Faulkner's Tale Barn Burning Teaches Self Realized Moral

It is a given truth that troubling situations and disastrous circumstances will exist in our lives, but we must decide how we are going to deal with these situations given all the things we know and believe. In the end, we are the people that we become because of the choices we decided to make, and the decisions we act upon in order to do what we believe is right and wrong. No where is this point better shown than William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" In this masterful tale, Faulkner has shown us exactly what can become of a person, no matter how they are raised, what they are told, or what their society expects of them. In the end, young Colonel "Sarty" Snopes makes the decisions and choices that will change his life, and show us all that we must stand up to the evils of the world, no matter where they reside.

The short story deals with the inner conflict of young Sarty Snopes as he tries to deal with what is right and wrong and good and bad. The story opens with his father in court, a place of defining morality. His father is being convicted of burning a barn, and young Sarty was going to have to testify against him. He saw the accusing man as his "father's enemy (ourn enemy....He's my father)" (Faulkner, 1) Showing that he understands that anyone who is his father's enemy is his enemy. Presenting and reminding the reader of this idea of youth that states anyone who is messing with a piece of the family, especially the father, is messing with everyone in the family. He knew that his father expected him to lie, but lying is wrong; however, it would be ok to defend his father. Though he didn't defend him in court, he defends him on the street with brawn and brawls with the street boys when they call him a "barn burner". However, unlike the barn, he did see his father soil the De Spain's rug. The next time he sees his father being reprimanded for destroying a rug he hopes that this will teach his father, who he believes is an honest man put in bad circumstances, "that it's a cheap price for him to stop forever and always from being what he used to be"(16). To stop being this evil man, and be the good man that young Sarty truly knows him as. In the end his father shows young Sarty to be the evil man that he truly is by burning yet another barn that belongs to honest good people.

"Barn Burning" asks through Sarty, is blood really the definitive reason for doing what is right and wrong. Sarty's father is quite mad that he was going to actually tell the truth in the court of law rather than lie for him. Sarty tried to convince himself by "repeating to himself, Enemy Enemy", but to no avail; he knew what the right thing to do was and much as he tried to convince himself, he knew that his father had done something wrong(Faulkner, 2). His father smacks him and says that Sarty needs to "learn to stick to his own blood or [he] ain't gonna have any blood to stick to". (7) Thereby showing young Sarty, that you need to stick to what your family is doing, the way they're acting, and what they believe is the right and wrong thing or you will end up alone. There are many times that if we do the right thing, we will be left to stand alone. Explaining that what is right and wrong is dependent on what the family does, not on what one believes or feels. However, Sarty doesn't see this, and hopes that people will be free of his father's wrath and wrong doings. He knows that the powerful, such as the De Sapins, will be "safe from him, safe from his blaze" because they are good, and above the evil that is his father. (9) Sarty already knows what right and wrong is, and what needs and doesn't need to happen. Sarty becomes the conscious and moral observer of the entire story.

In the end, Sarty is forced with the ultimate moral decision. He must either be who he is and warn the De Spains, or stay with his mother and Aunt and sit idely by while his Father destroys the barn. He breaks free from his mother's arms symbolizing the breaking free of the family blood line. He "curses the old blood he had no ability to choose for himself" and does what he knows is the right thing to do.(15) This action does indeed cause Sarty to be alone in his own world. If we ourselves believe it to be right, then it truly is and, as in the end of the story, we should be happy to stand alone. Faulkner shows us that there is a defined right and wrong in the world we live in. No matter if there is pestilence, poverty, or some sort of natural disaster; we must always understand that if we choose the right thing it is the right way to do things. In this world of terror and problems, we must get away from the idea that we have to think like everyone else, and realize we must do what is right and decent rather than destructive. As the reader realizes this, it reassures them to know that if they choose the right thing, the other evils can not bother them. If they are alone, as Sarty is, they are in good company with the others who have chosen the path of righteousness.
.