BackgroundAt the start of this story, we find our anti-hero struggling to support his family as a farmer in an unnamed Southern county. The story explains that some thirty years before, Mr. Snopes made his living as a mercenary and fugitive horse thief during the Civil War. These facts place the story around 1895, just towards the end of the "golden age". It was a time of significant social unrest caused by reconstruction efforts in the South, the beginnings of an economic boom in the North, a massive influx of European immigrants, and the political and social deprivation of racial minority groups and the poor. Snopes' entire life has been spent on the losing side of a class war waged invisibly by those with the means against those who have no idea what's going on or who have no idea what the way to resist it. The life of a farmer, or a sharecropper as the ruling class may try to euphemize it, is not a beneficial life. Under this agricultural system, a generally wealthy landowner hires farmers to live on and farm his land. They then charge rent, usually payable on a portion of the harvested crop. The working farmer at the time of this story, not having convenient access to the equipment available today, was forced to rent equipment from the landowner. This placed the already poor farmer even more indebted to the landowner. This is an age-old strategic tactic used in class warfare. In class warfare, unlike most wars, the goal is not to destroy or eliminate the enemy. In the class struggle, it is very important for the ruling class that the subordinate class does not realize that the war exists. Lulled by the myth of meritocracy, these groups of disadvantaged and poor workers constantly struggle through the middle of paper for eight months and must find other work when winter comes.ConclusionAbner Snopes is by no means a saint. He's a mean, nasty old horse thief turned barn burner. But he is also a champion of the little guy. Although he is uneducated, he is the only character wise enough to see the system for what it is, an arbitrary means of distributing benefits and burdens. He is the only one in the story brave enough to stand up for what he believes is right. For these reasons, this author believes that Abner Snopes, with his unconventional, even questionable methods, is a true American anti-hero and, as such, if he is not worthy of praise, he cannot at the very least be seen as a simple villain. Works CitedFaulkner, W. “Barn Burning.” (2013) Baym, N. (ed.). The Norton Anthology of American Literature. (8th shorter ed.). Flight. A. New York: Norton.