What really makes a good story? What must a reader have to want to continue reading? Most readers want to read about a character they feel they can relate to. Readers also want to end the story feeling as if they have been left with a message, a powerful theme. One story that I think really delivers on these two key assets is William Faulkner’s Barn Burning. The main character in this story is Sarty. What makes this character and this story so moving is the predicament Sarty faces and the conscious and difficult decision he must make, which will inevitably change his life with his family forever: does he give up his blood or fight for rights? of social values? and morality?

All of Sarty’s life he has watched his father abuse him and his family and he has known nothing but the poor, white, trash kind of life. From the beginning, it is obvious that Sarty is a little different from his father. This is shown to us during the first courtroom encounter in which his father is blamed for burning down another man’s barn. Sarty is called by the judge to tell the truth about what he knows of his father burning or not burning Mr. Harris’s barn. The author portrays Sarty in this scene in a way that the reader may feel how uncomfortable Sarty is telling the truth of the incident, considering that we know that his father did burn down the barn. Although Sarty does not speak in this scene, Faulkner accurately reveals the tension Sarty experiences as he awaits Mr. Harris’s response on whether to “question this child” or not because, of course, Sarty does not want to lie or dishonor his father: “But he could hear, and for those long seconds afterward, while there was absolutely no sound in the crowded little room, except that of a quiet, purposeful breathing, it was as if he had swung out at the end of a vine, over a ravine, and at the top of the swing he had been trapped in a prolonged moment of mesmerized gravity, weightless in time. ” From here, the reader is aware of Sarty’s plight: because of who his father is and what he is like, Sarty cannot be considered an honest man with society and with himself without challenging his own blood.

Sarty’s story and dilemma are quickly recovered during the symbolic scene in which Sarty and his father head towards the house of the Mayor of Spain. Hit is as big as a courthouse, he thought softly, with a rush of peace and joy whose reason he could not have thought in words, being too young for that: they are safe from him. People whose lives are a part of him. this peace and dignity is beyond your touch … “Here, Sarty is talking about the house of the Mayor of Spain. The fact that you describe it by comparing it to a courthouse allows the home to symbolize the beauty of society.

The reader is left wondering how Sarty’s father will react to the splendor and goodness of society (Casa del Mayor de España). “… his father held and saw that the stiff foot sank into a pile of fresh excrement where a horse had been on the road and that his father could have avoided with a simple change of stride.” In this passage, Faulkner makes the reader suspicious of what will happen next. Furthermore, Faulkner also includes symbolism in this passage: as we are told, Sarty’s father could easily have avoided the droppings with a “simple change of pace.” This image reflects the type of man Sarty’s father really is: a stubborn, disrespectful, and corrupt man. He could have easily changed his stride, but the fact that he didn’t, continues to support his evil quality.

The last event in this scene is the revelation of how Sarty’s father and moral society come together: “… the boy saw him turn on the good leg and saw the stiff foot crawl around the arc of the turn, leaving a long finish and fading stain. ” Faulkner’s use of images is what really helps the reader see and feel what Sarty is doing. We are shocked by what his father just did. The reader and Sarty are shown that his father does not belong to society. He is the dirt that pollutes civilization. He is the evil that pollutes the health of society.

Sarty is now in a position to reevaluate her belief in respect and commitment to her own blood. How can he be after such a cruel man as his father? Shortly after the incident, Sarty’s wonders and uncertainty come true when he discovers that his father has set out to burn down the Major de Spain’s barn. Immediately, Sarty is faced with a difficult decision: does he turn his head away from his father and allow him to commit this crime? Or does he warn the Mayor of Spain and save his barn and father from tracking down more dirt in society than he already has? Sarty has seen enough and has finally made up her mind about her father, who he is and what he stands for. Sarty knows that he can no longer be behind him, and rushes to go to the Mayor of Spain’s house to warn him before his father does him any harm. “… knowing that it was too late and still running even after hearing the short and an instant later, two shots, stopping now without knowing that he had stopped running, crying,” Dad! Dad! “”

This is the final scene and conclusion of Sarty’s decision. His father is now presumably dead due to the choice Sarty made. His decision is eternal, and at the end of the story he does not turn to return home, but “He continued down the hill, towards the dark forest within which the liquid silver voices of the birds called incessantly ….” He knows that things with him and his family will never be the same again, but for Sarty, it was worth it; defending the morality of society outweighed respect for his father and he, for eternity, will live with the consequences.