Although Sarty’s loyalty may have been to defend his father, Sarty’s ambivalence towards Abner’s unjust actions and treatment of his family results in cutting his “family ties”, doing the right thing by warning De Spain about his barn, and leaving his family for good.
Unfortunately, the story begins with Sarty going on trial to testify against his father, and lie that he didn’t burn down a barn. In Sarty’s mind, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for him, because this was not the first occurrence of barn burning for his father, although it’s never blatantly stated, only assumed. “His father, stiff in his