In the story Barn Burning by William Faulkner and in the poem Nighttime Fires By Regina Barreca we encounter fathers who react to their situation using fires. Their need for revenge against society affects their families as they become involved. The fathers are disappointed by society and fire helps them to articulate their feelings of isolation or alienation from their societies.
Abner Snopes, a sharecropper in Barn Burning is an angry man; he resents the aristocratic class in the society. He feels powerless before the rich and he looks for a way to take some of this power from them through the destruction of the things that the rich own. When he visited Major De Spain’s house he stepped on his rug and was told to fix it. After it was washed, Abner dragged it along the ground and destroyed it beyond repair. Thus, he was fined a heavy penalty that he could not afford. To get back at his employer he burned down Major De Spain’s barn. He was also a very shrewd person and managed to get away with burning barns, as he never left any evidence behind that would link him to the crimes. Abner Snopes is therefore an arsonist who rejoices in destroying barns and forces his family to go along with his plans. He makes his son Sarty an accomplice in his wrongdoings as he claims that blood ties are more important than society.” You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you” (Faulkner 1). This utterance by Snopes shows how isolated he felt because he believed no one in the society would stick with them thus they had to stick together as a family.
On the other hand, the father in Nighttime fires is similar to Abner Snopes in that he is also angry at society after having lost his job. The father also uses fire to express his feelings of alienation from society. Through the narration of his daughter, we see how he enjoyed the misery of the rich. He has nothing to do except sit at home reading old newspapers and filling crosswords. This idleness angers him and to express his feelings he prefers to watch night fires in the leafy neighborhoods.
The two fathers are also similar as they involved their families in the fires. The father would usually take his family to the rich neighborhoods at night to see night fires as they razed down the rich peoples’ property after hearing the siren of the fire engines. His facial expressions showed clearly, what was in his heart as the daughter puts it, “His face lit up in the heat given off by the destruction” (Barreca 1). More so, the father would smile especially if he saw any type of car in the driveway of the burning house, as he knew it would also be destroyed.
The fathers were different in that the father in Nighttime Fires was not an arsonist unlike Abner Snopes; he only enjoyed watching the destruction caused by the fire. Snopes confronted the people in the society that angered him directly unlike the father who did it indirectly by enjoying the loss caused by fires and he would watch until there was nothing to burn then drive his family back home.
Using fire both Abner Snopes and the father feel vindicated against the society that they feel has treated them unfairly by denying them an equal opportunity that the rich enjoy. The two fathers are frustrated by their economic situations and thus become very angry individuals. The anger makes them enjoy the destruction that the fire causes to the rich in the society as it makes them feel as if the rich have paid for their unfairness. The fire becomes their only source of revenge against society. Therefore, from the actions of the two fathers, we can see that people in the society may opt to react to inequality by engaging in crime. However, there is hope, as the children of the fathers do not seem to share in the opinion of their vengeful fathers.
Works Cited
Barreca, Regina. web.me.com. 1986. Web.
Faulkner, William. rajuabju.com n.d. Web.