How can you find serenity in life? Searching for peace can be a difficult task when everything around you relates to violence. In Williams Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning”, Sartoris Snopes is constantly overwhelmed by fear, agony, and despair because of his father’s practices of violence not only against his family but also the law when burning the barns. Peace is essential for human development; it gives a sense of tranquility and seclusion from oppression. Throughout the story Sarty deals with his father’s brutality, ignorance, and misconception of power which makes him realize that his father is not someone he is proud of. Abner's actions and behavior makes it difficult for Sarty when trying to develop his own ideas of morality. His
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She analyzes both psychological and conduct of different lifestyles as a way of understanding Sarty's incompatibility with his father. Abner chooses “The Paranoid way of life” (496) who is egocentric, close-minded, and a law breaker while Sartoris chooses “The Apollonian way of life” (496) who follows rules, the common good, and the path of righteousness. Conversely, Sarty pleases his father by concealing his actions and following in his father’s footsteps, not because he embraces his actions but to stick to his family and honor: “the old fierce pull of blood” (Faulkner, 480). This is Abner’s uneducated way of teaching Sarty to obey him and his family no matter what Sarty’s desires and points of view are. Abner, rather than encouraging his son to make his own decisions about what is suitable and what is unsuitable in life, fits into “The Paranoid man”. Wilson acknowledges that Abner clearly takes Sarty’s peace away which help him escape to a different kind of life, one that seems very far away from the one he leads in the Snopes household (496). Even though Sartoris does not immediately find the peace that he expected would await him, the charmed grounds, the spectacular house, and the domestic pleasure that Sartoris encounters at deSpain’s house gave him the temporary serenity he has been looking …show more content…
The differences between Abner’s and Sarty’s personality influenced Sarty to acquire a different behavior as his father’s. Wilson’s critical case study supports with several points the reason why Sarty chooses to wear the Apollonian personality over the paranoid. Sarty wanted to embrace a clean path far away from his father’s rebellion against the law and injustices. It was an arduous challenge for Sarty to detach himself from his father and family but this decision opens up to the accomplishment of finding his inner peace and
She analyzes both psychological and conduct of different lifestyles as a way of understanding Sarty's incompatibility with his father. Abner chooses “The Paranoid way of life” (496) who is egocentric, close-minded, and a law breaker while Sartoris chooses “The Apollonian way of life” (496) who follows rules, the common good, and the path of righteousness. Conversely, Sarty pleases his father by concealing his actions and following in his father’s footsteps, not because he embraces his actions but to stick to his family and honor: “the old fierce pull of blood” (Faulkner, 480). This is Abner’s uneducated way of teaching Sarty to obey him and his family no matter what Sarty’s desires and points of view are. Abner, rather than encouraging his son to make his own decisions about what is suitable and what is unsuitable in life, fits into “The Paranoid man”. Wilson acknowledges that Abner clearly takes Sarty’s peace away which help him escape to a different kind of life, one that seems very far away from the one he leads in the Snopes household (496). Even though Sartoris does not immediately find the peace that he expected would await him, the charmed grounds, the spectacular house, and the domestic pleasure that Sartoris encounters at deSpain’s house gave him the temporary serenity he has been looking …show more content…
The differences between Abner’s and Sarty’s personality influenced Sarty to acquire a different behavior as his father’s. Wilson’s critical case study supports with several points the reason why Sarty chooses to wear the Apollonian personality over the paranoid. Sarty wanted to embrace a clean path far away from his father’s rebellion against the law and injustices. It was an arduous challenge for Sarty to detach himself from his father and family but this decision opens up to the accomplishment of finding his inner peace and