The Real Hero - Research Proposal Example

The Real Hero In the face of extreme grief and dire need – which would a morally upright person choose to guide his actions – blood ties or justice and fairness? This is the story of father and son in which the hero makes a difficult decision and comes out victorious in the end. When the civil war in America ended, the Southerners were confronted by enormous problems emanating from the war or the emancipation of the slaves. To the people in the South, economic difficulties seemed to be foremost. The war devastated the countryside; a quarter of a million Southerners were killed and the South lay in ruins. Farms and plantations were destroyed; cities were ravaged by fire and the transportation system was in complete disrepair. “The Southern labor system was totally disrupted by the freeing of 4 million slaves. To most southerners, more than ever, making a simple living became a daily struggle” (Kohimetz, 56). Victim of the above state of affairs (the Civil War) was the family of Mr. Snopes, frequently referred to as “The Barn Burner” or “the man in the black Sunday coat”. The story opens in a courtroom wherein a young boy, Sarty (named after Colonel Sartorious Snopes) appears with his father, hoping that he will not have to testify against the latter who is guilty as alleged in a recent arson case. Mr. Snopes’ family are itinerant farmers who move around often due to the father’s frequent burning down of barns each time he has a conflict with his landlord. To give one a clearer picture of Mr. Snopes, his voice was cold and harsh, level and without emphasis. A brief background of the man follows: His father turned, and he followed the stiff black coat, the wiry figure walking a little stiffly from where a Confederate provosts mans musket ball had taken him in the heel on a stolen horse thirty years ago” (Faulkner). One notes at this point that Mr. Snopes has a history of thievery. It is not surprising that it continues to persist. The story does not have to do with class conflict which in the context of the Civil War might have been a conflict between whites and blacks, although a few Negro characters are injected into the narrative. Rather, it is concerned with the emotional dilemma of the young boy, Sary. This tension becomes apparent in the courtroom when an ordinary farmer accuses Abner Snopes of burning his barn. Abner does not differentiate between rich and poor. At the start of the story, there are only two categories: blood kin and “they” into which he lumps the rest of mankind including the judge whom Sarty perceives as kindly. The judge is nonetheless an enemy since he is an enemy of Sarty’s father and Sarty is as yet one with his father. At first the judge decides to question Sarty but on the basis of Sarty’s given name (Colonel Sartorius), the former decide not to proceed with the interrogation, believing that anybody named for Colonel Sartorius in the country cannot help but tell the truth. And so the case was dismissed because nothing illegal could be held against Snopes; although he was told to leave the place and not to return. Abner’s division of mankind into blood kin and “they” relates to the emotional crisis which Sarty undergoes and only by defining the nature of that conflict can anyone determine the moral significance which Faulkner sees in it. The clue to Sarty’s dilemma rests in the resolution. The character of a person may be adjudged also by the manner in which he treats the animals in his care. When Snopes and his sons left the courtroom and mounted their wagon, Mr. Snopes struck the gaunt mules two savage blows with the peeled willow, but without heat. It was not even sadistic. To show a son’s loyalty to his father, consider the following incident. As Mr. Snopes and his sons were winding their way to their wagon, as they passed, a voice hissed, “Barn Burner!” Sarty could not see the source, but there was a face bigger than the full moon, the owner half his size. Sarty leaped toward the face and received a blow. His struck the earth. He saw the other boy in full flight and himself leaping into pursuit as his father’s hand jerked him back, the harsh cold voice telling him to get into the wagon. The boy would see the fight to the finish although he was already bleeding only to hear the unreciprocal command of the very person he fought for – his father. In the beginning, Sarty thought the world of his father. He appreciated the fact that Mr. Snopes did provide a dwelling place for his family each time he was evicted. None in the family dared ask because there was always a house of sorts waiting for them somewhere, a day two days or three away. The father in all likelihood had arranged to make a crop in some farm or other. Sarty’s loyalty to his father may have been based on his belief that there was something about the latter’s wolfish “independence, and even courage when the advantage was at least neutral which impressed strangers, as if they got from him his latent ravening ferocity not so much as a sense of dependability as a feeling that his ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions would be of advantage to all whose interest lay with his” (Faulkner). Faulkner exploits the literary device stream of consciousness to best advantage. This device as used in his works consists of “snippets of past and present experience jumbled together in no overall order, each one linked to its successor by random association” (Colwell: 79). The aforesaid device is evident when Faulkner mentions “a small fire” and comments: Older, the boy might have remarked this and wondered, why not a big one.” This could be the start of Sarty’s doubting his father’s reasoning. When he asks himself why should not a man who has not only witnessed the waste and extravagance of war but who in his psychological make-up an inherent greed with material not his own, have burned everything he saw? Much older, he might have gone farther and guessed that it was the reason that a small blaze was the outcome nights in the woods, hiding from all men. And older still, he might have divined the true reason that the element of fire spoken to some deep mainspring of his father’s being, as the element of steel or of powder spoke to other men as the one weapon for the preservation of integrity, else breath were not worth the breathing and hence to be regarded with respect and used with discretion. Despite his cruelty and ferocity, Abner Stopes makes a threat which is also a plea to Sarty the night they camp in a grove of oaks and beeches where they eat their frugal dinner. Although very tired and sleepy, the boy rises when his father calls him and he follows the stiff back, the ruthless limp up the slope to the startlit road where he confronted the boy: You were fixing to tell them. You would have told him… you’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you. Mr. Stopes defended himself by telling the boy that all they wanted was a chance to get at his father because they knew “I had them beat”. Twenty years later, the grown-up Sarty realized that if he had said his interlocutors wanted only truth, justice, his father would have hit him again. “Answer me”, barked his father. “Yes”, he whispered. The other characters who are members of the same family – pale by comparison with Abner Snopes and his son, Sarty. It is strange that Snopes was closer to Sarty than to his older brother who appears from somewhere in the crowd, chewing tobacco steadily. Perhaps, Snopes saw in the younger boy someone who could be more easily molded to the father’s satisfaction, although the older boy posed no problem, since he always obeyed his father’s commands and was always quick to obey. The mother seems to be the stereotype sort of mother – caring but never assertive of her rights as a parent in contrast with Sarty who has a fierce and rebellious nature in this brief dialogue: His mother’s hand touched his shoulder. “Does hit hurt?” she said. “Naw”, he said “Hit don’t hurt. Lemme be.” “Can’t you wipe some of the blood off before hit dries?” “I’ll wash tonight,” he said. “Lemme be, I tell you.” When the wagon with the Stopes family arrived at their destination and the aunt and mother got down and proceeded to unload their meager possessions, Sarty’s older brother and the two girls had not moved. Scrutinizing their new quarters, one of the girls remarked, “Likely hit ain’t fitten for hawgs.” The father prodded them to reality by his harsh words, “Likely hit ain’t fitten for hawgs and you’ll hog it and like it. Get out of them chairs and help your Ma unload”. The two sisters got down, big, bovine in a flutter of cheap ribbons… The aunt may be regarded as a non-entity since she is neither described nor “heard” in the story from onset to end; unlike Abner whose presence is felt throughout. “Abner”, his (Sarty’s) mother said. His father paused and looked back – the harsh, level stare beneath the shaggy graying, irascible brows… Sarty realizes from the start that there is something psychologically wrong with his father , but he underestimates his father’s dangerous nature. When the family arrives at the beautiful plantations of major de Spain, Sarty believes that the de Spains are safe from the danger posed by Stopes. People whose lives are a part of the peace and dignity are behind his touch, he no more to them than a buzzing wasp; capable of stinging for a little moment but that’s all. The spell of this place and dignity rendering even the barns and stable and cribs which belong to it impervious to the puny flames he may contrive (Bernardo). Sarty was wrong. His father was capable of burning down a large and beautiful plantation as easily as he could burn a small cow barn. The climax of the story unfolds a scene in which Abner Snopes orders his wife to hold her son to prevent him from warning de Spain that Abner intents to burn his barn. Sarty escapes from his mother’s grasp and rushes to the de Spain residence. After de Spain on horseback passes him, he hears shots ring out and presumes his father to be dead. In the still darkness of the woods, the fear and terror of his father disappears; only grief and despair remain. By aligning himself with de Spain, the boy destroys his father and gains his freedom. At the story’ end , he moves into the future without looking back responding, independent and alone, to the call of the ‘rapid and urgent beating of the urgent and quiring heart of the late spring night, This imagery suggests a feeling of unity with the world of nature, a sense of wholeness as if the boy, at last has found himself (Volpe) It is short stories like “Barn Burning” that have made Faulkner a great writer of fiction. Like most of his other works, this one displays a stream-of consciousness technique which keeps the readers in awe. The growth of Sarty has been witnessed throughout the story earning sympathy and admiration for this little hero. Works Cited Colwell, C. Carter, A Student’s Guide to Literature. Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1968 Faulkner, William. Barn Burning. Grolier Encyclopedia, Grolier, Inc., New York, Vol. VIII. 1961 Kohimetz, Ernest (ed). The Story of American History. Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., Guilford, Conneticut, 1974. Volpe, Edmund L. “’Barn Burning’: A Definition of Evil” in Faulkner: The Unappeased Imagination, ed. Glenn O Carey, Troy NY: Whitson Publishing Co. 1980 Read More