Deeper Insight by Use of Point of View - Summary

The point of view Brush uses keeps the reader distanced and reserved from the events in the story. The couple’s thoughts are unreachable. The narrator is merely an observer to the situation; a customer in the restaurant. This point of view gives the reader a frustration at the distance between the abused woman and the narrator, as if it were impossible to be other than a removed observer.

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

The style in which Faulkner writes this story allows the reader’s mind to wonder and put the story together their own

William Faulkner born and raised in the South. Faulkner being a Southerner had intimate knowledge of the history of the south. Faulkner wrote “Barn Burning” on what he heard growing up. He would listen to stories of famers from the small town he grew up in. Faulkner’s family history gave him inspiration to write the story about Colonel Sartoris in “Barn Burning.” William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” is about a relation between a boy and his father. The young boy is expected to side with the family to protect his family and his father. In Joseph Flora’s essay about “Burning Barn” he points out “how two brothers in the same family could be so different” (Flora 755). Colonel Sartoris a young boy who is faced with knowing his father is a barn burner who has been getting away with his crime. Sarty must decide between family loyalty and doing the right the thing.

First, Sarty hesitates to reveal his father’s crimes to others because he hopes that his father may change. Sarty is hoping that his father will change, but without him having to act against his father. This can be seen when Sarty is astonished by the gargantuan house of Mr. De Spain. There, Sarty thinks; “‘Maybe he will feel it too. Maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he couldn’t help but be.’” (Faulkner, 40) He wants his father to change because he is tired of the life that his father is making him and his family live. Sarty and his family have moved 12 times within the past year. Each move, based on the past two moves, is more than likely based off the fact that Sarty’s father has either burned another barn or damaged someone else’s property again. Plus, on top of that, Abner never seems to get his family out of this pit of despair. It’s a never-ending cycle. Although Sarty is trying to convince himself that his father will change without force, his father’s

In William Faulkner's, “Barn Burning”, Sarty tries to conform to this life of crime. Sarty is the son of a sharecropper, who is known as the “barn burner”. Sarty is forced to live a continuously hectic life, that is both unhealthy and unstable. The Snopes family constantly travels place to place, and they never have a stable financial situation. Sarty begins to gain hope for his family, at the arrival of Major De Spain's home. The beauty of the home overwhelms Sarty, and gives him the push he needs to keep going. Abner unfortunately has the opposite feeling, which makes Sarty’s life harder. Sarty’s loyalty to his father is strong in the beginning, but soon fades away, due to his moral conscience to do right

The theme of William Faulkner's Barn Burning is Colonel Sartoris Snope's desire to break away from the oppressive conditions of his family life. He is pulled between his family and his morality. In this essay, I will discuss Sarty's struggle between the two sides of his conflict and the point at which it becomes resolved.

Sarty is saved from testifying at the hearing when neither Mr. Harris nor the Justice of the Peace can bring themselves to make him turn on his father. Without eye witness testimony the case is dismissed, but the Justice of the Peace has demanded Abner leave town.

Faulkner proves us that it is impossible to sruggle with one's own heart . The moment when Sarty decided to choose morality over the blood pool and warned the de Spain's revealed his true character. Though this meant the death of his

actions to show that no one will own or control him. He has no regard

Loyalty is a powerful force. Oftentimes it blindsides us and causes us to support things we would not normally. Even do things that we despise. William Faulkner’s Barn Burning illustrates just such a case. Presenting a young boy’s progression from a loyal child, to an independent man as a conflict of loyalty and morals. This boy, Sarty, battles his own forming morals versus his father’s decisions, which leads to his development from child to adult. Faulkner writes his characters progression in five stages: blind loyalty, repressed disagreements, open questioning, and attempted reasoning with his father, before finally taking action to contradict his father.

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?

Writing from different viewpoints allows the author, Tim O’Brien, to express himself in a more comfortable manner. Written in this viewpoint, the story is read as a tale instead of an autobiography and the author becomes more distant with the story like he is looking into it rather than writing it.

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” is a well versed rendition of the post-Civil War era, about the lives of a family of poor tenant farmers. This story’s setting is in a fictional (yet almost familiar) county in Mississippi, and is told through the eyes of a young boy. In a detached sort of tone, Faulkner takes us step by step through the ups and downs of Abner’s moods, and how his youngest son, Sarty, perceives them. Here is the thesis statement: However, it is Faulkner’s style, tone, and use of long, flowing sentences, that most stand out to the reader. .

The perspective in which I chose was Sarty's point of view. Sarty's perspective was the most artistic and interesting point of view I read. At least after reading all the others that's what I thought. Faulkner's favored writing technique is perspectivism. Perspectivism is defined as the doctrine at which reality is only perceived and known to the perspective of each character. After all, Sarty’s pointy of view is the most present so there should be more information to analyze about.