Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Explain how the choices the characters, like Sarty, his father, Major Despain, the judge, make affect others in "Barn Burning."William Faulkner's...

This is an interesting angle to take on this excellent
story about hate and anger and the individual freedom to defy expectations. Certainly,
we are presented with many characters whose fate is dependent upon the choices and
actions of others. Perhaps most obviously we can start with Sarty's father, whose anger
and choice to continually express that anger in acts of arson has devastating
consequences on his family, who are reduced to the position of mendicants as they have
to continually wonder around from place to place and are scorned and repulsed by
others.


If we examine Abner Snopes, we can see that it is
his continued anger against the world, and especially against those who have power over
him, that directly leads to Sarty following his own conscience and defying his father's
will by telling Major De Spain what his father is doing. This of course results in
Sarty's effective isolation as he knows he can never return to his family, and the end
of this excellent story features his walk away from what has happened and his family and
in to an uncertain future, but one at least where he will be free from the influence of
his father's poor choices:


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He went on down the hill, toward the dark woods
within which the liquid silver voices of teh birds called unceasing--the rapid and urgen
beating of the urgent and quiring heart of the late spring night. He did not look
back.


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