it is easy for readers to see him struggle more and more with trying to keep his father’s actions a secret. He begins to think about himself and the consequences he could face for what Abner is doing. Regardless of the guilt he feels towards his father’s actions, Sarty admires his father for his “wolflike independence.” He is dependent on no one and has drive for survival. Because of all of this it is clear that Sarty is a small and wiry boy who inherited his morality and innocence from his mother, but the influence of his father Abner, has made him mature quickly.

In the book, Fahrenheit 451 the author uses fire as a allusion and compares it a lot with the personalities of the main characters. I think the role of fire slightly changes from the beginning to the end of the novel. In the beginning, it was shown as a way of pleasure towards the mindless destruction they caused to people and the books that meant nothing to them. Which later changed to be seen as a possibility of a new beginning, like the old saying, “When a door closes, a window opens,” but in this case, the characters open that ‘window’ by burning their past.

1) Throughout our course, there have been some incredible and powerful women characters and writers. From Granny in “Jilting of Granny Weatherall” to Delia in “Sweat”, all of their stories had powerful connotations and influences in the readers. First of there was Phoenix from “A Worn Path,” she is the protagonist of this tale and is described in a lively way by the way she moves. Welty said, “Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with odor like copper.” The rag in her hair, her skin, and even the wrinkles on her face are deeply expanded upon in the story and accentuate her character. She is a resilient woman and perseveres through all that comes to her. Even her name is a symbol; the

Harris’s barn was aflame; he was only able to rescue the livestock from inside. Abner believed that Mr. Harris had wronged him by charging a dollar to take back the pig that escaped; consequently, he burned Mr. Harris’s barn. Burning property is the only way Abner knows how to handle his sense of anger and vengeance. Faulkner writes, “that the element of fire spoke to some deep mainspring of his father’s being … as the one weapon for the preservation of integrity, else breath were not worth breathing, and hence to be regarded with respect and used with discretion” (228). When reading this short story, the question may arise as to why Abner burns the barn but not the farm houses. It was common practice during the civil war to steal all things valuable from a residence and then set it on fire; correspondingly, Abner had taken part in this while he was a soldier. To a farm, the barn itself is the most important component; it holds livestock, feed, and items needed to ensure a healthy crop. Abner is well aware of this and knows that the best way to get back at those who do him wrong is to destroy what is most valuable to them. In fact, Abner seems to burn a farm wherever he works, acting as if he expects someone to cross his path at some

The theme of justice also can be shown because of the two courtroom scenes. Barn Burning shows many different perspectives on justice, and shows that the process of legal justice is not always fair. For Sarty, justice means not hurting others and always telling the truth. As accurately stated by Max Loges, “Sarty, who is named after Colonel John Sartoris, represents those ideals of truth and integrity.” (1) However, Sartys father feels the need to punish everyone for the way he has been treated and the many injustices in his life.