BARN BURNING A PSYCHOLOGICAL READING

William Faulkner's story Barn burning explores, among other things, the coming
of age of Sartoris Snopes, as he is forced to deal with issues of righ and wrong
that require a maturity and insight beyond his age. He must choose between
loyalty to his father, Abner Snopes, and his family and loyalty to society and
humanity. The story recounts Starty's slow, reluctant emergence into rebellion
against his father.
Throughout the story Sarty himself wrestles with his father's idea about class
conflict and violence. Eearly on, we see him making mental efforts to make his
father's enemy into his enemy as well. He has been brainwashed to idolize his
father despite all his flaws, which keeps him from having his attitudes of a healty
person.He faces huge pressure from his father to lie in court so that his father will
not be convicted of barn burning. In Sarty's world, violence is a fundamental
element of manhood, something he knows all too well from living with his father.
His father is not only at odds with other people, but he is also at odds with the
very notion of social order. He remains trapped in a cycle of rivalry of which his
barn burning is the perfect symbol. Sarty eventually sees through his father's
attempts to manipulate him by harping on the importance of family loyalty of
blood ties. Blood loyalty means total indentification with his father.
His father paints himself the victim against de Spain, a wealthy landowner who
forces him to pay for the damaged rug. As the strugle between Abner and de
Spain accelerates, Sarty finds himself torn between the demands of family and
loyalty and his emerging sense od ethical rightness. He can either choose to side
with his father pledging his allegiance to blood ties, or choose to be just and
reject his father's evil deeds. He finally breaks into open rebellion, opposing his
father's intention to burn de Spain's barn and rushing off to warn de Spain.
At the end of the story, the young boy walks towards the dark woods. The space
is the dark terrain of the self through which Sarty must journey if he is to become
a mature adult. He eventually understands that he could flee from the system of
conflict and poverty in which his family is trapped. Ultimately he does break with
his father. The story ends with the sun about to rise, symbolically letting Sarty
begin a new life.

This is a coming of age story. At the beginning of the narrative, Sarty fully
associates himself with the ideas and ideals of his father but comes to realize
that his personal sense of justice is violated by his father more than the
community at large. The only way for him to become a healthy adult is to break
away from his father and everything he represents no matter what it costs.