A Marxist Criticism of “Barn Burning” Essay Example

me body and soul for the next eight months. ” he shows his knowledge of his powerlessness. Abner’s acceptance demonstrates that he has been fully indoctrinated into the system. He cannot imagine another way of life. He can only see violence as the answer to class conflict. His violence proves only to be revenge not economic opportunity.

Major de Spain, however, is confident and refuses to e silent. He sees no injustice in sharecropping just as he saw no injustice in slavery. After leaving Major de Spain’s house, he remarks that it was built on “nigger sweat” and that Major de Spain wanted to add some “white sweat” to it as well. This comment shows that race has no hold in Marxist(? ) class division. As long as the land owners are getting richer, and the poor are kept in their place, the world is kept happy. Marx believed that capitalism is the cause of class conflict, and that the only way to change this was to develop class consciousness.

In “Barn Burning," the central theme is class conflict. In fact, the title itself suggests violence that later turns out to be a form of class warfare. The old South was built on the division of labor, and after the Civil War, the South continued to depend on this division through sharecropping. This work was written in the 1930s, when sharecropping had returned. This time period was at the height of the Great Depression, and social and economic unrest was again gaining power. Due to this same unrest, Abner is constantly fighting against the upper class.

When he ruins the rug, in the de Spain’s house, he was

once again rebelling against the class structure in the only way he knew how. Later Major de Spain brings the rug for Abner to clean and he again rebels by further destroying the rug. Abner has developed class consciousness, but he only knows one way to go about change and that is by destroying things. His son, Sarty, is also developing class consciousness. He, however, thinks there has to be a better approach to creating social justice.

Sarty Snopes is only ten years old, yet he has already developed a distinct sense of justice. This is particularly obvious at the beginning of the story. The story opens up in a courtroom where Abner is on trial for burning a barn. Sarty is caught between his blood ties and what he knows is right. Sarty ends up not having to testify, and, for now, does not have to make his decision. Sarty is also beginning to realize the social inequalities of the South and its sharecropping system. Sarty was beginning to see what his father saw, but Sarty was not his father.

Sarty sees a different way to enact change, a way without violence. Sarty wanted to be a better man than his father. He detested his father’s brutal ways. Sarty wanted to be a man that would tell the truth no matter the personal consequences. These views were in direct conflict with his father’s, and Sarty knew he would have to make a decision between his father and the man he wants to be. Sarty’s own name is in conflict with itself. Colonel Sartoris was an upper class colonel in the Civil War, while his last name

Snopes is quiet lowly.

When the time comes, he does make the break and tells Major de Spain of his father’s plans, but he also has to live with the guilt he now feels for being partly responsible for what he thinks is his father’s death. In “Barn Burning”, Falkner shows that normal human sensibilities can be changed by social, economic, or political standings. These same things can hinder human relationships. Being born into a proletariat or a bourgeoisie family can seriously influence the thoughts and actions of a person. According to Marx, conflict is caused by the division of the classes and labor.

This conflict is the motivation for Abner Snopes. Abner also wishes for his family to join him in the class warfare, but Sarty breaks with his father to pursue what his sees as "right. "With the development of these characters and their resulting actions, “Barn Burning” demonstrates the struggles and the conflicts between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie.

Works Cited

1. Faulkner, William. "Barn Burning. " The Faulkner Reader: Selections from the Works of William Faulkner. New York: Modern Library, 1959. Print.
2. Marx, Karl. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy;. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1904. Print.