A Critical Approach to Faulkner's "Barn Burning"
             In "Barn Burning," by William Faulkner, a tenant farming family is forced to move after the father, Abner, set fire to his neighbor's barn. Abner did this in retaliation of the neighbor's keeping Abner's hog that kept getting in the neighbor's yard. This was the twelfth time in ten years that the family had to move due to Abner's fierce anger and vengeful acts. Upon their arrival at their new tenant farm, Abner and his youngest son, Sarty, take a stroll up to the main house to speak with the landowner, Major de Spain. When they arrived at the main house, Abner purposely stepped in manure before entering the house. He refused to wipe his feet even though he was told to do so. He rubbed the manure in, staining the expensive rug, and refused to clean it. The Major then took Abner to court. Sarty, a ten-year-old boy, knew his father expected him to lie, and he was torn between remaining loyal to his father and doing what was right. The Justice of the Peace ordered Abner to repay the Major with ten bushels of corn from his crop. That night, in retaliation Abner decides to burn Major de Spain's barn. Abner Snopes was a hard man who expected his family to accept his beliefs, without question. He was a man full of bitterness and anger who felt it the right thing to do to take vengeance upon anyone who did him wrong. Sarty, his youngest son, dealt with an inner conflict of remaining loyal to his father and family ties and doing what was morally right. Sarty, after much inner conflict, ran to warn de Spain of his father's intentions. He heard two gun shots and realized that his father had been killed. Instead of returning home, Sarty ran away and never looked back. He felt a little guilty, but mostly relieved that he was at last free of that lifestyle and the inner conflict. Throughout the story, Sarty was torn between...