William Faulkners Barn Burning An Indicative of...

There are several ways in which William Faulkners short story Barn Burning is indicative of literary modernism. It depicts a relevant historical period and is part of the frontiersman literary tradition (Gleeson-White, 2009, p. 389). The author utilizes a number of purely literary approaches that were innovative for the time period in which the tale was originally published (in 1932), such as employing a young child as a narrator complete with misspelled words and broken, puerile thoughts. However, the most eminent way in which this story embraces the tradition of literary modernism is in the authors rendition of dynamic social conventions that were in a state of flux at the time of the writing. Specifically, his treatment of race is the inverse of how race is generally portrayed in American literature prior to the early part of the 20th century. An analysis of this integral component of Barn Burning reveals that Faulkners unconventional rendering of African American characters in a desirable social status particularly as compared to that of the Snopes clan is crucial to this tales inclusion as part of the tradition of literary modernism. In the majority of American literature that was written prior to the advance of the 20th century, African Americans were either depicted as slaves or servants and were certainly relegated to the nadir of society. Virtually the only time their characters were given any form of substantial development was in slave narratives orShow MoreRelated Words and Images in Faulkners As I Lay Dying Essay3612 Words   |  15 PagesWords and Images in Faulkners As I Lay Dying Maybe I will end up in some kind of self-communion -- a silence -- faced with the certainty that I can no longer be understood. The artist must create his own language. This is not only his right but his duty. ----------- William Faulkner Virginia Woolf observes that painting and writing have much to tell each other; they have much in common. The novelist after all wants to make us to see (22). Indeed, many movements in the visual arts during