Barn Burning
William Faulkner
Background
The article was written after the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. Before the war, the Northern America was an industrialized society, while Southern America was a society depending on plantation and slavery system existed.
• The second scene was on their way to find a new house. That night they camped, Sarty observed the small bunch of fire made by Abner, but he could not figure out the real reason. In fact, Abner was an army desert（开小差）, he was quite afraid to be watched even after the war. So whenever and wherever he made a fire, he made it in this way.
Though it seemed that the slavery system ended with the passing of the Civil War, it did not really disappeared, for the discrimination towards the black people still existed.
• The fourth scene is that when the rider with collarless and even bareheaded came to Abner’s house and ask him to compensate for the rug he had destroyed, but Abner did not care about it.
From the above two scenes we can figure out that at that time, the racial discrimination was still existing between white and black people.
• The fifth scene is that Abner claim to the official that the compensation was too much for him. So he once came to the store. There, Sarty defended his father by telling that “ he did not burn it…” and he also suggested to his father that there was no need to pay anything with regard to De Spain’s requirement.
• The first scene happened in the store, Abner was accused of having burnt the barn and his son Sarty was forced to lie.
From the psychological struggle of Sarty when his father ask him to tell lies, we can see that Sarty suffered a lot between his honesty and his consideration of his father’s feeling.
Characteristics of the Southern America
▪ Old South —plantation, slavery system,
romanticism, close to the nature and the life was full of joy. ▪ New South —the southern part failed in the Civil War, the southerners were influenced by the way of living style in northern part, of course ,they could not accept it, and they still went on to be absorbed in their passing living style, they were not willing to face their realistic lives.
• Abner formed in his mind that he would fight against people in different class, that isene is when the boy saw the splendid house of Major De Spain, he lost himself in the imagination of the wonderful life. When they arrived at Major De Spain’s house, Abner did not pay any attention to the old nigger who was the house—keeper of Major De Spain, he just went straight into the house and made the clean rug rather dirty with his dusted shoes. The old man wanted to stop Abner, but he dared not to touch him.