1. How do Americans typically establish individual independence as teenagers? Do you remember any crucial moment in your own life when you realized that you had to make a choice between what your parent(s) and/or family believed and your own values?
American teens usually establish their independence by railing against authority…they develop a know everything attitude and don’t want to hear adults tell them how it really is. I can remember vividly thinking that my parents were out of touch and had no idea what they were talking about because they weren’t living my life in my time. They just couldn’t understand what my life was all about. That is what I believed at the time and I think this is true for most teens. I think its part of the egocentricity of childhood and not being able to see beyond themselves long enough to know that their parents are just trying to look out for their best interests. However, I also believe this is how teens develop their own ideologies separate from their family. They question what their parents are saying more and begin to see them not as the models of perfection they saw them as in childhood. Once I became a parent I was forced to see what my parents were trying to do but I could also see that I should stay true to myself as well. This may have been my turning point I suppose.
2. Is the destruction of another person's property ever something we can justify? Explain.
I don’t think there is a really good justification for destroying someone else’s property ever. I am from the “do unto others” ideology so I don’t think the destruction of things necessarily proves a good point in the fight to be right or as a revenge tactic.
3. Does it matter that this story is rendered through Sarty's consciousness? What were Faulkner's options, and how would the story be different if he had exercised them?
I think that the story rendered through Sarty’s consciousness gives the reader an insight into what his motives are and why he makes the decisions that he does. In this way too the reader is able to understand the conflict that Sarty faces in being loyal to his father and at the same time not agreeing with what he is doing. I think Faulkner could have told it in a more narrative format and probably gotten the same results but I think it would have been difficult to describe the conflicted feelings of the character of Sarty. However, if he would have told the story as a interpolated tale where there is a story within a story and it may have been a little easier to follow what was going on. At times I wasn’t sure what was happening because it seems that the story was only written from the angle of what Sarty is thinking and feeling and not from the point of view of what is really happening in the story.
4. What are the key symbols in the story, and how do they serve the thematic purposes Faulkner had in mind?
I think the burning of the barn is the key symbol to the story and I believe it represents the idea of Sarty’s beliefs and faith in his father burning away. Maybe, after the burning comes a renewal or rebuilding from the ashes and this is what Sarty has to face now that he has gone against his family. He has to establish a new set of values outside of his family…but perhaps this is something he was developing all along and it finally came to fruition with the barn burning. 5. Do the class issues the story raises have any parallels today?
I do believe that there are parallels in the world today to this story because we still have a lot of working class poor who accept jobs working for the wealthier classes. Many of the upper class society are unaware of the challenges and hardships the working poor have to face and take advantage of their desperation in order to get what they want. I also see the way Mr. Snopes behaved toward the black servant in the story and how he resented having to listen to him and refusing to do so and the consequences of this action. Interesting that Mr. Snopes needed to have someone beneath him in class to disrespect, like the black child. It is still true today that no matter your class standing in society there is still a need for everyone to feel they are above someone else in station.
6. What is the tone of the story, and how is it established.
The tone for the story is the sour way in which Mr. Snopes conducts himself toward his family and society in general. Beginning the story in the makeshift court room really puts a mental image in the readers’ mind as to the disposition of Mr. Snopes and then as the story progresses you see it in the way he treats his wife and children in such a cold manner. There is, however, a few small elements that are thrown in to make you understand why Sarty is torn about going against his father. There are times when he is quiet and sharing with his children, like sharing the lunch of cheese and crackers with his boys. This is a small moment but it demonstrates the small kindnesses that are probably rare but make Sarty feel affection for his father.Writing assignment (blogs): Choose a short story from the Modern period that you like and then explain why you like it. For instance, you might like the humor in a particular story, the method the author uses to characterize an individual, or a particular character or the way the author depicts a particular period in history, and so on.
One of the short stories that stood out for me was “Karintha” from Cane by Jean Toomer. I liked the way he tells this story in the 3rd person narrative; it lends a more dramatic flair to the tale of Karintha. The rich descriptions of Karintha as a beautiful and free spirited child who gets what she wants from men, or more than likely gets what she doesn’t want from them too soon. The artistic way that he shares the story of the exploitation of a young black woman and gives such vivid detail in her experience with it is like nothing else I have read before. Her story, when told in this style, has a very dramatic effect; it speaks of her soul in a detached way that shows the coldness with which men have treated her. It speaks of her beauty and yet of how this beauty doesn’t capture for her anything but sorrow, which is one of the plights of women, especially for one who’s “skin is like dusk on the eastern horizon.”
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