William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. Faulkner’s career consisted of many brilliant novels and short stories throughout the 1930’s that highlighted his career. In 1939 Faulkner wrote the short story Barn Burning, which was about a father’s power and his son’s loyalty. Abner, the father and head of the family, likes to have control of every situation, but despises those who has power and control over him, so he takes the action of burning down the barns to those who have higher authority than him. His son Sarty is expected to stay loyal to his father and their family and does until he matures to realize the difference between right and wrong, and betrays his father’s loyalty in the end. Although social class
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Loyalty is something wanted by everyone and is something that people cherish, but the loyalty taught to Sarty and his family is something different. For Abner, The Snopes’ family loyalty is highly valued to him. The Snopes’ family have their own set of moral codes that are not based on the ethics of what is right and wrong, but the loyalty and protection of their family. After Abner’s trial and the use of Sarty as a witness to his father’s case, Abner was upset with Sarty because of his mute response to the question of his father’s innocent. Abner told Sarty that, “You’re 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 to stick to you” (pg. 1007). This conversation shows that the family relies on one another for protection even when their wrong and family is all that Sarty has. As the story continues the family moved to a different barn, where the family was very wealthy and Sarty finally thought the family’s continuous moving streak had ended, but he was wrong. Abner decided to burn down the family’s barn after his lost in court and Sarty finally had enough. Sarty ran to the masters’ house and yelled “Barn!” which was a warning of his father’s actions of burning down their family’s barn (pg. 1014). The betrayal of Abner was Sarty’s release of his family’s burden of loyalty and his
Loyalty is something wanted by everyone and is something that people cherish, but the loyalty taught to Sarty and his family is something different. For Abner, The Snopes’ family loyalty is highly valued to him. The Snopes’ family have their own set of moral codes that are not based on the ethics of what is right and wrong, but the loyalty and protection of their family. After Abner’s trial and the use of Sarty as a witness to his father’s case, Abner was upset with Sarty because of his mute response to the question of his father’s innocent. Abner told Sarty that, “You’re 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 to stick to you” (pg. 1007). This conversation shows that the family relies on one another for protection even when their wrong and family is all that Sarty has. As the story continues the family moved to a different barn, where the family was very wealthy and Sarty finally thought the family’s continuous moving streak had ended, but he was wrong. Abner decided to burn down the family’s barn after his lost in court and Sarty finally had enough. Sarty ran to the masters’ house and yelled “Barn!” which was a warning of his father’s actions of burning down their family’s barn (pg. 1014). The betrayal of Abner was Sarty’s release of his family’s burden of loyalty and his