Dec 23, 2009

Barn Burning | Style

Syntax
The most noticeable feature of Faulkner's style, in ''Barn Burning'' and elsewhere, is his syntax or sentence structure. Faulkner's sentences tend to be long, full of interruptions, but work basically by stringing out seemingly meandering sequences of clauses. The second sentence of ‘‘Barn Burning’’ offers a case in point: It is 116 words long and contains between twelve and sixteen clauses, depending on how one parses it out; its content is heterogeneous, moving from Sarty's awareness of the smell of cheese in the general store through the visual...