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Abner Snopes In Barn Burning

679 Words3 Pages

Human relationships are imperfect. Family members look out for one another and are expected to have each other's back. William Faulkner, an author, who experienced hardships with his family, wrote a story about a family who also went through troubles because of an abusive and destructive father, Abner Snopes. The protagonist, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, son of Abner
Snopes, struggles with obeying his father because he knows that his actions were wrong.
However, the fear of abuse overtakes him, which prevents him from doing the right thing.
William Faulkner's short story, "Barn Burning" uses characterization, third person limited omniscient point of view, and plot structure to reveal that the struggle between loyalty towards family and morality …show more content…

Sartoris was raised to be loyal to his family through violence and it is first shown when his father hits him on the side of the head and says, "*You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you.""(501). After being physically abused and lectured about being loyal to his own family, Sarty is left speechless but makes it clear that he understands his father's message. Towards the end of the story, Sartoris decides that he no longer wants to be loyal to his father. Abner decides to burn Major de Spain's barn and orders Sarty to retrieve oil to start the fire. As Sarty immediately obeys his father's orders, he thinks, "I could run on and on and never look back, never need to see his face again. Only I can't." (508).
Sartoris' fear of his father causes his inability to run away and express his morality. It is also the fear instilled in him that drives him to obey Abner.
The third person limited omniscient point of view of Sartoris Snopes conveys the …show more content…

Sarty was called upon to testify and thought, "He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do hit."
(499). The text illustrates that Sarty understands that lying is wrong because of the "frantie grief and despair" he feels. Nevertheless, he's prompted to lie because he knows his father will punish him: Abner's crime causes the family to leave town and Sarty contemplates, *barns and stables and cribs which belong to it impervious to the puny flames he might contrive." (502). This quote indicates that those items, "barns and stables and cribs" are safe from Abner's future destructive fires. This also suggests that he acknowledges the wrongdoings of his father, yet he internally struggles with being loyal because he's afraid of his father.
Faulkner uses the resolution to reveal Sarty's final thoughts after disobeying his father through Sartoris' emotional breakdown after running away. When Sartoris reveals to Major de Spain that Abner was about to burn his barn, he runs away. While running, he hears the two gunshots that killed his father. He stops on a hill to take a breather and begins to sob because

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