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Abner Snopes asserts his independence, his defiance, and his own view of justice through fire – by setting fire to the barns owned by those who he feels have slighted him. But fire, in “Barn Burning,” is not solely related to Abner—it is a generally ambivalent element that can signal both creative power and comfort as well as destruction. The Snopes family, for instance, crouches around a small, “neat” fire while they are between homes on the road, using the fire to warm themselves, to cook, and to keep themselves comfortable by a potent source of light. Fire was, after all, necessary to the development of civilization at all. And yet this same element can also be used for destruction and retribution, as Abner lights up both Mr. Harris’s barn and Major de Spain’s, enlisting both Sarty’s brother and Sarty (at least at first) in these tasks by filling up cans of kerosene. While fires can be restrained through vigilance—Abner’s neat, “niggardly” (that is, stingy) fire is an example—they can also quickly careen out of control. Fire’s dual function thus represents the junction between authority, control, and desperation at which the Snopes family’s experiences are located.
Fire Quotes in Barn Burning
The Barn Burning quotes below all refer to the symbol of Fire. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Barn Burning
Quotes
And older still, he might have divined the true reason: that the element of fire spoke 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.
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But there was no glare behind him now and he sat now, his back toward what he had called home for four days anyhow, his face toward the dark woods which he would enter when breath was strong again, small, shaking steadily in the chill darkness, hugging himself into the remainder of his thin, rotten shirt, the grief and despair now no longer terror and fear but just grief and despair. Father. My father, he thought.
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Get the entire Barn Burning LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fire Symbol Timeline in Barn Burning
The timeline below shows where the symbol Fire appears in Barn Burning. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Barn Burning
The family camps that night and makes a small, neat fire, something the father excels at. If Sarty was older, he might have wondered why the...
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And if Sarty was even older, the story suggests, he might have realized that fire spoke to something deep inside his father and was his only weapon. Now, though, Sarty...
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...bushels, that somehow the whole thing will all balance out between the corn, rug, and fire, or between the terror and grief.
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