The Role Of Loyalty In William Faulkner's Barn Burning

The “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner presents readers with an innocent boy named Colonel Snopes who gets tangled into his father’s deviance and has to make a choice between his family and happiness. The narrator shows the audience the mistreatment that Colonel endures but also the happiness he yearns for. Colonel deals with an internal conflict throughout the story between loyalty to his family and his happiness. This conflict demonstrates that although family is important sometimes you have to choose your happiness over loyalty to your family. To begin with, Colonel first shows his loyalty to his father when there is a court hearing held against him due to accusations of Abner burning down Mr. Harris barn. The justice in the

When conflict arises between Abner and Major De Spain, Abner tells Colonel to “Go get that oil”(Faulkner 86). This indicates to readers that he is planning to burn Major De Spains barn down. This conflict is what made Colonel face the internal struggle between loyalty and happiness which he had been hiding from throughout the story. Colonel tries to convince his dad not to go through with his plan but when Colonel is unsuccessful he states “I could run on and on and never look back, never need to see his face again. Only I can’t. I can’t” (Faulkner 86). This demonstrates to the readers that at this moment Colonels felt obligated to stay loyal to his family instead of saving the place that he felt joy and peace in. After being held down by his mother Colonel realizes he cannot bare to see the place that brought him happiness be ruined by his father and ultimately betrays his families’ loyalty to pursue his happiness thus illuminating the message that pursuing your happiness may mean more than family