A character's development is often portrayed through long periods of near stagnancy, culminating in a sudden moment of enlightenment. For Sartoris Snopes in William Faulkner's "Barn Burning", an epiphany put to end a life long inner battle between family loyalty and personal morality. Sarty's grand epiphany came to him as he ran to get a can of oil from his father's barn, but was brought about by Abner's conflicts with Mr. Harris and Major De Spain, and Sarty's revelations about the behavior of his father.
             "Barn Burning" begins amidst both the accusations of Abner setting Mr. Harris' barn on fire, and Sarty's inner conflict over whether or not Mr. Harris was his enemy. Though it goes unspoken, it is clear that Sarty is not completely sure whether or not Mr. Harris has really wronged his father. Through the author's tone, it is implied that Sarty had to force himself to think, "our enemy...mine and his both!" (Faulkner 1). Faulkner writes that Sarty "thought in despair...He's my father!" (Faulkner 1), showing that Sarty was unhappy with his forced hatred of Mr. Harris. Sarty knew that it was Abner's refusal to fence in his hog that caused the confrontation with Mr. Harris. When the judge asked Sarty to testify, Sarty's inner turmoil was shown in his inability to deny that his father was involved in the burning of Mr. Harris' barn. Sarty's inner conflict is temporarily subdued when Abner tells him, "You got to learn to stick to your blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you." (Faulkner 28).
             Major De Spain represented a new beginning for the Snopes family. Sarty thought, "Maybe it will even change him now..." (Faulkner 40), which implied that Sarty was happy with his new surroundings, and that he knew that his father had no reason to be disrespectful to Major De Spain. By the end of the first trip to the h...