Loyalty In Barn Burning

Sarty Snopes is a young, impressionable boy in William Faulkner’s Barn Burning, who is part of a poor sharecropping family traveling around from place to place to find work. Life for Sarty is hard, because his father is a man constantly angered at the injustice shown to sharecroppers. The plantation owners who hire the sharecroppers almost always get the better end of the deal and treat the sharecroppers like slaves to a point. Sarty’s father, Abner, is frequently affronted at the unjust treatment shown to them and takes his revenge by burning the plantation owner’s barns. Sarty doesn’t feel the same way his father does about the family’s oppression, but is still young enough that he can’t speak up for himself

“ Blood makes you related , Loyalty is what makes you family . “ In Walter Dean Myers’ short story “ the Treasure of Lemon Brown “ explores the values of Greg Ridley ; a 14 year old boy who wants to play basketball but can’t because of his low grade in math . Then in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl an uneducated man named Kino found a great pearl that corrupted his values . In both “ the Treasure of Lemon Brown “ and The Pearl , the main characters experience conflicts that change their views on what’s important in life .

“Blood means you’re related. It doesn’t mean you’re family”. Doug Swieteck in Gary D. Schmidt’s The Wednesday Wars learns throughout the book that he doesn’t have to be like his brother and that he can be who he wants to be. He starts out as a bad guy, makes friends in the middle of the book, but by the end of the book, he has quit the bad guy act. You don’t have to be like your family, you can be who you want to be.

Perceptions from others can be cruel. Criminals are often thought of negatively by themselves and are also disrespected by others in society. The novel Monster presents the impressions people have about Steve Harmon, an accused criminal on trial for robbery and murder. Furthermore, the text explains Steve’s views of himself during and after time in prison from first person point-of-view. The novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers highlights the various perceptions that exist about an accused criminal.

The book “Forged by Fire” by Sharon M. Draper is a book with many themes and lessons we all can learn. One of the themes that this essay will talk about will be about loyalty. For one thing, loyalty is a strong feeling because it’s something that comes from inside of a person to have faith in someone. Also the fact that we’re all loyal to someone, someone who’s special in our lives and plays a major role in our lives that drags us to support them no matter what. In this book, Gerald gets abused by his drunk, ferocious father whom he absolutely abominates. As a matter of fact, Gerald wants to get rid of him, but Monique, the mother is very loyal to Jordan, and defends him. This makes Gerald’s life miserable, and the only thing that brings a

Barbra Bush once said,”I think togetherness is a very important ingredient to family life.” You need to be close to your family no matter what. What would you do if you believe that your brother is the reason for your parent’s death? Rot & Ruin is a story that teaches a valuable lesson that is true for even a modern teen; It teaches on how family is important, and how you should have a strong relationship with your family.

Chaim Potok’s The Chosen is a mysterious novel with very interesting dialogue and detail. Although the narrator’s name is never said or mentioned, Potok still managed to write this thrilling novel that has readers at the edge of their seats. In this novel, a 15 year-old boy, who is a protagonist, has a deep love for baseball shares Jewish culture and habits. Him and all the boys who go to school together play baseball on their spare time and are all on the same baseball team. While being friends and sharing many hobbies, the boys finally meet anonymous narrator’s father. Without the narrator even knowing why, all the boys become distant from him and seem to have formed an alliance against him after they had met his father. They had tried

Abner Snopes is not your everyday family man, going around burning barns and being very controlling towards his family. However the author makes his son Sarty, have somewhat of empathy towards Abner and admiration. Like the title Barn Burning, Abner Snopes burns barns as a past time. Although doing the horrible things he does there is something inside of his son Sarty that makes him believe his dad is a brave man and does these things for a reason.

What pulls families apart? Money, fighting, and/or work. In this story its pride, selfish pride showed why people hurt the ones they love. In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, The narrator demonstrates the theme that “spiteful cruelty towards a loved one often leads to wounded pride.”

One could argue that loyalty is the most important trait that a person might posess. However, John Proctor proved that every person has flaws, and his was lack of loyalty. The main plot of The Crucible is based off the back story of Proctor and Abigail. While Abigail was doing housework for the Proctor’s, John was cheating on his wife with her. Elizabeth found out about it, and sent Abigail away.

The story “Barn Burning,” by William Faulkner is one that demonstrates a strong role of a young protagonist who is put in the situation of choosing between his morality or his loyalty to his father. Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty), a ten-year old boy and son of Abner Snopes, a man who commits arson, goes through several scenes that show his internal conflict. I will be analyzing as to why Sarty behaves the way he does, how Sarty would react in today’s world, if I were to personally make the same decisions as him, and if I know of an individual that is similar to him.

The word survival means: “the act or fact of surviving, especially under adverse or unusual circumstances.” Many people rely on their faith to help them with survival as well as many other things. The word loyalty means: “Faithfulness to commitments or obligations.” Although some may disagree, the need for survival, physical or emotional, can outweigh loyalty.

In Barn Burning Sarty refers to himself as being pulled two ways between two teams of horses. Was Sarty right or wrong for the decision he made? There isn’t a right answer to that question. It all depends on the person’s personal morals. Sarty was in a rock and a hard place. Sarty became stuck in the dilemma of being pulled between two horses and betraying his family.

Dealing with internal conflict can be something that ever human being experiences at some time or another in their life time. This is exactly Colonel Sartoris Snopes “Sarty,” a ten-year-old child, encounters when he has to decide rather to remain loyal to his father or fight for what is morally right within himself and society. Being the major character in William Faulkner’s, “Barn Burning” this young boy is placed under the scrutiny of having to lie for his father in order to remain loyal and protect the freedom of his father or be honest and do what is right for the protection of others possession. In the story, there will be a dynamic change in Satoris character from following the demands of his father to understanding what is justly

In the story "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner Sarty’s feelings towards his father was obligated to him and family, but if you were to look deeper at the treatment his father gave him, you will realize that he also despises his father way towards him and his family. Sarty’s father in the beginning of the short story made it clear that no matter what issue is going on, it is family first. It is shown how greatly he sees his father when he thinks; “Our enemy he thought in despair; ourn! Mine and hisn both! He’s my father” (Faulkner 1). Although Safty knew that his father burning down the barn was not right, he still chose to fight for his justice.