In William Faulkner's story, "Barn Burning", we find a young man who struggles
with the relationship he has with his father. We see Sarty, the young man, develop into an
adult while dealing with the many crude actions and ways of Abner, his father. We see
Sarty as a puzzled youth who faces the questions of faithfulness to his father or
faithfulness to himself and the society he lives in. His struggle dealing with the reactions
which are caused by his father's acts result in him thinking more for himself as the story
progresses. Faulkner uses many instances to display the developing of Sarty's conscience
as the theme of the story "Barn Burning." Three instances in which we can see the
developing of a conscience in the story are the ways that Sarty compliments and admires
his father, the language he uses when describing his father, and the way he obeys his father
throughout the story.
English: Albert Einstein Français : portrait d'Al...
English: William Faulkner's signature
William Faulkner's Underwood Universal Portable si...The first instance in which we can see a transition from childhood to adulthood in
Sarty's life is in the way he compliments his father. Sarty admires his father very much
and wishes that things could change for the better throughout the story. At the beginning
of the story he speaks of how his fathers "...wolflike independence..."(145) causes his
family to depend on almost no one. He believes that they live on their own because of his
fathers drive for survival. When Sarty mentions the way his father commands his sisters to
clean a rug with force "...though never raising his voice..."(148), it shows how he sees his
father as strict, but not overly demanding. He seems to begin to feel dissent towards his
father for the way he exercises his authority in the household. As we near the...