\documentstyle[21.003-paper,12pt,palatino]{article}
\title{Loss of Innocence in ``Barn Burning''}
\date{March 1, 1991}
\begin{document}
\maketitle

In ``Barn Burning,'' by William Faulkner, a boy begins the transition
from the innocence of childhood to the independence of adulthood.  At
the beginning of the story, the boy is very much his father's son.  He
looks up to his father as a role model, seeing whatever is right for
his father as right for him.  By the end of the story, he has broken
away from his father, ready to set out for himself, doing what he
feels is right.

At the beginning of the story, the boy's father is being tried for
burning down a man's barn.  The evidence presented to the court is all
circumstantial, but if it were true, it is more than sufficient
evidence to convict him.  But the boy does not see all this.  He sees
the Justice, Mr. Harris, the plantiff, and the rest of the court as
his father's enemies, and therefore his own as well.  He is ready to
protect his father by lying in court, if necessary.  The boy's father
(Snopes) is aquitted, but the Justice advises that he leave town.

Immediately after the trial, the family left for a new home.  On the
way, they camped overnight.  His father hit him, claiming that he
would have told the truth to the court.  His father reprimands him,
telling him that ``you got to learn to stick to your own blood or
ain't going to have any blood to stick to.''  The boy says that he
understands, but there is a comment that twenty years later, he looked
back upon this time, and realized that it wasn't truth or justice his
father was holding highest, it was family loyalty.  The reader is
given the impression that the boy, as an adult, has become a man for
whom truth and justice are more important.  This is the fundamental
difference between what the boy's father is, and what the boy is to
become.

After this point, there is a noticeable change in the boy's thoughts.
Rather than just accepting everything his father does, he begins to
wish that his father would change for the better.  He still makes
excuses for his father, though, thinking that ``Maybe it will change
him now from what maybe he couldn't help but be.''  For the first
time, he questions his father's actions as he goes into de Spain's
house and stains the rug inside.  However, he is not yet at the point
where he feels that he can openly contradict his father.

When Major de Spain brings the ruined rug back to Snopes, after he has
cleaned it, Snopes shows no regret for what he has done.  Sarty tells
his father that he would support him if he were not to pay the twenty
bushels de Spain demanded, but privately, he hopes that maybe having
to pay de Spain will change his father.  Even after the court decides
that de Spain is only entitled to ten bushels, Sarty tells his father
that he won't let him get it.  His father calmly tells the boy to just
wait until October.  The boy apparently sees this as a sign of change
in his father, and is happy about it.

Later that night, however, the boy's hopes are shattered.  He sees his
father preparing to burn down the Major's barn, and this time, he does
not sit by while it happens.  His brother suggests that he be
restrained, and his mother holds him, but he gets away.  For the first
time in his life, he openly defies his father by running to de Spain's
house and warning him about the barn.  One this happens, there is no
turning back.  Sarty thinks about running away, but isn't ready to do
it yet.  Major de Spain rides toward the barn, after his father.
After he hears the gunshots, the boy knows it is too late.  He
realizes that his father is gone, and mourns for him, but also accepts
this fact.  Now, he is free of the control of his father, and uses
this opportunity to leave his family, and go off on his own.  

At the beginning of the story, Sarty has the mindset of a small boy.
He is deferent to his father, and even idolizes him.  Unfortunately,
his father is a person who, for reasons not given, is overcome with
jealousy and hate for society.  As the story progresses, we see Sarty
becoming more aware of the situation he is in, and the kind of man his
father is.  At first, he is unable to accept the fact that his father
will not change, but he slowly begins to accept this fact.  The
turning point in the story occurs when the father goes to burn down de
Spain's barn.  This time, the boy is unable to accept his father's
actions, and does what he considers to be the right thing: he warns
Major de Spain.  Predictably, the Major goes after, and kills his
father.  At this point, the boy leaves home to follow a life of his
own, a good and honorable life which he can be proud of, rather than
the life of jealousy and hate which his father lived, and which
eventually killed him.

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