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Barn Burning Conflicts

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A Place to Belong
During the walk of life, people are often faced with many different conflicts. Many conflicts can be resolved quite quickly, while others tend to be rather complicated to resolve. When people are faced with conflict, they must decide how they will seek resolution and move forward. Each person has a unique way of dealing with conflicts, which result in completely different outcomes. Abner, the barn-burner, lived an estranged life, destroying everything that stood in his way.” Barn Burning” is a story about a boy's struggle between his love for and loyalty to his father and doing what he knows is morally correct. Throughout the story, the family’s loyalty bursts into flames time and time again. The son, known as Sarty, has …show more content…

The courtroom setting is important to note, as it depicts the tension and uncertainty within the room. The uncertainty and tension within the room parallels the uncertainty and tension within Sarty in a variety of ways Sarty is in an emotional dilemma and cannot seem to make up his mind about what to do. Sarty loves his father with all his heart and has always been loyal to him and his family. The family is close-knit and has always taken loyalty seriously. Despite his love and loyalty to his family, Sarty knows that if he tells the truth about his father to the judge, his father will go to jail. This is shown vividly in the courtroom proceedings: As the judge called on Sarty forward he says to himself, ‘He aims for me to lie,’ he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. ‘And I will have to do it’” (Faulkner 1016). In despair, Sarty thinks, “‘Enemy! Enemy!’ . . . for a moment he could not even see, could not see the judge’s face was friendly nor discern that his voice was troubled” (Faulkner 1016). This proves the uncertainty that Sarty was feeling while being faced to make a very important decision regarding his father. Sarty knows that this decision is not something to take lightly and knows that the decision that he makes will affect him, his father, and his family for the rest of his

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