William Faulkner's Barn Burning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

William Faulkners Barn Burning - Essay ExampleFaulkner has utilise the plot, and the interactions between the characters, to rationalize the concept of mental and delirious slavery in man. However, what strikes most in Faulkners story is the use of symbolism. Through different symbols in the story, the author has draw the internal conflict that a piece being experiences before he succeeds in get buttg freedom. Hence, it is a story of spirit of freedom in human beings. In the brusque story, Faulkner has in like manner explicateed how slavery is not just situational in nature, but also psychological. The author has made an excellent use of symbolism to explain the nature of freedom in peoples lives. According to Faulkner, the strongest obstacles in achieving freedom in life is not the external circumstances, but the internal demons of emotional and psychological attachment to destructive and negative people in life, and hence, the only way for human beings to get freedom in lif e is to win over the internal demons, because they are more dangerous than the external circumstances of slavery. Symbolism The story Barn Burning is an excellent work by William Faulkner, where he has used symbolism to explain the purpose of his story. Symbolism is a method of describing the essence of a story indirectly through objects, events and actions of the characters in the story. In case of the short story Barn Burning, the author William Faulkner has used interesting symbols to describe the conflict, spirit of freedom, rebellion, and courage in human beings. Right from the first paragraph of the story, the readers adept the use of symbols in the story. The author has used symbolism not only through objects but also through the actions of the characters. The symbols that he has used are smear, Sartoriss actions and peculiar behavior patterns of characters in the story. Blood Right from the beginning of the story, the author grips the at disco biscuittion of the reader by introducing him to the complex idea of tang and its associations in life. merciful beings have a tendency of developing mental associations with things related to sensory objects. For example, if a person listens to a song that was his favorite in the childhood, then the memories of childhood floods to his mind and he relives the good and bad experiences associated with that song. Faulkner has used the sense of smell as a symbol of conflict in the mind of Sartoris Snopes, a ten year old protagonist of the story. The story begins with the description of the court proceedings against Sartoriss father, who is accused of burning the barn of his owner. The proceedings take place in a store where the tins of cheese are kept. The boy is shown going through an internal conflict through the sensation of smells. Sarty (Sartoris) is found torn between the smell of cheese and the smell of blood. Sarty is sure that he smelt cheese even though he is unable to read the letters on the tin cans. The smell is pleasant and he likes it. However, he is unable to enjoy the smell of cheese as it is polluted with the smell of blood. Here, the author has used blood as symbol of loyalty and duty towards the family. The smell of blood is not real but is a psychological symbol of family. Interestingly, the smell of blood that Sarty senses is also joined by the sense of fear. It reminds Sarty of the despair and grief that he has experienced. Sadly, the smell of cheese that he senses is momentary and comes intermittently. However, the smell of blood is permanent and consistent in his mind. The words fierce pull of blood shows that Sarty is somehow being forced to be loyal to his family, and particularly, towards his father. The word