Barn Burning
Barn Burning, short story by Faulkner, describes the internal strength and power of an individual who at times is unable to make decisions just because he is unable to differentiate what is right and what is wrong. The story tries to acknowledge the indecisiveness in the younger individuals which sometimes leads to destruction in future. At the same time the author points out the use of power in a very wrong way by a father.
The short story focuses on Sarty, who is the son of Abner. Their family also included his brother, sisters and mother. Abner used to work on the farms, most of the times Barn fields. The story tells us that Abner always confronted with the owners of the barn fields who employed him, after some time and because of this he burns their fields. The reason behind Abner’s action is not clearly determined in the story but it seems that he had some kind of problem with seeing someone happy. There may be other issues with him too as he is abusive as well to Sarty and his brother. In all of expeditions, Abner is supported practically by the elder brother of Sarty and morally by Sarty. The opening situation of the story states the courtroom case where Abner is being testified for the accusation of burning a barn field and Sarty is acting as a witness for his father. Being young as Sarty was, it was quite difficult for him to clearly analyze who is worth right. He didn’t have any of the personal grooming powers that could make him understand the criticality of the situation. Therefore when every time his father was being testified in the courtroom, he used to provide witness and his father was freed as the evidence lacked and innocent Sarty became a part of intolerable crime.
The story describes the loyalty of a son to a father. Sarty was very emotional and understanding boy. He used to stop his father from acting irresponsibly but in return he was abused and tortured. One reason for his loyalty was being natural and he wouldn’t want anyone to hurt him or his family but at the same time thinking good for his father was actually another kind of honesty and loyalty which his father was unable to observe. The court hearing stated that Abner is not responsible for the current burning of the barn but at the same time he also judges that if Abner remains in the country, the disputes may continue in the land and fighting might be there as well so he also summons him to leave the country and live at someplace else. This decision by the judge critically states that everyone knew Abner was the culprit but as the evidence was not enough, he always came up innocent.
The story moves forward when Abner with his family moves out of the country and started to work in another barn field. He is now employed by Major de Spain, who was a former army major and was very well respected in the surroundings for his achievements. As he didn’t know anything about Abner, he employed him in his farms for work.
Processing your request, Please wait....
