Great Works II

In the story ”Barn Burning”, Faulkner tells about the life and people in the years after the American Civil War. Readers are introduced to the theme of loyalty, conflict, power, control, authority and justice. The story is narrated in the third person and from the beginning of the story readers can observe that author is exploring the theme of loyalty and conflict.
The story concentrated on the two main characters, the father, Abner and his son, Sartoris. The story represents the world of adults and forces the reader to look through the eyes of a child or adolescent.
The story represents conflict of Sarty’s loyalty to his father that cause a conflict within Sarty. This internal conflict within Sarty is important as it suggests that Sarty is torn between loyalty to his father and doing the right thing. Father teaches him that he has to stick to his own blood and that is the right choice. But by the end of the story readers observe change in Sarty’s loyalty to his father .When Sarty discovers that his father plans on burning de Spain’s barn he wants to warn de Spain. This is significant as it suggests that Sarty wants to do the right thing instead of what his father taught him. But resisting to his father he decides to do the right thing from moral and lawful side. At the end of the story we can observe that Sarty is no longer under the blind influence of his father and he dares to make his own decision according to what he believes in.