William Faulkner uses opposition and tension to great effect within his story, "Barn Burning." He explores oppositions like Sarty's blood ties to his father vs. The pull of moral imperative, and decent behaviour to society in general. These oppositions help to create the tension and mood in the story, and serve as a literary device to illustrate his themes of the initiation of the adolescent into adult life, and the triumph of the personal conscience over family loyalty.
Sarty's blood tie to his father vs. The pull of moral imperative to society in general is likely the major opposition within "Barn Burning."
As the story begins, Sartoris Snopes is in court, hoping that he does not have to testify in the arson case against his father, Mr. Snopes. Sarty knows that his father is guilty, but is willing to lie in court because he feels that his blood tie, to his father, or the "pull of blood" outweighs any moral imperative or decent behaviour to society. Sarty thinks that Mr. Harris is "his father's enemy (our enemy he thought in that despair, ourn, mine and hisn both! He's my father!)." Ultimately, Sarty must warn Mr. de Spain of his father's plans to burn down the plantation, as he cannot stop his father's actions. In this warning, the moral imperative to society wins out over the blood ties to his father, and Sarty has passed through a difficult and painful initiation into adult life.
Another striking opposition within Faulkner's novel is the opposition between De Spain's mansion and the black man's oppression. De Spain's mansion is beautiful, huge and the very epitome...
"Hit's big as a courthouse," says Sarty, and fells a "surge of peace and joy" in seeing the house. The house's interior is impressive, with curving carpeted stairs, glittering chandeliers and shining gold frames. In contrast, Sarty's father sees the house as built on "sweat, nigger sweat." The black servant that they meet at the door, like Sarty's father, is in servitude to the de Spain's. Thus, the opulent de Spain mansion serves as a foil to the poverty and servitude of the back community in the South.
Faulkner uses the opposition between conventional justice and primitive justice to great effect within "Barn Burning." At the beginning of the novel, Abner Snopes is on trial for arson. Sarty sees the judge, a representative of conventional justice, as "his father's enemy," although Sarty views the judge as kindly. As such, we can see that Sarty views conventional justice as both in opposition to his father, and see that Sarty has a positive view of conventional justice, as symbolized in his opinion of the judge. Abner Snopes represents primitive justice. He is enraged by the South's view of people as chattel, and in his primitive rage, turns to arson as a form of primitive justice. Mr. Snopes has a "ferocious conviction in the rightness of his ways" and destroys the property of the landowners as a form of primitive retribution for his life as a poor white farmer.
Sarty is also torn between the opposition of loyalty to kinship and the rights of others. He is fiercely loyal to his father at the beginning of the novel, and…
