Introduction
Barn Burning by William Faulkner is a very simple plot in which a violent and terrorizing father Abner Snopes compels his young son Sartoris to select between his father’s destructive and unethical demeanor to the own ethical dilemmas that young Sartoris face. Throughout the story, the main theme depicted is a constant conflict the young protagonist had in striving to save his father at the cost of justice. The opening sentence of the story displays inconsistencies like “justice of the Peace’s Court” and “smelled of cheese”. The story has throughout reflected inconsistencies in the form of an imperfect society, a violent and abusive father and above all the ethical dilemmas of the main protagonist Sarty (Wainwright, 2012).
Ethical dilemmas in Barn Burning
Justice though is the apparent theme of the story, the many situations in which Sartoris faces ethical dilemmas have been the central element of the story. The first experience of ethical conflict that the boy faced was when had the desire to testify against his father in the incident of barn burning. However, the judge shows trepidation in questioning young Sartoris and banishes Abner Snopes from town instead. The same evening, the boy gets hit by his father as the boy desired to be truthful in front of the judge. The lines, “You gotta learn to stick to your own blood or you aint going to have any blood to stick to you” (Faulkner, 1998) depicts this that unlike Sartoris, his father believes in displaying loyalty to family members to be higher than values and morality. This statement also is the reason as to why Sarty feels that Harris is an enemy of his father, and hence, his enemy, too. Throughout the story, Sarty obeys his father without questioning him. This may not only signify obedience due to fear of being abused by his father but also due to the fact that Sartoris firmly believes that his father cares for the welfare of the family.
There are other subtleties in the story which displays the ethical conflict in Sarty’s mind. This conflict is reflected when Sarty at a time wishes that his father stops committing such crimes and on the other hand does not even want to acknowledge that his father’s actions have created discord in the society. The statement “Maybe he’s done satisfied now, now that he has .. stopping himself, not to say it aloud even to himself” (Faulkner, 1998) depicts this conflict in the mind of the young protagonist. The boy keeps on hoping that his father will change and stop his habit of burning barns as a gesture of revenge for being maltreated by landowners. As the story moves on, the boy matures and the intellectual and emotional shift from a young and immature boy to a rationalized and mature man is displayed by the sentence “Later, twenty years later, he was to tell himself, " If I had said they wanted only truth, justice, he would have hit me again" (Faulkner, 1998). The inconsistencies and strengths of the convictions of Sarty have been displayed in the sentence. This sentence is also a shift from an immature boy to a mature man. Also the sentence displays the boy’s take on the importance of justice and morality and the constant ethical conflicts that he underwent prior to finally taking decisions on his own.
Conclusion
The entire story is a classic example of the kind of maltreatment received by Abner Stokes and his kind which showcases the imperfection in the society. Moreover the story sporadically revolves around the central themes of justice and ethics by displaying conflicts between good and evil, son and father and family identity versus individual values (Ford, 1998).
References
Faulkner, William (1995). “Barn Burning”, Collected stories of William Faulkner. New York: Vintage International.
Ford, M. (1998). Narrative legerdemain: Evoking Sarty’s future in “Barn Burning”. Mississippi Quarterly, 51(3), 527.
Wainwright, M. (2012). A stiff man-child walking: Derrida’s economy of secrecy and Faulkner’s “Barn Burning”. European Journal of American Studies. Retrieved January 22, 2014 from http://ejas.revues.org/9461
