William Faulkner Barn Burning
"A man's moral conscience is the curse he had to accept from the gods in order to gain from them the right to dream." A quote by William Faulkner is always a good way to begin analyzing his work. As a complex man of many words Faulkner applies this theory of mankind to a young boy in the short story Barn Burning. In the story, Faulkner brings to life the young boy living in the shadow of his callous father and the struggles he overcomes with himself and society. Sarty, the young boy, develops awareness of social authority, class distinctions, and conflicting family and social values causing contrast of his views as a child and his views as a grown man. As a young boy Sarty admires his father from head to toe and will stand in awe of his forcefulness and strength as a grown man. As shown in the first scene in the Justice of the Peace's court Sarty is found to be talking to himself, "(our enemy he thought in despair; ourn! mine and hisn both! He's my father!)" It must be noted that the capitalization error on "mine" was the work of William Faulkner and could denote the innocence and carelessness of the boys thoughts. As the story continues from conflict to conflict Sarty becomes aware of the conflicts the
Although Sarty and Major de Spain aren't stated to have a relationship of sorts, Major de Spain does have a huge impact in Sarty's realization of his family's class distinction. Before his father leaves, the last words Sarty heard of Abner's, were instructions for his sisters and mother to hold him back. Because, for all the twelve movings, the had sojourned until now in poor country, a land of small farms and fields d houses, and he had never seen a house like this before. William Faulkner presents a story with great foreshadowing and veiled meaning. In his world of confusion Sarty is sent to the barn to retrieve a can of oil for his father and even though Sarty knows what it's for he quickly returns with it. When Sarty runs away at the end of the story there's a clear distinction of his confused views. Sarty's father, Abner, is an unfortunate, short-tempered, traveling worker and burns down the barns of enemies as a form of revenge. Sarty however solidifies his justification in the end, "He did not look back. y face and how they have become of them. As stated above Sarty supports his father as he walks out of the court stone faced turning away from the judge and plaintiff.
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Acceptance Essays
