Blood Ties
One may find themselves in the situation where they must choose between their own flesh and blood and basic morality. Often, depending on our relationship with them, we will choose loyalty to our family rather than the “correct” moral choice, for the sake of those loved ones. Regardless if that person is in the wrong or right. Barn Burning, written by William Faulkner, “derive[s] from the necessity for important characters to choose between two different sets of moral imperatives: the ties of blood and kinship, on the one hand, and, on the other, a kind of intuitive sense of simple decency and compassion and of the integrity of others” (Ferguson) and is thusly an excellent example of such a painful predicament.
Throughout the tale Barn Burning, the son, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, nicknamed “Sarty”, struggles with the weight of his father’s misconduct as he “learns a great deal about the agony of moral commitment” (Ferguson). The intro to the story implies that the father often acts in childish ways in the towns that the family has lived in previously. It is because of this that they seem to move so much. The family as a whole, for the most part turns a blind eye to The father’s bad behavior, and often pander to the his whims. We experience this story…show more content… You would have told them” (Mays 191), the son admits to this accusation and notes his father’s somber tone while saying so. The thought that perhaps he does experience a sense of guilt and embarrassment for his inordinate behavior crosses his mind. He still feels a sense of reluctant loyalty to his father and perhaps was searching for a reason to continue to indulge him in his ways. Although this thought could be countered by his disproportionate overall disproportionate conduct. As he soon after smears manure on a planter’s rug without a trace of shame or remorse. Even as the house workers and Sarty plead with him to behave