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Character analysis of barn burning
Literary analysis of barn burning
Character analysis of barn burning
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Sarty's betrayal of his father in William Faulkner's story "Barn Burning" is justified. The reader is introduced to Sarty's father as he is being tried for burning the barn of Mr. Harris. Lacking evidence, the Justice of the Peace drops the charges against Abner Snopes, Sarty's father, and he is ordered to leave the country. A harsh image of Sarty's father is presented in the line, "he [Sarty] followed the stiff black coat, the wiry figure walking a little stiffly from where a Confederate provost's man's musket ball had taken him in the heel on a stolen horse thirty years ago" (2177). The reader is given insight into Snopes' shady past and learns he has never been a law-abiding citizen. Sarty's inner turmoil centers around his sense of loyalty to his father and his own conflict with knowing his father's actions are wrong. Through Faulkner's use of stream-of-consciousness narration, the reader is aware of Sarty's thoughts. In one instance, Sarty alludes to Mr. Harris as "his father's enemy (our enemy he thought in that despair, ourn, mine and hisn both! He's my father!)" (2176). Upon hearing the hiss of someone accusing his father of burning barns, Sarty feels "the old fierce pull of blood" and is blindly thrust into a fight, only to be physically jerked back by his father's hand and his cold voice ordering him to get in the wagon. As the Snopes' family leaves town, Sarty consoles himself with the hope that this will be the last time his father commits the act that he cannot bring himself to even think of : "Maybe he's done satisfied now, now that he has" (2177). Deep down, Sarty knows his father is not going to end his destructive rampage. Ten-year-old Sarty cannot understand the true reasons for his father's actions: "that the element of fire spoke to some deep mainspring of his father's being," and, even more importantly, the fire served as "the one weapon for the preservation of [his] integrity" (2178). Sarty's thoughts when he realizes he might be questioned regarding the barn burning reflect the fear and despair he experiences: "He aims for me to lie. And I will have to do hit" (2176). Later, Sarty's father violently reminds him that blood is thicker than water when he accuses Sarty of being ready to betray him.
Sarty's main dilemma is his loyalty to his family, which collides with his disappointment and suppressed dislike for his own father. He tends to hide his feelings by denying the facts, "our enemy he thought in that despair: ourn! mine and his both! He's my father!" (Faulkner 171). Sarty appears to be fearful of his father: "If I would have said they wanted only truth, justice, he would have hit me again. But now he said nothing. He was not crying. He jut stood there." (Faulkner 173)
William Faulkner tells his novel The Unvanquished through the eyes and ears of Bayard, the son of Confederate Colonel John Sartoris. The author’s use of a young boy during such a turbulent time in American history allows him to relate events from a unique perspective. Bayard holds dual functions within the novel, as both a character and a narrator. The character of Bayard matures into a young adult within the work, while narrator Bayard relays the events of the story many years later.
In the beginning of the story, Sarty originally stands by his father and backs him up when he is put under pressure or when accused of committing whatever it could be. However, throughout the novel, Sarty begins to see his father’s true colors and the horrible man he actually is. When Sarty sees De Spain’s mansion, it gives him hope that having his father work in a place that stands for “peace and dignity” would terminate his father’s bad behavior for good. However, the moment when Abner said “get out of my way (N-word)”, he knew that there was no going back to the way things used to be (pg 10 and 11). This was his realization that his father was a villain. Sarty dreamed of having the life that De Spain did. A nice house, people who worked for him, wealth, and success. Realizing that if he stayed with his nomadic family who spent their time living in a wagon and covering for their father’s actions, he would be stuck forever unsuccessful and poor. What astonishes this choice is that even at ten years of age, Sarty is mature enough to realize that his father is a bad person and that he can have a better life where he can live his life the way he wants to and make his own decisions. Maybe Sarty thought that he could have a better life, away from the negative influence that Abner displayed. When he heard the gunshots, he knew that his father was dead and it gave him a legitimate reason to leave his family and start fresh, just like Huck Finn. Sarty does not look back because maybe there’s a side of him that is embarrassed to be Abner’s son and a desire to be free from being Abner’s son, although he praises him as “brave” and a man of “Colonel Satoris’ cavalry” (pg
At first glance, the story “Barn burning” seems just to be about a tyrannical father and a son who is in the grips of that tyranny. I think Faulkner explores at least one important philosophical question in this story were he asks at what point should a person make a choice between what his parent(s) and / or family believes and his own values?
Throughout the middle of the short story, Sarty is involved in a couple dramatic events that lead to his ultimate decision. Following the trial, Sarty's wicked fa...
In the beginning, the court put Sarty on the stand speak against his father. “[C]aught in a prolonged instant of mesmerized gravity, weightless in time” (500), Sarty does not know what to do with the newly awakened rebellious itch. Although, he makes an instant decision and acts from there. Faulkner uses action verbs, such as “springing…running…scrabbling” (510). These create chronological motion in the ending, moving away from the interjections of the past and futures interlaced throughout the
The moment when Casy says, “You don’t know what you’re a-doin,” and the aggressive man, who was afraid of the monster, the fear and the anger boiling into wrath, and the desperation of surviving, hits him in the head and kills him with a white pickhandle (Steinbeck 386). Tom’s companion and closest friend, who shared his thoughts and beliefs and gave him advice, is murdered in front of him. Tom must have been into deep shock that he didn’t notice the men with the aggressive man trying to kill him. After being hit and injured, he hides and goes back to his family in the cabin. He realizes that he needs to leave before someone in the farm finds him. Tom wants to leave since he wants to protect his family and to recollect his thoughts and feelings about Casy’s death. He goes away temporarily only to get into the truck with his family and go to the boxcar camp. At the boxcar camp, Tom is stuck in the same plight as last time at the farm. Using the time of being away from his family, he must have been pondering over what Casy must have thought before he was murdered and why he said his last words. Tom must have put himself in Casy’s shoes to figure out what he meant by the people having one huge soul and how there is no sin and virtue. Contemplating in the dark for a long time, Tom has an epiphany about the Oversoul and how the migrants who are subjected to the monster’s tyranny should unite to overcome the relentless cruelty and oppression. He tells his mother, “I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there” (Steinbeck 419). From this, Tom recognizes where he stands
It has been stated that while doing what is right is not always easy, it is in fact doing what is right despite it being difficult that is quite the accomplishment. Justice one finds to be one of the major themes throughout “Barn Burning”. The notion of intuitive justice presents itself as a characteristic explored throughout William Faulkner’s literary masterpiece “Barn Burning” through the protagonist Colonel Sartoris Snopes, also referred to as Sarty throughout “Barn Burning”. Faulkner presents Sarty and demonstrates his sense of justice through literal actions and dramatic context.
After the Justice had declared that there was not a substantial amount of evidence to convict Ab Snopes of the crime, he ordered the family to move out of town.... ... middle of paper ... ... He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.”
Sarty's Point of View in Barn Burning by William Faulkner. William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior.
Abner tries to make a man out of Sarty by inflicting pain on him. “His father struck him with the flat of his hand on the side of his head, hard but without heat, ex...
Sarty has moved twelve times in his ten years of age and although the story does not state clearly, that this is not the first time his father has set fire to a barn, but shows that the chances are, that he probably has done this in the past which has affected Sarty in how he feels about his father. Sarty’s other family members include the mother, aunt, an older brother, and two twin sisters who are minor contributing factors in this story. The family knows the father is responsible for the burning of the barns and they even unwillingly help him at his requests. This story describes the family somewhat concerned for the father, but they never challenge his decision to burn the barns even though it is wrong.
In the story “Barns Burning” Abner Snopes, the father is accused of burning a neighbor’s barn. Sarty is faced with a decision that will shape the rest of his life. Sarty is called to the stand, but because the plaintiff is ultimately unwilling to force him to testify against his own father, the case is closed, and the father is advised to leave that part of the country. As the family Sarty,
In the short story Barn Burning, William Faulkner sets the scene in a courtroom located in a corner store market. Protagonist, Abner Snopes, was being accused of burning down Mr. Harris’s barn. Because of this, the Snopes family gpt forced to leave the country and never come back. They then moved to a beautiful new place where Abner worked as a sharecropper for Major De Spain. Not long after working for them, Abner ruined their valuable rug by intentionally tracking horse manure onto it. When told to clean it he used soap that completely destroyed it. Major de Spain fined Abner 20 bushels of corn, which caused Abner dto take Major De Spain to court. The Justice only deducts the punishment from 20 bushels to 10 bushels of corn. Due to Abner's rage he plots to burn Major de Spains house by instructing Sarty to gather kerosene. Meanwhile Sarty cautioned Major De Spain about his father’s motives. And lastly, three gun shots went off, but Sarty had no desire to look back to see who was killed.
The son, Colonel Sartoris, known as Sarty, had to deal with constant rejection from his father, Abner. The story starts with Sarty feeling the anxiety of whether he should tell the judge the truth or lie for his farther. He is in an emotional dilemma on what to do. Sarty knew if he told the truth, that his father might have to go to jail. As Sarty was called by the judge to come forward, he said to himself, "He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do it." In despair, "Enemy! Enemy! he thought; for a moment he could not even see, could not see the judges face was Murphy 2 friendly nor discern that his voice was troubled" (398)