Abner In William Faulkner's Barn Burning

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Sometimes when protecting the people that we care about, it can be necessary to go to extreme measures. Even without explicitly telling someone "I love you", it can be portrayed through actions that may be deemed irresponsible or harsh. The person who commits these acts may not realize that what they are doing is wrong, instead believing it is the only way. William Faulkner's story "Barn Burning", the character that is focused on, Abner, is a man that appears to be cruel and emotionless with his actions. Readers are not meant to be able to symphathize with him. If carefully inspected though, there are places in the story when Abner can almost be redeemed with his actions toward his family through teaching them and truly not meaning to do some…show more content…
The first is when the reader is introduced to Abner's daughters and wife that are standing "in a grove of locusts... in their Sunday dresses.. and in calico and sunbonnets" (page 354). Even though Abner and his family are poor, he still makes sure that they have nice clothes to wear. Another reason Abner may be understood is that "he had already arranged to make a crop on another farm" (page 354) each time something bad happened. even though Abner committed horrific acts, he always had the best interest of his family in mind. He made sure the never went hungry or long without shelter. The last reason dealing with his family as a whole is when, latero n in the story, Abner and his two sons are out in the town after the hearing and Abner stops at a store. He buys cheese and "divided it carefully and deliberately into three." (Page 361) Not only does he buy his children lunch after being told he was more in debt, he splits it evenly amoung them. As even as he can manage. If Abner was as selfish as he is made out to be by Faulkner, then he would not have stopped to buy it, or if he had, he would have kept it for himself, especially after finding out the debt he owes. Even with all the misdeeds he performs, Abner still takes time to care about and protect his family like a true father, husband, and…show more content…
Whenever the family had to move to a new house, they usually had to spend one night in the woods with a "small fire, neat, niggered almost, a shrewd fire" that "were his father's habit and custom always." (page 354) The small fire is Abners way of control: he saves the bigs one for only the utmost important events. These small fires show his family that he isnt out of control like the big fires but instead hes safe and careful. Another situation is after the trial when Abner is yelling at his son for not being loyal to his family. He tells him that "you got to learn to stick to your own blood or you aint going to have blood to stick to you." (page 355) By telling him this, Abner is teaching his son an important life lesson:he needs to stay with his family because they are all hes got. Abner knows that his family is what keeps him going and doing the things he does to protect them. He wants his son to grow up being loyal and smart. The next morning, at the new farm, Abner tells his family that hes going to talk to "the man that aims to begin tomorrow owning me body and soul for the next eight months." (page 355) It is seen here that he never planned on burning down the barn this time. He genuinally planned on living there for as long as it took to get out of his farm contract. This is also shown again after the second court trial

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