“Fiesta” by John Updike and “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner have uncanny similarities within the father and son relationships. Updike’s “Fiesta” is about a Hispanic family through the son’s perspective, and his father’s abusive nature and affair with another women. “Barn Burning” is set in an older time period yet still displays an abusive relationship between father and son, both emotionally and legally. While these two short stories are set in different time periods and cultures, the broken relationship between father and son and the yearning for a relationship by the son is apparent in both stories.
“Fiesta” is a very colorful short story giving an insight to the life of a Hispanic family who is enjoying life in America. John Updike does a wonderful job at showing the rich culture and family relationships, and also the unhealthy inner struggles a family can face. The plot mainly involves a young boy, Yunior, and his struggle to cope with his father, Papi’s, affair. Yunior is a very sweet and polite child, who often feels left out of the family
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The story takes place after the Civil War in America, and mainly focuses on the father’s bad history, and how his decisions affect the family. The father, Abner Snopes, was a dishonest soldier who did not obey the rules of war and was known for shooting randomly and stealing a horse. Abner is described as having “Wolflike independence and even courage” (Faulkner) meaning people saw him as having no fear, and being a loner mostly. Young Colonel Sartoris Snopes or “Sarty” is Abner’s son who opens the short story by defending his father in Court, in reference to a barn burning accident. Sarty knows that his father’s actions are wrong yet he still pursues to make his father proud and defend him. Abner continuously tells Sarty how important loyalty to family is, but Sarty knows that he must begin to make his own