Barn Burning by William Faulkner: Sarty
The good and the evil surrounding the boy battle for his attention.The boy's awareness is all that the reader sees, and that awarenessdevelops in the course of the story. The boy is introduced in the openinglines, and Faulkner also create a strong picture of the scene in a fewwords: "The store in which the Justice of the peace's court was sittingsmelled of cheese" (2023). The smell of the cheese is more fascinating tothe boy than the proceedings until he is called as a witness, and at thatpoint it is apparent that he has knowledge of the crime and that he willlie because to do otherwise would bring down the wrath of his father on theboy. This happens anyway because the father later says he knows the boywould have told, but at the time the boy says to himself that he will liejust as his father wants. At this stage, his better nature is held incheck, while the father's influence is strong. The father has never beenany good, and the Civil War era helped shape him, as is noted when thewound he received from the military police is noted. The father commits acrime that is considered especially low and cowardly--he commits arson onthe barns of people he believes have slighted him. He does thi
Right wins out over the boy in theend. Snopes is a trueracist as well, and he denigrates blacks because that is the only socialgroup to which he can feel immediately superior. "He would be stronger in the end, he knew that. The boy is thus asmall voice for reason and morality, but this is a voice that remains inhis head. Yet, the boy never completely escapes from the father, though what theboy retains may be, as in this case, more myth than reality. In this sense, the story tells of the way theboy breaks free from the overbearing nature of the father and becomes anindividual capable of expressing his own moral sense. In the end, the boy looks only to the future. The father is the evil influence on the boy, an influence he isfinallly able to escape. The boy changes in the course of the story, changesfrom a shadow of his father, however much he was a reluctant shadow, to anindividual in his own right. It still can give the boy apositive goal and a positive memory among all the hurtful recollections. The boy willsuffer greatly for what he has done because it leads to his father's death,but at the same time there is a sense of relief that the petty terror ofthe father is over. Topic 1: The inner reaction of the boy shows that he has a moralsense his father does not "If I had said they wanted only truth, justice, he would have hit meagain" (2026). The boy emulates thefather to a degree and seeks the father's approval, though he rarely getsit. Topic 2: The boy is thus a small voice for reason and morality, butthis is a voice that remains in his head.
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