Crossing the Line in Faulkners Barn Burning Essay -- Barn Burning Ess

Crossing the bend in Faulkners Barn Burning The American author Joyce Carol Oats, in her Master Race, wrote that our enemy is by tradition our savior (Oats 28). Oats recognized that we a great deal learn more from our enemy than from ourselves. Whether the enemy is another warring nation, a more prolific writer, or even the person next door, we a great deal can ascertain a tremendous amount of knowledge by studying that opposite party. In the same way, literature has always striven to leave an insight into human nature through a study of oppose forces. Often, simply by looking at the binary operations anchor in any given text, the texts meanings, both hidden and apparent, can induce surprising clear. In William Faulkners famous short story Barn Burning, internal binary operations, especially those of the poor versus the full and the society versus the outsider, allow the contributor to gather a new and more acute understanding of the text. The most(prenominal) important binary operation in Faulkners masterpiece is the projected paper of the rich versus the stark reality of the poor. Throughout the total work, the scenes of the Snopes family are ceaselessly described in detail and compared to the richness that appears abundant around them. For example, at the very beginning of the story, the young Colonel Sartoris Snopes is described as small and unchewable like his father wearing patched and faded jeans which are subsequently described as too small (Faulkner 1555). This poor child, with his tattered clothing, unmixed feet, and scared-to-the-bone look is juxtaposed against the wealth of the Justice of the Peaces borrowed courtroom--its close-packed shelves filled with cans of food, redolent cheese, and the silver curve of fish--th... ...lty, or even the normal versus the audacious. But, the entire story seems to be focused on two those of the poor versus the rich and society versus the outsider. Those two operations allow for, and even demand , a diametrical reading of the text giving us a young Colonel strain to break out of his limitations and become the opposite of what he was. In the end, Faulkner allows him to succeed. later on his fathers death, the young man runs through the woods, forever leaving his family. The text ends with the tidy line, he did not look back (Faulkner 1566). Works Cited Oats, Joyce Carol. Master Race. The business relationship of Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Ed. John Dukore. New York Harper Collins, 1992. Faulkner, William. Barn Burning. The heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. 3th ed. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 1554-66.