Compare And Contrast Barn Burning And A & P

In everyone’s life there is a point in time where the decision must be made to keep going along the path that life is taking you or stopping and saying, NO! This isn’t right! Two good examples of young people raising their standards and doing what they believe in is Sarty from William Faulkner’s "Barn Burning" and Sammy from John Updike's "A&P". In "Barn Burning”, Sarty is a ten-year-old boy whose views often clashes with those of his father, Abner Snopes, who has been put on trial for burning down a barn. In "A&P", Sammy is nineteen years old and works at his hometown grocery store named the A&P. His life heads down a new road when he quits the A&P after defending three girls that Lengel, the manager, got onto for going against the unwritten dress code.

In "Barn Burning" Sarty's father tries to burn down another barn, Sarty goes against him and takes it upon himself to go tell the owner of the barn, and in "A&P" Sammy goes against what his manager says about dress code, and decides that Lengel is not the kind of manager he wants to work under.

Although, Sarty and Sammy have a lot in common they also have a lot of differences, such as, the time period that the stories take place in. Another very noticeable similarity is that both men are very dissatisfied with what their authority figures are doing so they must break free to become the kind of person that they want to

be.
Sammy's friend and coworker Stokesie is twenty years old, married, and has two children. Sadly, his biggest dream is to become manager of the A&P one day. Sammy sees Stokesie's life as his future one day if he continues working at the A&P, which is something he does not want, because he sees it as a dead-end job. When Sammy makes the decision to quit, Lengel tries to change his mind by saying to him that he is making a huge mistake, which is a perfect example of how closed minded Lengel is.
Sarty's authority figure is his father, Abner, who is a poor sharecropper that is very bitter towards the wealthy plantation owners who employ him, and when he gets mad at them he tends to destroy one of their belongings. In "Barn Burning" Sarty never tries to make what his father does sound like it is ok and he shows that he is aware that if he lets things stay the same, he will become hateful like his father. That is why he decides to go tell the plantation owner that his father is about to burn his barn. He broke the mold so he wouldn't end up like his father.
In conclusion, these two stories have so many differences in them, the words written are so vastly different, but the end message delivered is the same. These short stories seem to really consider human nature and tend to make the reader feel like the story is taking place in the readers life, because who hasn’t had to make choices that could forever change the road on which is being traveled. “A&P” and “Barn Burning” gives faith that no matter how hard the choices that must be made is, people should always go with the choice that can be felt as right in their heart.