Barn Burning
...retaliate. Abner, as an itinerant sharecropper, is at the lowest level of the socio-economic ladder and is especially eager to take offense to those who he considers to be his social superiors. This is the reason for the family being in constant upheaval. The family is greatly affected by the actions of Abner. The embarrassment that the family must endure is unimaginable. The moving from town to town has become somewhat of a family ritual. An example of this would be after the trial. The entire family was sitting in their wagon nearby, with all of the family’s belongings packed and ready to move. Abner even anticipates moving by setting up work and housing in another town before he gets all the way kicked out of the previous town. “His two hulking sisters in their Sunday dresses and his mother and her sister in calico and sunbonnets were ready in it, sitting on and among the sorry residue of the dozen and more movings which even the boy could remember- the battered stove, the broken beds and chairs, the clock inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which would not run, stopped at some fourteen minutes past two o’clock of a dead and forgotten day and time, which had been his mother’s dowry”. (Faulkner, 203) This passage explains how all of the family’s belongings were packed and ready. More importantly, the passage explains how the family has moved twelve times over the course of Sarty’s ten years. Sarty is a very young child, but is starting to understand that his father’s actions are detrimental to the family, therefore contradicting the idea of family loyalty. Abner uses “family ties” as a way to keep his family suppressed. Abner has taught his son that they must share common enemies. An example of this would be the trial that was held in the store. During the trial Sarty watched while thinking of Mr. Harris as the enemy, when in actuality, Mr. Harris was the victim of Sarty’s father. “Ourn! Mine and hisn both!” This was the thought process that Abner developed in his family. Therefore, by making the family the most important aspect of life, Abner could commit terrible acts, and his family was to sit idly by and watch the destruction caused by their father. Sarty was devoted to his father, and was even beaten as a result of sticking up for his father, when he lunged at a town’s boy in his father’s defense after the trial. Sarty’s loyalty to his father was instilled, but was questioned by Abner, which is part of the reason for Sarty deciding to do what he felt was right. The night that the family camped out, Abner slapped Sarty, saying that Sarty was going to tell the truth to the judge, and betray him. This was indeed the turning point in the story. Sarty felt betrayed by his father. If no one else was dedicated to Abner, it was Sarty. Now, Sarty is sure of what he is obligated to do. His obligation can no longer be to family because the entire view of family loyalty has been diminished. Sarty’s obligation is now to morality. The “Golden Rule,” of human nature is, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Sarty realizes that he can no longer able to “stick to his own blood”. Sarty has been the victim of abuse, his mother has had to deal with a tyrannical husband, and Sarty has been the witness to his father picking fights with people who do him no harm, and Abner is a known arsonist. A perfect example of harming someone who has done no harm is the ruining of Major de Spain’s rug. This incident was completely unnecessary and done purely out of jealousy. Sarty watched his father do this, and knew that it was wrong. By this point in the story Sarty has developed a sense of maturity beyond hi...