Sigmund Freud, a famous and controversial psychologist, had fascinating ideas on the mechanisms of family relations. He referred to the mix of these subconscious and suppressed fantasies between family members as the “family romance.” Freud states that, as children, we put our parents on a pedestal; they are the best, the smartest, and we want to be just like them when we grow up (leaning towards the parent of the same sex as us). We are highly dependent and attached to our parents as children. As we hit puberty, Freud believes that we begin to resent the parent of the same sex as us as we begin to subconsciously fall in love with the parent of the opposite sex as us; we want to get rid of and take the place of the parent of the same sex. As we get yet older, we have compared our parents to others and have realized that they may not be as perfect as we had previously thought.

In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” Startoris’ relationship with his father displays many of the concepts composing Freud’s “Family Romance.” Startoris is a young boy who throughout most of the story is completely devoted to his father, Snopes, as Freud would have predicted. Although Snopes has done many destructive acts, Startoris still supports and defends his father as much as he possibly can. Statoris shows his support for his father as he states about his father’s enemy that he is “our enemy … ourn! mine and hisn both! He’s my father!” Ultimately, however, at the end of the story, when Snopes attempts to burn down another barn, Stratoris sees that his father isn’t the best person (parallel to Freuds beliefs) and actually rats on him, getting Snopes killed.