Sarty Snopes’ Struggle for Freedom: William Faulkner's Barn Burning

In light of textual scrutiny, it is also worthwhile to re-examine the court scene in which Shylock is now demanding the fulfillment of the bond. Shylock’s relentless pursuit of ‘his’ pound of flesh again serves to discredit his character in

Sarty is in an internal conflict with himself due to his father, if he should stay loyal to him even though it is wrong, or doing the right thing, even if it means betraying Abner. His father tends to be very abusive and violent; he hits Sarty and says, “You were fixing to tell them. You would have told him.” “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.” (1958) Abner depends on his son to keep him from getting into trouble, but thinks he would’ve gotten caught because of Sarty’s “non-manlike behavior” at the court. Sarty has known all along that his father’s actions are wrong, yet he still helps him. When the Justice of Peace tells Abner to leave the country, a flood of hope and relief rushes over Sarty.

Beginning the short story one realizes Sarty can be characterized as a young shy boy who seems to be intimidated by his father. Immediately following Abner's first barn burning of the story, Sarty is convinced that

Satisfyingly, this gives the reader a sense of completion at the end of the story when every thread and confusion tie together into a complete, understandable knot, all gloriously falling into its perfect place. The Father Brown Short Stories could not afford to weave in a myriad of too many complex ideas because of each one’s abbreviated length and outstanding individuality, but G. K. Chesterton still decorated his stories with as much practical complexity as was appropriate. A Morbid Taste for Bones, however, lacked those tasteful additions. Granted, at the beginning the crime appeared exceedingly confusing, and throughout the book more complicating hints flocked to the scene, but the only noticeable subplot in the entire book was quite minor: the longing love between Brother John and dear Annest. Admittedly, the book was short, and Peters wrote beautifully and ingeniously, considering the intellect it takes to play the role of the criminal to play the role of the

Obeying is the basic principle in loyalty, one in which Sarty cannot differ between. For him loyalty is pleasing his father no matter what the consequence. That is until he can break free from the oppression of loyalty and finally see that it was loyalty that was blinding his true character. It is not until 20 years later that Sarty realizes that society “wanted only truth, justice” (Faulkner 3). It was not society whom demanded extreme loyalty, it was merely his family and more specifically his power-hungry father. Abner at one point in the story takes it as far as to tell Sarty to stick to his families own blood because if not then he would have no one else to rely on (Faulkner 3). This shallow threat is yet another attack on a boy that aims to please his father, but is so caught in the middle of his battle with loyalty and self that he can be depicted as “flying and being removed or suspended from the ground” (Kirchdorfer 116). Sarty wishes to escape his reality and be in a world where he doesn’t have these bouts with loyalty where his feet do not feel the floor under them (Faulkner

On the outside, he pretended to always be on his father’s side, but in the inside, he knew that his father was wrong. However, this did not last long. Despite his actions of defending his father when de Spain announced the fine, the doubts of his father was getting even stronger than ever. When his father asked him to get oil, he loudly protested against the action as he knew his father was about to use the oil for another wrongful act. In the end, Sarty decided to take another road, a road that led to the separation of the family.

Abner Snopes, Sarty’s father, had an outrageous amount of anger towards the rich and to express his anger towards them he taught Sarty how to make threats and violate others legal property. Although, Abner’s burning of the barn had been his way of fighting against the inequality in the southern society, this does not make it acceptable. Sarty is only ten and has not yet set standards for his own moral code, therefore all he knows is what he has been taught. His father has taught him to be a man in the light of his criteria. “You are 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 stick to you” (Faulkner, pg. 803). Sarty believes that what his father is telling him has to do with family responsibility and agrees with him. Sarty is still young and because of this he does what his father says and keeps quiet about the crime his father has committed. Although, Sarty does see all the great his father has done fighting against the inequality of the Southern Society, he also notices the odd and the wrong in his father’s behavior and decisions. At this place in the story, the relationship between Abner and Sarty is still at absolute loyalty.

The loyalty to his father Abner, is tested when he is brought before the justice. Sarty has a choice to make, either tell the truth or go against being loyal to his father. The thoughts in Sarty 's head are strong and portray Harris and Justice as the enemy. The discipline to stand and not give in to answering the Justice 's questions about his father burning the barn, demonstrated that his loyalty is strong. The beating that Sarty takes while on the way out to their wagon and the tears that fell down his mothers face because of the beating, says a lot about how close and loyal they are early in this story.

Second, his decision is for his family. After Abner burned neighbor¡¯s Barn, Sarty and his family- his parents, two sisters, an older brother, and an aunt- had to move out from the town. The narration describes that ¡°sitting on or among the sorry residue of the dozen and more moving which even boy could remember.¡± His family always had been turned around Abner¡¯s finger. I don¡¯t think that was the first time that Sarty and his family exercised by Abner¡¯s power. They couldn¡¯t live common life like other families, and always poor and uncomfortable because of Abner¡¯s outlaw-ness. Therefore, although his family would be upset when they first hear Abner¡¯s death, after time passes, they would have better life than before when Abner was alive.

As I was writing “Barn Burning” I took ideas from the upbringing of my family to its violent encounters, run in with the Law and constant migration. My families Legacy became my inspiration, especially my Great grandfather William Cuthbert Faulkner or as we call him “The Old Colonel”, a civil war veteran and a writer but most important to me a role model. Old colonel and other residents of Oxford where I grew up especially the struggling farmers inspired my imagination and helped me create background for my fictional tales.

Since the beginning, Sarty knew his father wasn't treating people fairly. Sarty states, "Maybe he will feel it too. Maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he couldn't help but be" (Faulkner 20). The quote is stated as Sarty and Abner make their way to the de Spain house. Sarty is hoping his father had learned his lesson from ruining the rug and will do the right thing this time around. Abner never learns his lesson and believes the men in the family should act like him. Proving this statement, Abner says, "You got to learn to stick to your own blood" (Faulkner 42). Although Abner believes Sarty is following in his footsteps, Sarty is more mature than he is and hates doing the things his father makes him do. For example, Abner expects Sarty to lie about his testimony. Sarty states, "He aims for me to lie ... And I will have to do hit" (Faulkner 57). Sarty is not the only one who knows his father is up to no good, Major de Spain also sees it. Major de Spain explains, "He aims for me to lie ... And I will have to do hit" (Faulkner 64). Although Major de Spain is not on Abner's side, Abner's family is. Sarty's brother tries to stop Sarty from telling on Abner by yelling, "Better tie him to the bedpost" (Faulkner 74)! Again, Sarty is very determined to do the right thing, and save Major de Spain's barn by commenting to his own mother, "Lemme go! ... I don't want to have to hit you" (Faulkner 87)! At the end of the story, Sarty eventually goes against his family and walks into the woods away from everyone. This is a huge symbol because it demonstrates Sarty

Faulkner’s use of point of view is critical to the development of the plot of the story. By entering Sarty’s mind the reader understands how he is developing. The narrator aids in the plot build-up by describing the events occurring in the story. The reader learns at the beginning of the story (scene of courtroom) that Sarty is already conflicted between family loyalty and his own morals. At this point the reader understands that Sarty will eventually have to choose between family loyalty and his own morals. All of this sets up the plot of the story due to the fact that the climax of the story is Sarty's final decision of this confliction. He struggles with this confliction throughout the story which first establishes itself at the beginning in the courtroom. Sarty’s decision to tell Major de Spain of his father’s plan to burn his barn exposes his ultimate choice of his own morals over family loyalty. Major de Spain shoots and kills his father because of Sarty's warning that Abner was going to burn his barn. It is only after Abner’s death when Sarty finds something related to, but not quite peace. Although there will be no more fires, lies, beatings, and violence, his father is no more as well.

After reading through a large chunk of criticism, it seems clear to me how David Minter, editor of our edition, hopes to direct the readers’ attentions. I was rather dumbstruck by the number of essays included in the criticism of this edition that felt compelled to discuss Faulkner and the writing of The Sound and the Fury seemingly more than to discuss the text itself. Upon going back over the essay, I realized that Minter’s own contribution, “Faulkner, Childhood, and the Making of The Sound and the Fury,” is a prime example of such “criticism of the text” that focuses on the author, his creation of the text as a process, and the author’s self-professed opinions of the text. I have a number of

Colonel Sartoris Snopes also known as Sarty learns that his dad's actions aren't right. Sarty’s

Among Faulkner’s literacy writes of the relationship between a “father versus son” (Claire) executes Abner Snopes detainment as he begins to preserve Satyr’s individuality. In words to describe the battle between a father and his son, Marilyn Claire emphasizes upon reluctance captures to distress him as his constantly confronted with “his own conscience and his father’s frontier justice” (Claire). As this so-called battle continues, Faulkner’s literacy compulsive repetition is for Abner to the subjectivity that Satyr must be compelled to lie behind the truth. Evokes Satyr as his father attentively fathom “to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you”, resonates the continuous inhibition of individuality (Faulkner 766). An inhibition in which he, Satyr, begins to question the justice and loyalty Abner speaks of. Satyr respects his father, but is characterized through his father’s eyes to be the rebellion against his own blood. However, Rosenman distinguish Satyr’s purpose of his rebellion to have only been Satyr’s awakening in the