Literature review on Barn Burning by William Faulkner
The issues of truth and family loyalty are among the most popular plots in the world literature. Such plots date back to the Biblical and ancient times, when characters of the book chose whether to obey the family laws and customs or to do the good for the society sacrificing the family. After 2,000 years these issues remained essential for the modern authors. William Faulkner, the Nobel Prize laureate, provides the reader with his view on this topic in his short story Barn Burning. This story deals with class problems, issues between father and son. Yet, the topic of society good and the lie is one of the central ones.
The Faulkner’s story Barn Burning depicts the relations existing inside the family of Snopes. Abner Snopes, the father, has the big family to feed: his wife, two pairs of daughters, and two sons. He is an old mature man, who had seen nothing but cruelty in this world and this is the thing he wants his children to learn. Abner is one of the central characters of the short story. The second main character is his younger son, Sartoris, or Sarty. He is a ten-years old boy with lively eyes, he got used to obey to “old fierce pull of blood” (Faulkner, 2007, p. 10). He is taught to lie by his father. The boy’s nature refuse to do so but Abner Snopes makes him to do his will: “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you” (Faulkner, 2007, p.17). He tries to change the morality issues learned by his younger son. He insists that being loyal to the family is better than do good for an unknown person. Snopes makes Sarty believe that family ties are stronger than social ones and that lie is a way to prove the dedication to the family. But the boy cannot agree with this statement. He goes against his father will and warns de Spain about the fire.
This moral of the story can be illustrated by the Bible quotation: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-25). This means that the boy was not aware of the importance of saying truth. Still, he chooses the right way and saves people’s lives even with the risk to his own. Sarty definitely learned his life lesson – truth is the most important value in the world and doing good is more pleasant than lying.
William Faulkner is sure with the message he wants the reader to get with this story: lie cannot be accepted by people with high moral standards. It does not depend on who is lying and how great is the lie. Lie does no good for the society and for the person. Sarty chooses the way of truth. It was a hard choice for him but this decision made him as adult as his father and even more – it made him more moral and more confident in his future.
References
Faulkner, W. (2007). Barn Burning. New York: Perfection Learning.
Bible.
