Barn

Gusts of wind howl against the barn walls and creaks sound while they rock in place. The animals are quiet today, since they’ve been fed hours earlier. Scattered around the field, the farm equipment stand still and driverless, as if frozen in motion. Then the ground begins to rumble, distressing the animals from their midday sleep. Howls and clucks sound from inside the barn, going down the rows of animals as each one awakes another. The corn crops begin to wilt until there’s nothing left on the field. A dark shadow grows over the field of brown crops and the barn is now engulfed in flames. Sizzling and crackling the barn continues to burn until nothing is left. Eventually the fire also stops after burning itself out and the animals are all quiet again. 

Barn Reflection:

In past writing assignments, I have never been asked to write about something with out explicitly stating it. Having to avoid mentioning it made it a little more difficult to figure out how to go with the barn story. However, I liked how it made me force myself to look at war from a different perspective. In this assignment, I chose to use the barn to represent the effect war can have and the aftermath  of it. I wanted to include how there is life before war, however war causes enough chaos and destruction to wipe out things completely. I used the calling animals to represent thriving life before the fire happened. Another example used to represent life before war are the corn crops. Before war, the corn is growing normally, however war causes a lot of famine and the wilted and burned crops are used to represent that. My parents had personal experiences with the Vietnam War and not a lot to eat. I recall my mom telling me about how she and her whole family had to share small amounts of eggs and rice that they had. The fire was used to show what happens during war and that it pretty much kills what it touches. The animals couldn’t escape the fire, just like how a lot of people today can’t escape war. Today, a lot of people are chased by war and can’t do anything to prevent it. The fire ended however, just like how war will eventually end.There is finally peace when the fire is down, hence the silence post-war. However this silence is different because the reader knows the barn has burned down completely. 

I believe that writing can be pretty much about anything. There shouldn’t be rules about it saying to write about anything because then it becomes hypocritical.