Shakespeare Othello and Barn Burning by William Faulkner

¶ … Shakespeare's Othello, one of the major themes deals with the way individuals struggle to restore their honor and certainty about life. This is particularly reflected in the prime theme of betrayal -- Iago knows that Othello has an innate need to remain loyal and honorable to Venice, and that he can easily be consumed by jealousy if he believes Desdemona has betrayed him. The entire good/evil struggle revolves around Othello trying to appear and act in an honorable way; from Desdemona who has been honorable in keeping that honor, and in Iago's certainty that the only way he can bring Othello to his knees is by playing on his need for honor. "If I do prove her haggard, Through that her jesses were my dear heart-strings, I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind, To prey at fortune."

B2 -- Individuals often balance their lives somewhere in between fear of the unknown and the absolute need to actualize. This is particularly evident in William Faulkner's Barn Burning, in the sense that many of the characters go through their lives quite fearful of ordinary, everyday things -- smells, sounds, colors, ideas, and more. For instance…. The cheese which he knew he smelled and the hermetic meat which his intestines believed he smelled coming in intermittent gusts momentary and brief between the other constant one, the smell and sense just a little of fear because mostly of despair and grief, the old fierce pull of blood," describes the Justice of the Peace's court. We think, for instance, that the symbol of law, order, and continuity in the Justice contrasts with the fear both the position and the smell cause. In a sense, then, the entire process of actualization within the story -- within the town and setting -- is prevented because of this constancy of fear and trepidation. When any character wishes to move away from the fear, to make life altering choices, they are summarily thrust back into the past self-doubt, the self-sabotage of the past, the historical and even the cultural expectations; which keep things stable, but only on the surface.

3-1 -- We know that for Faulkner, the themes of poverty and irrational thought form the basis of his plotline and character development in Barn Burning. The opening paragraph is quite vivid in its descriptions and immediately places the reader in a sense of a new world, a new culture in which the details of the small things in nature are balanced between the manner in which Sarty Snopes begins to understand both his sensitivity and intelligence -- as well as the conflicted allegiance he has towards his father. Indeed, though it is the manner in which we are set in the time period based on terms like "nigger," "white man," "Justice (as a name)," and the peculiarly melodious, yet underclassness of phrases like "I reckon I'll hae a word with the man that aims to begin to-morrow owning me body and soul." We know from the words that we are in early afternoon "Past two o'clock on a dead and forgotten day and time" in a journey that begins, and ends, with the idea that what was important in the town is really no more. Sarty must move on, or die.