Barn Burning

The Downfall of Abner Snopes William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning” describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during the Civil War. The main character, Abner Snopes, sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of jealousy for wealthy people, he goes and burns their barns to get revenge. Abner’s character over the course of the story is unchanging in that he is cold-hearted, lawless, …

…father and husband to a lawless and violent man, which, towards the end of the story, leads him to the death of himself. Things today are better than they were back during the Civil War, people are still categorized by how much money they have. But, because of better law enforcement and court systems, people can’t get away with the so-called revenge and hatred, as portrayed by the acts of Abner in the story.