What Does Fire MeanThe campfire scene in Faulkner's story Burning Barn explains and shows many different characteristics of the Snopes family. The family is on their way to a new farm to work because Abner the furthest away was forced to leave the other where they were because he burned down the barn. Later in the story we find out that they are heading to Major de Spain's house. The family stops to rest for the night in an oak grove near a stream. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. First, Faulkner describes the place where the family has decided to camp for the night. “That night they camped in a grove of oaks and beeches where a spring flowed.” Groves of trees are considered pleasant places and sometimes reflect the wealth of families. The grove of oak and beech trees may indicate that the family resided on a well-established landowner's property, perhaps that of Major de Spain. There was also a stream nearby, which could be why the family decided to camp there for the night. Then the family had to make a fire to keep warm that night. “The nights were still cool and they had a fire against it, from a rail lifted from a nearby fence and cut into lengths a small fire. » The family then lights a fire in the grove, but instead of collecting the branches that have fallen from the grove. trees they choose to damage someone else's property using a fence rail instead. This again shows how Snopes acted and didn't care about damaging someone else's property, like Abner doesn't care when he burns down someone's barn. If Abner has no shame in burning down someone's barn, he certainly wouldn't mind breaking and burning a piece of someone's fence. The next line goes into more detail to describe and show Abner's character. “A small fire, neat, almost stingy, a clever fire: such fires were his father's habit”, this shows the character of Abner, always obliged to do what he wants and not caring about anyone around of him. Even though the night was cold, Abner only made a small fire, he refused to make a big fire. This may be because when Abner was hiding during the war, he always lit small fires so no one would find him and since he is a determined character and refuses to change, he keeps lighting small fires. However, there is another theory as to why Abner only makes small fires, which Sarty realizes in the following lines. Sarty then reflects on the real reason why his father lights such small fires, it was not to remain hidden but "that the element Fire spoke to a deep spring of his father's being, like the elements of fire. Steel or power spoke to other men, as the only weapon for the preservation of integrity, otherwise the breath was not worth breathing and therefore had to be viewed with respect. and used with discretion. This shows how Abner might view fire as his weapon, just as a soldier views his rifle as a weapon. Abner behaves as if fire gives him power and control over people, it is his only weapon against the rich like Major de Spain. Without fire, Abner would be unarmed and mentally helpless. So he might have viewed fire as something that did not need to be wasted on something like heat, but was saved for something greater like burning barns. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get now.