Barn Burning Analysis

Family is a very dominate aspect in the stories that were read for this class. Especially in William Faulkner’s story, “Barn Burning,” where the blood should bond a family together forever no matter what happens. In F. Scotts Fitzgerald story of “Babylon Revisited,” a man wants to get his daughter back. In both of these stories each man experiences a sense of loss. In the barn burning, the love between a father and a son should be based on genuine respect, love, loyalty, and admiration. This is not what happened. Blood was the most important aspect. Throughout this story the boy just wants to gain his father’s admiration, but in doing so he loses his blood tie with his father. In Barn burning, Sarty’s father is being tried, but since there is no evidence to prove that he did it, he is ordered to the leave the country. A very harsh image of Sarty’s father is presented when “he followed the stiff black coat, the wire 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. ” His son, knows that his father has never been a law abiding. Therefore the bond between them has been broken. It is hard for Sarty to have a sense of loyalty to his father and to do what is right especially when he knows that his father’s actions are wrong. Sarty alludes to Mr. Harris as “his father’s enemy (our enemy he thought in that despair, orn, mine and hisn both! He’s my father! ” Even with the accusations that were against his father Sarty still feels like he should protect his father. “The old fierce pull of blood” is what is preventing him from turning in his father. So here the Sarty is very torn on what he should do, but the blood binding between is father and h...

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...e like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material.” This explains why he will never have custody of his daughter. Because with split skin the repair is next to impossible. Charlie has not proven himself worthy enough to have the custody of his daughter. So the bond between him and his family is not gone. He has proven that he cannot be financially responsible since he lost all of him money during the crash, and lost everything during the boom. So in both stories the bond between a father and his child can be broken with a single act. Family has been a theme in these stories, but choosing weather or not to turn a life around or facing a lifetime of hatred is what a child will decide when comes to blood. Both fathers in these stories proved that not committing any more crimes, or losing the first nine years can be detrimental to child.