Analysis Of Barn Burning

He's my father!)" (2176). Upon hearing the hiss of someone accusing his father of burning barns, Sarty feels "the old fierce pull of blood" and is blindly thrust into a fight, only to be physically jerked back by his father's hand and his cold voice ordering him to get in the wagon. As the Snopes' family leaves town, Sarty consoles himself with the hope that this will be the last time his father commits the act that he cannot bring himself to even think of : "Maybe he's done satisfied now, now that he has" (2177). Deep down, Sarty knows his father is not going to end his destructive rampage.

Analysis of The Barn Burning by William Faulkner The short story “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner is about a ten year old boy, Sarty Snopes, who has grown to realize that his father, Abner Snopes, provides a life of “despair and grief” as he refuses to accept the “peace and dignity” generated by the ties with other people. In essence, Sarty is faced with the dilemma of choosing between his family (his blood) and moral conscience of what is right and wrong. Jane Hiles interprets this story to be about blood ties through Sartys character in dealing with his internal conflict with his father. More specifically, Jane Hiles refers to Abners statement, Jane Hiles refers to Abners statement to Sarty, i.e. “You’re getting to be a man.

At this point in the story the main characters, Abner (Ab) and his son, Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) are introduced. Ab is on trial for the malicious burning of a barn that was owned by a wealthy local farmer. For Sarty’s entire life he and his family had been living in poverty. His father, who had always been jealous of “the good life”, takes his frustrations out against the post-Civil war aristocracy by burning the barns of wealthy farmers. As most fathers do, Ab makes the attempt to pass his traits and beliefs on to his son, whom does not necessarily agree nor fully understand his father’s standpoint.

When Henry was a youth at war, he was terrified that someone would find out that he had fled and he was terrified of what people would say if they found out that he had fled, but Henry developed the courage to be able to freely admit to it and even laugh about it. Then, when he was in bed one evening, he arose out of bed to find his drunken help blabbering that the barn was on fire. When Henry ran outside, he discovered that the drunken help’s lantern had caused the fire. Then, without thinking twice, Henry ran into the barn to rescue the animals. He rescued them even after he had been injured by one or more of them.

In Barn burning, Sarty’s father is being tried, but since there is no evidence to prove that he did it, he is ordered to the leave the country. A very harsh image of Sarty’s father is presented when “he followed the stiff black coat, the wire figure walking a little stiffly from where a Confederate provost’s man’s musket ball had taken him in the heel on a stolen horse thirty years ago. ” His son, knows that his father has never been a law abiding. Therefore the bond between them has been broken. It is hard for Sarty to have a sense of loyalty to his father and to do what is right especially when he knows that his father’s actions are wrong.

Not free from punishment of his father, his father takes him aside and asks him if he was going to tell the truth. He ... ... middle of paper ... ... lying, and general unrest had to stop. He ran to big white house where he had first felt freedom and warned them of the trouble that was headed for the barn. He did not let his bare feet slow him down. He outran the master of the house; all he could hear was his “blood and breath roaring.” (199) He continued to run after he heard the shots fired; finally coming to rest on top of a hill.

To understand how this boy could make such a courageous, difficult decision we must review the important events in the story and the effect they have on him. Faulkner’s first introduction of his protagonist, Colonel Sartoris Snopes or Sarty, appears in the second sentence of the story. Sarty is the ten-year old son of a dirt-poor, migrant, tenant farmer, Abner Snopes. Faulkner’s opening scene brings us into a general store that also serves as a make-shift court. Abner is being sued by a neighbor, Mr. Harris, for burning down his barn.

Familial Bonds and Ethical Choices in Barn Burning In Barn Burning, a 10-year old Sartoris Snopes must choose between sticking to his family and making righteous decisions. His father, Abner Snopes, is a Southern tenant farmer who repeatedly burns down the barns of his landlords, so he and his family never stay in one place for too long. During the course of the story, Sartoris vacillates between loyalty to his father and loyalty to society. Ultimately, Sartoris betrays his father by warning the farm owner that his father will burn his barn, getting his father killed. In his short story Barn Burning, Faulkner uses the various characters and their development to elucidate that a familial bond is a substantial force that is difficult to separate from, but breaking the bond is sometimes crucial in order to do what is right.

The "ravening and jealous rage" he feels when seeing DeSpains home for the first time, leads to his desire to destroy it in some way. After deliberateley stepping in horse droppings, he forces himself in the home past the Negro. "The boy saw the prints of the stiff foot on the doorjamb and saw them appear on the pale rug behind the machinelike deliberation of the foot." Upon being asked to leave, "the boy watched him pivot on the good leg and saw the stiff foot drag round the arc [...] leaving a final long and fading smear." Although Abner had not appeared to be aware of the destruction he was doing...

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... ... middle of paper ... ... sets fire to burn down the barn that belongs to the house, he thoroughly despairs of his father. He not only destroys the barn, but also shatters Sarty¡¦s hope.