Sarty In William Faulkner's Barn Burning

258 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Faulkner's major works

In the story, “Barn Burning”, William Faulkner has displayed the complex situation for the young boy, Sarty, who is just ten years of old. In his young age he has to through many challenges and dilemma. Children are innocent and have a pure heart. But in case of Sarty, he has to be manipulative and lie for the sake of family. He was in a dilemma to distinguish what is right and wrong. To be with family and tell a lie as his father said or be truthful, was his major dilemma. As for a child reasoning capacity is not yet developed properly, he followed his father path in spite of some reluctance. Every time he has to go through this dilemma because of his father’s immoral act. He was broken and lost his faith on his father when he asked him to

Show More
Related

  • The Significance of Family Meals in Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Shall Not Perish, and Two Soldiers

    441 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Significance of Family Meals in Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Shall Not Perish, and Two Soldiers

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of Barn Burning

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • Barn Burning

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the story “Barn Burning”, author William Faulkner conveys the moral growth and development of a young boy, as he must make a critical decision between either choosing his family and their teachings or his own morals and values. The reader should realize that the story “Barn Burning” was written in the 1930’s, a time of economic, social, and cultural turmoil. Faulkner carries these themes of despair into the story of the Snopes family.

    Read More

  • Who Is Abner Snopes In William Faulkner's Barn Burning

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story Barn Burning by William Faulkner, a man by the name of Abner Snopes personifies the struggles within the social class system involving the lower classes attempting to retain and achieve equality with and among the higher classes through the action of burning barns. Snopes tries to gain powers by diminishing the standings of those around him who he considers to be unfairly placed above him class wise. His pyromaniacal tendencies of burning barns represent his efforts to burn down the class structure, alleviate his feelings of inferiority, and work to further give this story meaning by providing a complex yet straightforward conflict.

    Read More

  • Barn Burning

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barn Burning "You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you." This quote from William Faulkner’s "Barn Burning" does reveal a central issue in the story, as Jane Hiles suggests in her interpretation. The story is about blood ties, but more specifically, how these ties affect Sarty (the central character of the story). The story examines the internal conflict and dilemma that Sarty faces. When the story begins, Sarty and his family are in a courtroom. Sarty, known in a proper setting as Colonel Sartoris, which in itself gives an insight into the families mentality. Sarty’s father, Abner Snopes is being accused of a barn burning. Right away, as Sarty is called to testify, you get an idea of what is going through the boy’s head, and the mentality that has be ingrained in him. He thinks to himself, Enemy! Enemy!, referring to the people that his father and his family for that matter are up against. Sarty would later discover that things are not always the way that his father leads everyone to believe they are. Sarty, somewhere deep down wants to just do what is right, but being roughly 10 years old, I don’t think he quite has that figured out yet. His sense of right and wrong has been biased under the tyranny of his father. We also get a good idea of the personality of the father, Abner, by the way Sarty describes his physical appearance. Abner is...

    Read More

  • William Faulkner's Barn Burning

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Faulkner, recognized as one of the greatest writers of all time, once made a speech as he accepted his Nobel prize for writing in which he stated that a great piece of writing should contain the truths of the heart and the conflicts that arise over these truths. These truths were love, honor, pity, pride, compassion and sacrifice. Truly it would be hard to argue that a story without these truths would be considered even a good story let alone a great one. So the question brought forward is whether Faulkner uses his own truths of the heart to make his story "Barn Burning." Clearly the answer to this question is yes; his use of the truths of the heart are prevalent

    Read More

  • Sarty's Point of View in Barn Burning by William Faulkner

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    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. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.

    Read More

  • Barn Burning Heroism In Faulkner

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a man bases his substance upon the value he gives himself, against the worth he sees in another, there begins a slow burning fire. The time in which Faulkner writes “Barn Burning”, a man’s barn housed much of what made him wealthy. Abner is an impoverished sharecropper with an incendiary hatred for social stratification, which he expresses mostly through burning barns. The protagonist’s son, Sarty, narrates his nomadic family life and what happens when anger and ego simmer in the comparing man’s mind.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Father And Son in William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning"

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Normally in life, you look up to your father to be the care taker and to encourage you to make your own decisions on what is right and what is wrong. You figure your father should have your best interest at heart and to show compassion for you. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is the opposite of the normal father figure you would see. Rather than encouraging his son, Sarty, to make his own decisions on what is right and what is wrong, Abner wants Sarty to lie for him to protect his freedom, so Abner won’t get caught for burning barns. Abner forces fear into Sarty to make sure he will lie for him rather than tell the truth. The relationship between Abner and Sarty is struggling due to Abners abusiveness and criminal ways.

    Read More

  • William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Barn Burning, Sartys father enjoys setting fires to burn down others properties. Sarty faces the problem of loyalty and honesty. On one hand, he wants to be loyal to his father; on the other hand, he does not endorse his fathers behavior. His father teaches him: Youre getting to be a man. You got to learn to do it.

    Read More

  • Loyalty to Family in Barn Burning by William Faulkner

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner is a stark look at the struggle of a boy to try to do what is right, or do what is best for his family during the post Civil War era. The main character, Sartoris Snopes is a poor son of a migrant tenant farmer who, in the opening scene is being questioned about the burning of a farmers barn by his father, Abner Snopes. The boy is torn between choosing what is right, telling the truth, or lying to protect his father. The boy is not forced to tell to judge about his father burning the barn, but is certain he would have told if asked. The father is a soldier from the Civil War and has a knack for burning down the barns of those who cross his path. Faulkner uses the symbol of blood to illustrate the theme of loyalty to the family.

    Read More

  • Sarty's Conflict in William Faulkner's "Barn Burning"

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" provides an excellent example of how conflicting loyalties can affect decisions. In Faulkner's story, the main character, Sarty, faces such a dilemma. On one hand, Sarty has the morals that society has instilled in him in spite of his father. One the other hand, Sarty has the loyalty to his father because of the blood ties shared between them and the fact that his father raised and provided for him. Ultimately, it is these conflicting ideas that will lead to Sarty's final decision.

    Read More

  • Barn Burning - Charcter Analysis

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “Barn Burning” the setting is a time when people drove horse wagons and the workingmen were generally farmers. The major character in this story is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, called “Sarty” by his family who is a ten-year-old boy. In the beginning, Sarty is portrayed as a confused and frightened young boy. He is in despair over the burden of doing the right thing or sticking by his family, as his father states,” You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.”

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis of Barn Burning by William Faulkner

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...eard the gunfire, no longer in terror and fear, "Father. My Father he thought." Sarty tried to think good thoughts about his father thinking, "he was brave!" He served as a solder under Colonel Sartoris in the war! When the morning sun came up, he was finally on his own to be his own man, free to make his own individual decisions without worrying about what his father would do to him. It was from Sarty's dilemma of family loyalty and the desire to please his father that kept him from doing the right things. Was his father so bitter due to experiences he had during the Civil War ? Was it society's fault for what happened to his father? Was Abner just born with his us against them attitude? These are all questions that Faulkner leaves with us after reading the "Barn Burning." and is part of that fire in the back of our minds that we will never be able to put out..

    Read More

  • Initiation In Frank O Connor's Short Stories

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sartoris is the son of Abner Snopes, a man who chooses to take his anger out on people by burning their barn burning barns is an insult because a man stores his valuable animals and hay. Abner sends his slave to warn Major de Spain, a man he has become upset with, that “wood and hay kin burn” (sic.) (Faulkner 162). Sartoris decides to run away from home after realizing what his father has been doing to people. While running away he warns Major de Spain “Barn!” because he knows what his father plans to do (Faulkner 173). He runs away to start a new life and change the way people view him because of his last name. He realizes at a very young age that life is difficult and he must become a responsible man and take care of himself all while trying to change the views of other people due to his father’s mistakes and

    Read More

More about Sarty In William Faulkner's Barn Burning

Open Document