A Story ABout a Boy With an Antisocial Father

The male child's struggle to reconcile his produce's views with the to a greater extent than civilized standards of their neighbors is contrasted with his father's strong belief in his own wilfully independent way of doing things and with the passivity of other members of the family. The boy's family's shabby possessions and perfunctory lifestyle reflect the family's uncertain social status, while the landlord's put up has a tranquility and stability emblematic of a more settled way of life.

Since the story is told from the boy's point of view, one knows from the precise beginning that thoughts of his father bring him unhappiness. His father has been brought before a Justice of Peace's court, where he is being charged with barn burning. With " hopelessness and grief," the boy feels the "old fierce pull of blood.''l He is lock trying at this point, however, to remain loyal and obedient to his father. A thought that his father faces his enemy is transformed by the boy:

(our enemy he thought, in that despair; ourn! mine a = hisn both! He s my father!) (p. 3)In addition, he is disposed(p) to lie to protect his father in court if necessary.

As the boy reacts to subsequent events, however, factors that favor his eventual break with his father become

William Faulkner, "Barn Burning," Collected Stories of

William Faulkner (New York: Random House, 1950), p. 3. All sub

acceptable behavior and breaks from his family to seek his own

Hit's big as a courthouse he thought quietly, with a surge of peace and joy....They are safe from him. People whose lives are a take up of this peace and dignity are beyond his touch. (p. 10) * = The boy's longing to suppose in what the house stands for as =

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