Abner Snopes is a thoughtless force of violence and destruction. With his family he is stiff, without depth, emotion, or complexity. This stiffness makes him seem almost less than human, and Faulkner often characterizes Snopes in metallic terms, portraying him as iron like, cut from tin, a mechanical presence whose lack of emotion underscores his compromised sense of morality. Snopes’s physical presence fully reflects the inner corruption and love of revenge that he embodies. Because Snopes is wholly unable to express himself articulately or intelligently, his sole recourses for self-expression are violence and cruelty. These tactics have overtaken his worldview so completely that they have infused his sense of who he is. Not satisfied with confining his deep unhappiness to his personal realm, Snopes seems to befoul everything he touches, and he becomes almost bestial in his lack of regard for others. Abner Snopes’s bad attitude and bitterness does not change throughout the story, in fact it gets worse. He doesn’t care for others, and he does not care if he hurts others feelings. In the de Spain home, Snopes intentionally steps in horse manure and tracks it throughout the house. He ruined their expensive carpet, and didn’t think twice about it. His behavior is definitely criminal. All of the things he is doing are to hurt other people, or for revenge. He is definitely not heroic in my eyes, because heroes help people, and heroes care about other peoples feelings and their
