Good And Evil In Barn Burning By William Faulkner

In a young boy’s life, making the morally right choice can be difficult especially when the choice goes against someone that is suppose to be respected, such as a parent. “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner is a coming of age story about a son of a poor and evil sharecropper. Showing the difference between good and evil, Faulkner uses character descriptions and plot, revealing Sarty’s struggles’s as he chooses between making the morally right decision or to be loyal to a dishonest father.

The description of the father’s character and plot shows his evilness. Abner is described as having an “inscrutable face and gray eyes” which, Faulkner writes, “glinted coldly” (342). Describing the father’s voice, as “cold and harsh” and the fact Abner often wears a stiff black coat paints a picture of evil in the reader’s mind (340). Making the connection with the color black to represent evil, Faulkner often uses black when describing the father. For example, when Sarty states that he “could see his father against the stars, but without a face or depth, sharp, black, flat, and bloodless as though cut from tin in the iron folds of the frock coat, the voice harsh like tin and without heat like tin” (341). Thorough out the story, the father burns down barns of people that he assumes are his enemies. The father resents rich people, and he does not financially support his family adequately, placing the family in the low income class. Faulkner represents a good versus evil theme through the plot. During the first conflict in the story, the justice of the peace is described as being “kindly [and one could not] discern that his voice was troubled when he spoke”(340). If Sarty could have seen the kindness of the justice of the peace, Sarty may ha...

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...eing killed by the land owner. Although his father dies, Sarty’s decision frees him from terror but not grief and despair. Sarty rationalizes the death and evil of his father by thinking, “He was brave!... He was in the war!. . .He was in Colonel Sartoris cavalry” (349). The young Sarty did not know his father was a mercenary soldier and fought only for money, not honor.

Struggles with learning lessons in life can be challenging. Learning to make good choices in life and lead a life of righteousness can prove difficult, especially when dealing with family members who don’t make the right choices themselves. It’s hard to make good life choices when surrounded by people who are always making the wrong choice and lying. Parents should be respected, trustworthy and role models for developing minds of their children. Like life, not every choice can be black or white.