Setting and Theme William Faulkner’s short story, “Barn Burning, is a classic piece of American literature. It was written in 1939 and takes places during the Post-Civil war era (“Past and Present” 30). In it, the setting and the theme of the story play an important part in enhancing the tale and in sparking interest in writings about the south. “Barn Burning” is a story about a ten-year-old boy named Colonel Sartoris Snopes. Him and his family are constantly having to move because his father, Abner Snopes, is consistently burning down his employer’s barns because he feels that they are defiling his dignity and integrity because they are rich and he is poor (Haisty 158). His views are warped as he feels he is in the right by burning their barns, yet his son is able to see the truth and that his father is in the wrong by doing this. The story is about his struggle between family loyalty and seeing that justice and the truth prevail. He eventually makes the choice and alerts his father’s new employer, Major de Spain, as Abner is in the process of setting his barn on fire. As Sartoris runs after de Spain while he is going to stop Abner, he hears two shots and stops. He then begins to run in the opposite direction where he goes off into the woods and spends the night. In the morning, he sets off away from his remaining family to begin his new life alone. The setting of the story takes place in theold south during the planting season. We know it is the planting season because during the story Sartoris and his brother are tilling the fields for planting. The time and setting help out the play greatly because of when and where they are. Faulkner used this story to help get his thoughts about black sharecroppers out. He was angered how there are poor white folks having to compete with black sharecroppers for work (Pierce 855). If the story was set in this day and age it would have been totally different and the meaning would have been altered and...