In “Barn Burning,” the theme of loyalty and betrayal contribute greatly to the main conflict of the short story. Abner expects his son to stand wholeheartedly by his actions, right or wrong. Abner assumes that a blood relation entitles him to a lifetime of support, disregarding what his young son may be experiencing. He attempts to train Sarty to build his morals around loyalty to his family, but in reality Abner only wants Sarty to remain loyal to him. Faulkner writes in “Barn Burning,” “you got to learn to stick by your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick by you,” (Faulkner 4). However, Sarty’s conscience is far too heavy to believe this statement. In Short Stories for Students the editor states, “...Sarty expresses his real loyalty to normative ethics, in which revenge is an aberration and aggressive violence is a sin,” (Akers and Moore 8). Sadly, Sarty is forced to make a choice between his father and morals, and morals win. …show more content…
For some reason, Abner is under the impression that he has the authority to define ethical behavior. He fails to look at situations objectively, but acts selfishly to satisfy his desires. Faulkner describes Abner as almost inhuman, as he never feels any guilt for his behavior. Not once does Abner consider the effect he has on Sarty, whose guilt weighs heavy. In “Barn Burning” Faulkner states, “he aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair,” (Faulkner 2). Sarty, almost in a state of depression, sacrifices his happiness for the satisfaction of his father. After a great deal of suffering, Sarty chooses his principles over his
It has been stated that while doing what is right is not always easy, it is in fact doing what is right despite it being difficult that is quite the accomplishment. Justice one finds to be one of the major themes throughout “Barn Burning”. The notion of intuitive justice presents itself as a characteristic explored throughout William Faulkner’s literary masterpiece “Barn Burning” through the protagonist Colonel Sartoris Snopes, also referred to as Sarty throughout “Barn Burning”. Faulkner presents Sarty and demonstrates his sense of justice through literal actions and dramatic context.
In “Barn Burning”, Abner enters the house at dusk and “could smell the coffee from the room where they would presently eat the cold food remaining from the afternoon meal.” (14) A warm meal would indicate fulfillment and cohesiveness within the family. The inclusion of the detail that the food was cold represents an inversion of these associations. The cold meal symbolizes the family’s distaste with Abner’s actions. The memory of the dinner lingers with the family as they get ready for bed and appears linked with negative images of “Where they had been were no long, water-cloudy scoriations resembling the sporadic course of a lilliputian moving machine.” (15) In addition, the emphasis that this dinner was in fact a left-over meal symbolizes that the pattern of Abner’s destructive behavior and its effects on his family will not change.
Throughout the story “Barn Burning”, author William Faulkner conveys the moral growth and development of a young boy, as he must make a critical decision between either choosing his family and their teachings or his own morals and values. The reader should realize that the story “Barn Burning” was written in the 1930’s, a time of economic, social, and cultural turmoil. Faulkner carries these themes of despair into the story of the Snopes family.
William Faulkner, recognized as one of the greatest writers of all time, once made a speech as he accepted his Nobel prize for writing in which he stated that a great piece of writing should contain the truths of the heart and the conflicts that arise over these truths. These truths were love, honor, pity, pride, compassion and sacrifice. Truly it would be hard to argue that a story without these truths would be considered even a good story let alone a great one. So the question brought forward is whether Faulkner uses his own truths of the heart to make his story "Barn Burning." Clearly the answer to this question is yes; his use of the truths of the heart are prevalent
Normally in life, you look up to your father to be the care taker and to encourage you to make your own decisions on what is right and what is wrong. You figure your father should have your best interest at heart and to show compassion for you. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is the opposite of the normal father figure you would see. Rather than encouraging his son, Sarty, to make his own decisions on what is right and what is wrong, Abner wants Sarty to lie for him to protect his freedom, so Abner won’t get caught for burning barns. Abner forces fear into Sarty to make sure he will lie for him rather than tell the truth. The relationship between Abner and Sarty is struggling due to Abners abusiveness and criminal ways.
William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" provides an excellent example of how conflicting loyalties can affect decisions. In Faulkner's story, the main character, Sarty, faces such a dilemma. On one hand, Sarty has the morals that society has instilled in him in spite of his father. One the other hand, Sarty has the loyalty to his father because of the blood ties shared between them and the fact that his father raised and provided for him. Ultimately, it is these conflicting ideas that will lead to Sarty's final decision.
In ¡§Barn Burning¡¨, Sarty¡¦s father enjoys setting fires to burn down others¡¦ properties. Sarty faces the problem between loyalty and honesty. On one hand, he wants to be loyal to his father; on the other hand, he does not endorse his father¡¦s behavior. His father teaches him: ¡§You¡¦re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain¡¦t going to have any blood to stick to you¡¨ (¡§Barn Burning¡¨, 8). His father wa...
In “Barn Burning” the setting is a time when people drove horse wagons and the workingmen were generally farmers. The major character in this story is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, called “Sarty” by his family who is a ten-year-old boy. In the beginning, Sarty is portrayed as a confused and frightened young boy. He is in despair over the burden of doing the right thing or sticking by his family, as his father states,” You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.”
William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.
In “Barn Burning”, Sarty is depicted as being loyal to his father Abner, to the extent
In William Faulkner’s compelling short story, “Barn Burning”, a young boy named Colonel Sartoris Snopes, or Sarty, faces the difficult conflict between his deep desire for justice and his obliged loyalty to his family–specifically his father, Abner. In using a limited omniscient narrator, Faulkner focuses on the main character of Sarty through his thoughts and firsthand experiences, while also producing a greater amount of necessary information to the reader. Sarty’s thoughts during the four days that transpire in the story discern his sense of morality and contrast it to his father’s actions, while the more enlightened aspect of the narrator provides details about the future of Sarty. Faulkner explores a person’s ability to separate from
Contrary to Emily’s father, Abner does so by being both physically and psychologically abusive to his son, Sarty. Abner believes that in order to establish his dominance and teach Sarty how to be a man, he must inflict physical pain on him by striking “him with the flat of his hand on the side of the head, hard but without heat, exactly as he had struck the two mules at the store, exactly as he would strike either of them with any stick in order to kill a horse fly” (Faulkner ###). This induces fear into Sarty’s mind towards his own father. However, Sarty’s whole family is trapped dealing with the consequences of Abner’s never-ending cycle of vengeance and hatred for those who are above him because they are forced to move every time he is found guilty of a crime. When Abner is put on trial for burning down their landlord’s barn, he tries to control Sarty once more by denying him the right to make his own decisions and demands that he lies in court. Even though Sarty ends up not having to testify against his father, he is still punished as Abner harshly scolds him for potentially telling the truth in the courtroom. Sarty is essentially stuck between doing what he believes is right and obeying his father’s
At first glance, the story “Barn burning” seems just to be about a tyrannical father and a son who is in the grips of that tyranny. I think Faulkner explores at least one important philosophical question in this story were he asks at what point should a person make a choice between what his parent(s) and / or family believes and his own values?
Emphasis on family loyalty becomes apparent immediately at the opening of the story, when Sarty is already feeling the "old fierce pull of blood" (400). In front of a Justice of the Peace in a makeshift courtroom, Sarty is already aware that everyone in the court room is not only his father's enemy, but his own as well: ."..our enemy he thought in that despair; ourn! Mine and hisn both! He's my father!" (400) Sarty's father Abner is constantly reminding him of his responsibilities as part of a family and of the importance of family blood, apparent in his comment, "You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you." (402) Sarty knows that his father's habit of burning barns is wrong, but his loyalty to honor and justice almost get the best of him. Sarty nearly confesses the truth when he called to testify, but the Justice of the Peace dismisses him before he can speak.
In the short story “Barn Burning” by author William Faulkner, the story follows a very young boy by the name of Colonel Sartoris Snopes, or Sarty for short. Is the main character in this tale of a moral boy with a very cold and vindictive father who possesses very little morality. The story starts with Sarty being asked to testify against his father in a barn burning incident and right away Sarty’s inner thoughts about truth, justice, and loyalty to family are tested. Sarty’s father is found innocent but told to leave town as soon as possible. They move on to take up work at a farm doing sharecropper work. Once again Sarty’s father has done wrong and young Sarty is forced to choose between family and doing the right thing, his struggle for morality is tested and he is forced to make a dire decision that will go against what his father has taught him all his life.