Burning Barns And Broken Dreams: A Marxist Exploration Of Faulkner’s Selected Short Stories

Abstract

William Faulkner’s short stories offer a profound exploration of the American South, a region shaped by its unique historical and socio-economic realities. Through works like “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning,” Faulkner delves into the complexities of the Southern myth—a constructed narrative idealizing the South’s antebellum past. A Marxist approach to these stories unveils how the Southern myth serves as an ideological tool to perpetuate class hierarchies, maintain economic exploitation, and mask the contradictions inherent in the social structure of the postbellum South. Faulkner’s stories highlight the contradictions within the Southern myth, exposing its reliance on exploitation and its failure to address the realities of economic and racial inequality. The myth glorifies aristocratic values while neglecting the labour and suffering of enslaved and working-class people who supported the Southern economy. Faulkner’s portrayal of these dynamics underscores the role of ideology in maintaining social hierarchies and suppressing revolutionary potential.