"Barn Burning"

The short story, "Barn Burning" was a very interesting novel written by William Faulkner. The story takes place in Alabama where growing and selling crops is the main way of life. The protagonist, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, has a very malevolent father who, in the beginning of the story, is put on trial for allegedly burning the barn of another farmer. He is accused for lack of evidence and is forced to leave the country along with his family.

The Snopes' relocate to a different part of town where Abner, the father of Colonel Sartoris, is the sharecropper of Major de Spain. Being the vicious human being Abner is, he walks across Major de Spain's rug with his shoe, freshly stepped in horse droppings. Major de Spain orders Abner to clean the rug. So he does; however, cleaning to Abner apparently means washing with lye soap and scruffing it with a flattened rock. He then returns the rug by throwing it on Major de Spain's front porch.

Major de Spain feels its necessary to take Abner to court once again, and intends the fine to be 20 bushels of corn; the judge being rather "kind" decides that the fine should only be worth ten bushels of corn. Abner decides that this fine is an outrage and sets out to set Major de Spain's barn on fire. He orders Sarty to get the bucket full of oil. Sarty retrieves the bucket, but questions his father why he isn't sending a Negro to inform Major de Spain like he did with Mr. Harris. Abner lashes out against his son, and orders his wife to hold him back so Sarty can't run and tell Major de Spain himself. However, Sarty gets free from his mother's restraint, and runs to Major de Spain's house. He is successful in informing Major de Spain, and on his way back he runs into his father. Although, Abner came ready to burn a barn, Major de Spain had a different intention, and the story ends with two loud gunshots, never declaring whether they hit Abner or not.