Abner Snopes In Barn Burning

In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," class is a major part of the setting that gives us a better understanding of the background of Sarty's struggle with issues of morality.
The Snopes family lives in a post-Civil War South. They are sharecroppers, which puts them at the bottom of socio-economic totem pole, since they do not own land, and can only rent it. The only group of people positioned lower than them are the blacks, and after they were freed from slavery, by necessity they had to compete for work with the white sharecroppers - a fact that Abner Snopes resented with passion.
The Snopeses are very poor. We see it in the opening scene, in the way Sarty's pants are too small for him, he is hungry, and he can't read. The way they speak also shows
lack of education and low status. Their meager belongings fit on a mule wagon and include “the battered stove, the broken beds and chairs…” (86) Their lodgings are also nowhere near adequate for such a big family, but they have no choice other than accepting what their landlord provides.
Abner Snopes is a very angry man. He perceives the world as a constant conflict between “us” (the family) and “them” (the higher classes). Abner resents the position he is in, and blames all of the people who have what he doesn’t for it. His feelings are best shown when he explained to his wife why he is going to see Major de Spain : “I reckon I’ll have a word with the man that aims to begin tomorrow owning me body and soul for the next eight months.” (87)
It would seem that Abner’s problem with higher classes arises mostly to the fact that he is being oppressed by the wealthy, stuck in his rut and that there is no way out for him.
Unfortunately, Abner does not even try to improve his lot in life. His situation is complicated by his lack of moral compass and his psychological issues. We are told that Abner participated in the Civil War, but he did not fight for his ideals, or freedom, or any such goal: “[he] had gone to that war a private in the fine old European sense, wearing no uniform, admitting the authority of and giving fidelity to no man or army or flag […]” (96) He was a horse thief, and he was stealing indiscriminately from both sides. This lack of morals is evident after the war, also. He is in constant enraged state and rights the wrongs done to him by burning the offender’s barn, exhibiting no respect for other people’s property, or the law, for that matter. He does not see that living within the limits of socially acceptable behavior is a way to improve oneself. There is an interesting paradox here in the way that Abner, a man without any loyalty to anybody, demands absolute and unconditional loyalty from his family, and Sarty in
particular. Abner’s psychological problems are evident in the way he responds to provocations – with single-minded violence and destruction, and also in the escalation of his violence - he goes out of his way to create a conflict that he will then solve by burning something. There was absolutely no need for him to soil the rug in the de Spains house. He stepped into the horse droppings on purpose, even though - as Sarty thinks to himself - “…his father could have avoided [it] by a simple change of stride.” (88) Abner makes things even worse when he lets his daughters “clean” the rug with lye and then uses a sharp stone on it. Again, we see that there is no contrition, no attempt to actually fix things ot seek redemption.
In the end, what keeps that keep Abner Snopes where he is are several issues. Class is one of them, but he compounds it by the way he creates conflicts and solves them with violence, and as a result his family can never stay in one place long, which permanently destroys any chance (no matter how small it may be) that they might have had of making a better life for themselves.