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Sarty s Struggle for Independence In Barn Burning, by Faulkner we are told the story of how Sarty (Colonel Sartorius Snopes) struggles with his father in order to find his own identity. At first Sarty is blindly following his father. Later on in the story Sarty questions his father, provoking some serious reactions on the part of the father. At the end, Sarty betrays his father and finally gains his independence from the bitter old man. When Sarty s father is first put on trial, Sarty is called up to the witness stand.
As he was walking forward, he blocked most of the situation out, but the thoughts running through his head were, He aims for me to lie, and I will have to do hit. (both on p. 482) These two statements clearly suggest that Sarty knew what actually happened. They also suggest that Sarty s father expects him to lie in defense of his family, his blood. Even though Sarty was never examined by the court, it is obvious that Sarty knew, before he was even asked a question and given an opportunity to respond, that it was expected of him to lie, do defend, his blood. After leaving that town, Sarty questioned his father, asking, You were fixing to tell them. You would have told him. To this his father replied without a verbal response.
Instead, the father struck Sarty saying without heat or anger, 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 goin to have any blood to stick to you. (p. 484) Sarty attempted to question his father, showing how he questioned his father s actions, but this was immediately silenced by a swift response from his father. When Sarty s father decided to burn Major de Spain s barn, again Sarty attempted to question his father. This time the father just grabbed Sarty, carried him into the next room and ordered Ms. Snopes to hold him in order to prevent him from warning de Spain of the burning of his barn.
Sarty eventually freed himself from his mother s grasp and made his way up to de Spain s house, and warned de Spain of his father s plan to burn the barn, completely betraying his own father, his own blood. This betrayal is compounded by the sound of gunshots in the night, suggesting that de Spain did indeed find the father attempting to burn his barn, and ended that threat. Through the course of the story, Sarty starts out by feeling nervous when dealt a situation in which he is supposed to take blood over the truth as shown in the first trial. When he tries to question his father, his father doesn t even give him a response, instead he strikes his child, and then tries to explain his point.
At the end of the story, when Sarty s father realizes that his son is going to betray him, he simply places his son with his wife and tells her to keep an eye on him. When Sarty breaks free and warns de Spain, he betrays his father, his family and all that he knows. At this point Sarty can never go back to the family he just betrayed knowing this, as we walked on in the night at the end of the story, He did not look back. (493) This suggests that Sarty fully realized the predicament he placed himself in, but did not turn back, he kept going as he wanted to, clearly showing his growth from child to a man, and gaining his independence from the family he had been bound to.
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Research essay sample on End Of The Story De Spain
