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Symbolism in Faulker's "Barn Burning"

Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” takes place in the Deep South during the 19th Century and is a story about the relationship between a father and son. A father with a need to burn the barns of aristocrats resulting in dragging his family down with him; along with his knowledgeable son. This story presents itself through a lot of symbolism linked to Christianity.
The first and main symbolism is fire. The meaning of the fire is taking into many ways, the character’s personality and the Biblical beliefs. Abner is very much like the fires he sets, uncontrollable and destroy anything in its way, having respect for nothing. Abner’s son, Sarty, attempts to put out the fire inside of Abner because he’s sick of what his father is doing to the family and forcing them to share his punishments. Faulkner kind of writes this story as a moralist, portraying why a sensible approach to hardship and disappointments are essential in life to avoid someone’s problems to get so bad that it dev...

Posted by: Adriana Alvarez

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