The Path to Integrity

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The Path of Integrity Sarty is only ten years old, but growing up fast. In “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, Sarty is estranged as he struggles between obedience to his arsonist father, Abner, and his developing sense of integrity. The internal struggle is evident early in the story, when he is brought before a local Justice of the Peace to be questioned in the case of his father burning a neighbor’s barn. In the moments before he is to be questioned, he knows that his father expects him to lie on his behalf which makes him feel “frantic grief and despair” (Faulkner 801). Sarty can say nothing, and the case results in Abner being told to leave town. Abner knows that Sarty was struggling with the truth, and later that evening forewarns him, “You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you” (803). Shortly after they arrive at their new home, Abner takes Sarty with him to go meet the plantation owner, Major. Sarty feels a “surge of peace and joy”() as he arrives at the beautiful home, like he is safe and nothing bad can happen. However, his father deliberately soils an expensive carpet when they enter the home and makes spiteful comments. Sarty doesn’t comment on the incident, but the stark contract between their reactions to the Major’s home reinforces the alienation between them. Sarty continues to hope that this will be a fresh start for his family and his father will change his ways, while Abner escalates the tension with the property owner over the carpet to the point he decides to burn down the Major’s barn. As Abner begins to make preparations, he tells Sarty’s mother to hold Sarty, because he knows the boy will go and warn the Major. In the heat of the moment, S... ... middle of paper ... ...me) frown upon the use of the informal “you” in an academic paper. You may occasionally use first person (I, me, we, etc,) but not second person (you, your) unless it is in a quote. 21. Names of long works—such as novels, a series (like the Peanuts, which I used in the sample LA), or movies—need to be in italics. Names of short works—such as short stories, articles, poems, or sitcoms—need to be in quotation marks. All of the works in this class are short works except for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Trifles, and Maus, so for the most part you will be using quotation marks. 22. In America, periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks. (The opposite is true in England.) Example: In the short story “The Swimmer,” the main character feels that . . . . Do not confuse this rule with note #12 mentioned above. A citation being inserted makes a difference.

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