"Barn Burning"

"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner is the story of a malevolent man (Abner) and his subjugated family, in particular his young son.  Abner forced his family to move from town to town because of his habit of burning down the barns of people against whom he had a vendetta.  Although he was never exculpated, he was treated with mercy.  He thought he could act out with impunity, but instead he was ostracized by society.  Finally, it is understood that Abner was shot during one of his escapades.  His son, who had been struggling his entire life between trying to pacify his father and preventing him from continuing this sociopathic behavior.  After his father is shot, Sarty is finally free to live without the burden of his father weighing him down.

Although at times it seemed like a herculean task to get through this story, in the end I was thankful to have read it.  At times it was difficult to comprehend the dialect of the characters, but the beauty of the style of his writing more than compensated for this.  I was transfixed by Faulkner's vivid imagery, such as his description of the trial in the grocery store.  I also admired the rhythm of the words in Faulkner's writing, for example "The fear and despair and the old grief of blood."  I could go on and on with a litany of literary elements which Faulkner used, but I'll spare you.  However difficult "Barn Burning" may have been to read, it was well worth the effort.