Preface

This lesson plan uses the coming of age theme as an entry point into William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” through which students can begin to explore the historical and cultural context of Yoknapatawpha County. In pairing “Barn Burning” with Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” students will compare two stories of adolescent boys confronted with the socio-economic and racial barriers presented by Jim Crow era sharecropping. Both Sarty’s and Dave’s coming of age stories will be presented as opportunities to analyze how an economic institution like sharecropping can constrain individuals based on their race and class.

Activities

1. Understanding the Coming of Age Genre

Study: “How to Write a Coming of Age Story”

Read Masterclass’s article “How to Write a Coming of Age Story”.
Woman and children picking cotton. Photograph possibly related to other photographs in Lauderdale County, Mississippi

Respond: Discussion Questions

After you have completed reading the article, write short responses to the following questions:
  1. Based on the content of the article, why do you think coming of age is such a popular genre?
  2. What features of a coming of age story would appeal to young people?
  3. If you were to write a coming of age story about your own life, what would be the central moment in your life that it would focus on?
  4. For Sarty, it is the moment he disobeys his father and for Dave, it is the moment he shoots the mule. What would this moment be for you? What did this moment teach you on your path to adulthood?

2. Exploring The History of Sharecropping

Study: Article and Video

Instructions

Read PBS’s article on Sharecropping and watch the short videos at the bottom of the page.

“Sharecropping is a system where the landlord/planter allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop. This encouraged tenants to work to produce the biggest harvest that they could, and ensured they would remain tied to the land and thus unlikely to leave for other opportunities.”

PBS, “Sharecropping”

Respond

Please write a response to the following questions:
  1. Based on the article and the videos, why have historians criticized the practice of sharecropping? What aspects of sharecropping have been deemed unfair?
  2. Factor what you learned about sharecropping into your reading of “Barn Burning” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”. How might learning about the history of sharecropping help to explain some of the choices that Sarty and Dave make in their stories?
These cotton hoers work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for one dollar near Clarksdale, Mississippi

3. Visualizing Sharecropping Through Historical Photos

Explore

Walkthrough: Photo Collection

Digital Yoknapatawpha has a curated collection of photographs from different archives. The photos can either be viewed by archive or by the location where the photo was taken.

The majority of the photos from the Library of Congress archive were taken in the 1930s by photographers working for the Farm Security Administration. They tend to focus on the lives of non-white and poor white Mississippi sharecroppers.

Although Faulkner set his story in the 1890s, the system of sharecropping only changed slightly with the introduction of new technologies. The pictures are therefore representative of what sharecroppers and their communities would have looked like when both Faulkner and Wright wrote their stories.

Instructions
  1. From the DY Main Menu, choose:
    • Visualizations
    • Photographs
    • by Repository
  2. Click “From the photograph collections at the Library of Congress”
  3. Scroll down through the pictures
  4. Click on the image to see more detail
  5. Consider how these photos of real-life sharecroppers compare to how you imagined their lives to be like when you read the stories.

Respond

Please write a response to the following questions:
  1. Choose one photo that best represents what you think Sarty’s life was like in “Barn Burning”. This can be a photo that represents himself, his family, his community, his work, etc. Explain what part of Sarty’s life is similar to what you see in this photo and why.
  2. Choose another photo that best represents what you think Dave’s life was like in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”. This can be a photo that represents himself, his family, his community, his work, etc. How does this representation of Dave’s life compare to the representation you chose for Sarty’s life? How are they both similar and different?

4. Analyzing Setting and Characterization

Explore: Finding Locations

Walkthrough: Locations on the Main Map Display
  1. From the Digital Yoknapatawpha homepage, select “Barn Burning” from the bookshelf.
  2. Hover over the map icons until you find “Sharecropper’s Cabin” (icon for house)
  3. Click on the icon
    • A location record will pop up in a new window
  4. Read the description of the location
  5. Repeat these steps for “De Spain Mansion” (icon for cabin)

Respond: Analyzing Locations

Questions
  1. Compare and contrast how “Sharecropper’s Cabin” and “De Spain’s Mansion” are described.
  2. How do these descriptions clue us into the class differences between the Snopes family and the DeSpain family?
  3. Imagine you were creating an interactive map like this for “The Man Who Was Almost A Man”. If you were to describe the difference in socio-economic status between the Saunders family and the Hawkins family, which two quotes would you pick from the story and why? Are there any significant differences?
House of sharecroppers near Pace, Mississippi. Background photo for Sunflower Plantation

Explore: Finding Characters

Walkthrough: Characters on the Main Map Display
  1. From the Digital Yoknapatawpha homepage, select “Barn Burning” from the bookshelf.
  2. Click on “Show Characters” at the left of the map.
  3. Click on “Major & Secondary”
  4. Locate the characters “Sarty Snopes,” “Abner Snopes,” “Lennie,” and “Major De Spain” by hovering over the map.
    • You can also isolate individual characters by pulling up the Alphabetic List, ticking the check box for a character, and clicking show.
  5. Click on the characters to read their character description and the scenes in which they are involved.

Respond: Analyzing Characters

Questions
  1. Take note of what you learned about the Snopes family and their employer, Major De Spain. Based on these descriptions and the events they participated in, what do we know about their identities and backgrounds? How does this information help to explain the motivations behind some of the ideas they express and actions they take?
  2. Next, compare these characters to their counterparts in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”: Dave, Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, and Mr. Hawkins. In what ways are they similar and different?
  3. If you were to write your own character descriptions for “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” what details about their background and events they participated in would you include to help explain the motivations for their mindsets and actions?
Daughter of Cube Walker, Negro tenant purchase client, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, bringing home cow from the fields in the evening. Mississippi Delta, Mississippi

Final Product

In an answer of at least 300 words, respond to the following prompt. Include at least one key quote from Faulkner and one key quote from Wright to support your argument.

  1. In studying the history of sharecropping in the South, we learned that it enforced a socio-economic class divide and exacerbated racial inequities during the era of Jim Crow segregation. For this response, compare how Faulkner and Wright depict the impact of sharecropping on class and racial division.
  2. How does the class divide and racial discrimination impact both Dave and Sarty as they attempt to assert themselves as individuals?
  3. How might these institutional barriers shape how they try to find autonomy and react to the adversity that they both face? Focus on core similarities while also exploring how their different racial identities and ages give context to the decisions they make as they come of age in the story.
  4. Consider the similar endings to the stories. Why is it significant that they both flee their farms at the end of their stories?

Assignment Resources

Teaching Resources