Character in “Barn Burning” As we read along to this story we realize Sarty Snopes and his father have a complicated relationship, not one a son wishes to have with a father or vice versa. Throughout the story we see how their relationship affects Sarty in a profound way. Abner Snopes, a cold and violent man with clothes that were not meant for him, and in my eyes a horrible father to sarty. Abner a man who says family should stick together because if you don’t have family you don’t have anything, but yet this same man is the cause of Sarty’s trauma. Sarty is just a young boy who wishes to have a normal relationship with his father, and at some point even defends him for his wrong doing. His father a damaged man with evil thoughts of burning …show more content…
peoples barns who dare to cross him is a bad example for a ten year old boy. Sarty goes through a series of challenges with his family; he’s only a young boy who is being forced to mature by the horrible decisions his father is deciding to take.
For a young boy his age, seeing his father burn barns and take wrong paths throughout his sons whole childhood certainly marks horrifying memories for Sarty. Being alone with a family that really doesn’t understand you and all you can remember is unpleasant events caused by your father, brings confusion and fright for Sarty. A relationship that is not based on trust and faithfulness ends up in failure, and that is what we see Sarty start to realize. Sarty starts to notice that what his father is truly doing is twisted and wrong, this is when we see a change in Sarty. We see Sarty struggle throughout the story trying to understand his father, but his relationship with his family has never worked out. Sarty is not really close to his brother or sisters; their relationship is quiet throughout the story. His mother and aunt never gave attention to him let alone understand him, and therefore he never had a healthy relationship with any of his family members. We can imagine what that can do to a young boy like Sarty, the feeling of rejection and denial. Always trying to please and understand his father became too much for a boy his age. Try and imagine yourself as a ten year old kid with a cold and dark father that never once showed his care and responsibility for you. Its understandable why Sarty told the servant his father is going to burn the barn. He feels the need to because after all they had gone through he had
enough. After many disappointments, it is time for Sarty to stop defending his father and do the right decision. It is an important step for him to change and realize that his father has been doing wrong for many years. We come to understand why Sarty has that sudden change in him, a change that reveals he is tired of backing up his father. He finally realized that his father burning barns is not the right thing to do. We realize that the conclusion of the story plays a big part overall. Sarty tells the servant his father is planning to burn the barn because he was planing on leaving after. When Sarty sits on the stiff and cold hill he’s realizing he has finally done the right decision. He goes down the hill into the dark woods, not pausing to look back. This sentence in the conclusion makes us readers realize his in a calm place now, a place where he can grow and be himself. A place where he's finally free.
sold, leaving Sarny at the plantation without her mother. In the book, Sarny just talks about her
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)
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
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
Sarah and her mother are sought out by the French Police after an order goes out to arrest all French Jews. When Sarah’s little brother starts to feel the pressures of social injustice, he turns to his sister for guidance. Michel did not want to go with the French Police, so he asks Sarah to help him hide in their secret cupboard. Sarah does this because she loves Michel and does not want him to be discriminated against. Sarah, her mother, and her father get arrested for being Jewish and are taken to a concentration camp just outside their hometown. Sarah thinks Michel, her beloved brother, will be safe. She says, “Yes, he’d be safe there. She was sure of it. The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel. I’ll come back for you later. I promise” (Rosnay 9). During this time of inequality, where the French were removing Sarah and her mother just because they were Jewish, Sarah’s brother asked her for help. Sarah promised her brother she would be back for him and helped him escape his impending arrest. Sarah’s brother believed her because he looks up to her and loves her. As the story continues, when Sarah falls ill and is in pain, she also turns to her father for comfort, “at one point she had been sick, bringing up bile, moaning in pain. She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her” (Rosnay 55).
Abner, his father. We see Sarty as a puzzled youth who faces the questions of
It was as though the explanation that his father gave him, was the step he needed to realize that he was no longer a timid, meek child. After all, Sarty realizes that although his father has struck him before, he has never told him the reasons as to why, until that night. Perhaps, his father feels that he is old enough to understand the
I believe that Faulkner displayed this belief throughout this story. He shows that Sarty is a “soul” that is compassionate when he mourns his father in the last few paragraphs of the story. He exemplifies sacrifice when Sarty must sacrifice the safety and lives of his family members for his own morals. Finally, Faulkner conveys endurance when the child comes to the realization that he may not return to the surviving members of his family, and that he must continue to live on his own.
Sarty spent his entire life hiding behind the unspoken rule that blood is thicker than water. But, in the face of having to decide whether he should continue to overlook Abner’s amoral behavior, he chooses not to. Even though he tries to understand Abner’s reasoning, in his heart he cannot condone it. In a situation where Sarty-the child would be frightened to stand up against his father, Sarty-the man is not. It is unfortunate that he had to lose a father in order to regain his sense of morality, but in light of the situation he was in, it can be agreed, that he is better off.
...s and values over his loyalty to his father. What is surprising, is that he immediately seems to regret it, as is shown when he cries praises to his father in remorse. Is this just because he was Sarty's father, or did Sarty actually feel some justified love toward his father? In the story, Sarty's father showed absolutely no hint of affection or any such emotion towards his son, or anyone for that matter. This would make it seem that perhaps Sarty had some sort of misplaced unconditional love for his father. This emotion must have added tremendously to his internal struggle. All and all, it was the conflict between the morals of society and Sarty's loyalty to his father that led to his final decision.
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.
Saroo is too young to identify who he is or his home to the authorities, so he is sent to an orphanage. He was soon selected to be adopted by a family from Australia, the Brierley’s. Brierley’s raises Saroo in a warm, prosperous home. Saroo’s life is much different than it would have been if he lived in India. Twenty-five years pass by, and Saroo is haunted by the memories of his past life.
Gatsby hasn’t just lost his morals but also his sense of family because he has created such an elaborate illusion. Catherine scrutinizes the couples of the story, "Neither of them can stand the person they're married to" (Fitzgerald pg 37). The marriage had become very weak when Daisy "had told [Gatsby] that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded" (Fitzgerald, pg 125). More than his morals, Gatsby loses all sense of family, his wealth has metaphorically become it. He relies on his money rather than a family to bring comfort and security to his life. Gatsby takes advantage of his wealth to replace his deteriorated spirit and emotions. As a result of shallow family relationships, all love for that matter becomes based on social status.
Although the girls didn’t want to clean the rug, they removed the father’s footprints from the rug and never disobeyed his command. The eldest son was a follower of Abner, in addition to the wife and aunt. The eldest son helped his father with the burnings of the barns and never questioned him. The aunt and Abner’s wife also did what was told of them and never spoke directly against his word. Faulkner provided these examples to show the importance of the Abner’s voice and authority in the family. Sarty couldn’t relate to loyalty. He often times pondered his father’s decisions in his head and questioned going against his
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)