Blood isn't always thicker than water. Sometimes, it’s just stickier. In the world of William Faulkner Barn Burning, that stickiness is a trap. You’ve probably sat through a high school English class where a teacher droned on about "man vs. society," but honestly, this story is much more visceral than a textbook definition. It's about a kid, Colonel Sartoris Snopes—just call him Sarty—who is basically being crushed between the weight of his father’s toxic pride and his own growing sense of right and wrong.
It’s a messy story. It’s a loud story. And despite being published in Harper's Magazine back in 1939, it feels weirdly modern because it deals with the one thing none of us can escape: family baggage.
What's actually happening in William Faulkner Barn Burning?
Abner Snopes is a piece of work. He’s the father, a Civil War veteran with a literal and metaphorical limp, who makes a habit of burning down the barns of people he feels have slighted him. He’s an arsonist. But in his mind? He’s a warrior for the little guy. He sees the world as "us vs. them"—the poor sharecroppers against the wealthy landed gentry. The problem is, his "war" involves destroying the livelihoods of people who are often just trying to run a farm.
Sarty is ten. He’s small, hungry, and terrified. When the story starts, his father is on trial for burning a barn belonging to Mr. Harris. Sarty is called to the stand. He doesn't have to speak, but he knows he’s expected to lie. That "grief and despair" Faulkner describes? It’s the feeling of a kid realizing his father is a villain.
Abner doesn't just want loyalty. He demands it like a dictator. He tells Sarty that if he doesn't stick to his own blood, he won't have any blood to stick to him. It’s a threat. Pure and simple. This isn't a story about a happy family on the frontier; it's about the psychological warfare a father wages on his son to keep him in line.
The Major de Spain Incident
After being run out of town, the Snopes family ends up at the plantation of Major de Spain. This is where things get legendary. Abner, out of pure spite, walks into the de Spain mansion and intentionally tracks horse manure all over a wildly expensive French rug. Not an accident. Not a mistake. A calculated act of class warfare.
When de Spain demands he clean it, Abner uses harsh lye, effectively ruining the rug forever. He's looking for a fight. He needs the conflict to justify the fire he’s about to light. It’s a cycle of self-destruction that Sarty is forced to witness, and eventually, to stop.
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The "Blood" Conflict Nobody Talks About
We talk a lot about "southern gothic" themes, but let’s look at the actual psychology here. Faulkner uses the term "the old fierce pull of blood." It’s an evolutionary instinct. Sarty wants to love his dad. He wants to believe his dad is a hero. But he can't ignore the smell of smoke.
The conflict isn't just about fire. It's about the transition from childhood innocence to moral autonomy. When Sarty finally runs to warn Major de Spain that his father is about to burn the barn, he isn't just "betraying" his family. He’s choosing humanity over lineage.
It’s a brutal choice.
Faulkner doesn't give us a happy ending where Sarty goes to college and everything is fine. He ends with the kid walking away into the dark, not looking back. He’s homeless. He’s alone. He might even be an orphan depending on how you interpret the gunshots he hears. But he’s free.
Why Abner Snopes Isn't Just a "Bad Guy"
Look, Abner is terrifying. But Faulkner is too smart to make him a cartoon. Abner is a product of a broken system. He was a "horse trader" during the war, which is a polite way of saying he stole from both sides. He has no allegiance to the Confederacy or the Union. He’s a man who has been stepped on his whole life, and burning barns is the only way he feels powerful.
He’s a "stiff" man. Faulkner describes him as having a "wolflike independence." He doesn't bow. He doesn't scrape. In a weird, twisted way, he’s the ultimate individualist. But his individualism is a poison that kills everything it touches, including his relationship with his son.
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Technical Brilliance: How Faulkner Writes the Fire
If you’ve ever tried to read The Sound and the Fury, you know Faulkner can be... difficult. But William Faulkner Barn Burning is surprisingly accessible while still being incredibly dense. He uses these long, winding sentences that feel like a fast-moving train. You get breathless reading them.
Then, he’ll hit you with a short, sharp sentence.
"The barn was in flames."
It cuts through the noise. He uses the sensory details of the post-Civil War South—the smell of mule sweat, the "iron-like" quality of his father’s voice, the coldness of the night—to make the moral dilemma feel physical. You aren't just thinking about Sarty’s choice; you’re feeling the grit under his fingernails.
The Symbolism of the Rug
That rug isn't just a rug. It represents a world Abner can never belong to. It’s a "taming" of the wilderness that he finds offensive. By ruining it, he’s trying to drag the upper class down into the mud with him. It’s a rejection of "civilization" in favor of a raw, burning chaos.
Sarty sees the rug and sees beauty. He sees the house and feels a "surge of peace." For a moment, he thinks his father can't touch this place because it’s too big and too grand. He’s wrong. Abner’s spite is bigger than any mansion.
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Common Misconceptions about the Story
- Sarty is a "traitor": Some people read this as a kid betraying his roots. Honestly, that’s a shallow take. Sarty is a whistleblower. He’s protecting a community from a serial arsonist.
- Abner is a "rebel hero": While he fights the "man," he also destroys the lives of other poor people who work for these landlords. He’s not Robin Hood. He doesn't give to the poor; he just burns the rich.
- The ending is hopeful: Sarty is ten years old and walking into the woods alone at midnight. This is a tragedy, even if it’s a moral victory.
Why Should You Care in 2026?
We live in an era of extreme polarization. The "us vs. them" mentality that drove Abner Snopes is everywhere. Faulkner shows us the cost of that mindset—it destroys families. It forces children to choose between their parents and their conscience.
When you read William Faulkner Barn Burning, you’re seeing a blueprint for how cycles of trauma and poverty repeat themselves. Abner was likely treated like garbage by his father, and so he treats Sarty like a tool. Sarty breaking that cycle is the most heroic act in all of Southern literature, but it comes at the cost of everything he knows.
Actionable Insights for Readers and Students
If you're digging into this for a paper or just because you want to sound smart at a dinner party, keep these points in your back pocket:
- Watch the dynamic between Sarty and his sisters: Notice how they are almost silent and bovine. They represent what happens when you don't fight back against Abner’s influence. They’ve been hollowed out.
- Focus on the "Clock": There’s a constant sense of time running out. The "two o'clock" deadline for the trial, the sunset, the moment the fire starts. Faulkner uses time to build a pressure cooker.
- Analyze the "Tin" imagery: Abner is often described in metallic, cold terms. He’s "cut from tin." He has no warmth, no flexibility. He’s a machine of resentment.
- Connect it to "The Hamlet": If you want the full Snopes experience, read The Hamlet later. You’ll see what happens to the rest of the family. (Spoiler: It’s not great).
- Look for the "Peace": Sarty’s only moments of peace come when he is away from his father. The tragedy is that his "peace" can only be found in total isolation.
Don't just look for symbols; look for the human cost. Faulkner wasn't writing a puzzle for you to solve; he was writing a warning about what happens when "blood" becomes a prison. The next time you feel pressured to agree with "your side" even when they're wrong, think about Sarty Snopes running through the dark, yelling for the very people his father taught him to hate. That’s where the real story is.
To get the most out of your next reading, track every time Sarty mentions "the old blood." You'll see him slowly untethering himself from that phrase until it no longer has power over him. It’s a linguistic liberation that mirrors his physical escape. Once you see the pattern, you can’t unsee it.