"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner

     A dilemma most teenagers face, but usually none are as severe as Colonel Sartoris Snopes.  Quite an august boy, one may say, for his actions dealing with such a trauma were far from the jejune nature in which one would expect from a teenage boy, especially with the entailments of this situation.  Basically, Colonel Sartoris Snopes' father, Abner Snopes, obtained the habit of committing arson in the midst of anger towards others within society.  After Abner Snopes burnt yet another building, particularly a barn, the Snopes family was ordered to move away by a court of law.  Although he was given this impunity, Abner Snopes' was unable to bring an end to his pyromaniac ways.  An anger at society he could not shake, and only the physical burning of particular matters would console this hatred.

     While Abner Snopes continued this state of self-loathing behavior, Colonel Sartoris Snopes attempted to maintain loyalty to his father, although his father endangered the safety and stability of his family.  Well aware of his father's foible, Colonel Sartoris Snopes externally expressed the erroneous nature of such actions, but internally, Colonel Sartoris' soul burned from the intensity produced by this well-known truth.  Such can be exemplified by the previously explained trial in which Colonel Sartoris Snopes was supposed to testify, even though this did not occur, Sartoris' view would clearly have favored his father; especially when he claimed that the judge was "[their] enemy...[their]n! [his] and hisn both! He's [his] father!" (14).  This internal secret would last for some time, but eventually, the truth would remove such a facade. 

     After moving into the new town in which Abner's "rebirth" was meant to take place, Colonel Sartoris Snopes noticed the unaffected mental and physical nature that his father exuded. Staying true to such nature, Abner Snopes obtained one of his most famously known piques brought on by a man of the name of Major de Spain; a man whose plantation housed the Snopes family, giving Colonel Sartoris Snopes the impression of safety, stability, and a fresh, new start, but Abner's thoughts were of a different type.  Having almost a great predilection for this disastrous behavior, Abner set his sights on the barn of Major de Spain.  Knowledgeable about his father's future plans, Colonel Sartoris Snopes attempted to protect his father and his family, for releasing such news would be a great detriment upon them.  Unable to fight the power of the truth, Colonel Sartoris Snopes eventually  informed Major de Spain about his father's plans to burn the barn.  Although Colonel Sartoris Snopes dropped his loyalty for his father and potentially endangered his family, his intentions were most likely of a less harmful nature; one could say that such actions were meant to not only protect another family from such a traumatic event, but to also send Sartoris' father a "wake-up call" as to ill-effects of his acts of arson in an attempt to discontinue such actions in the future. 

     Colonel Sartoris Snopes never truly knew the effects of his courageous act, for upon the completion of such an action, Sartoris left his family for good, aware that they would never forgive him.  Even the reader is unknowledgeable about the Snopes family's future, but one known truth lies in the fact that Colonel Sartoris completed an admiral act, one that surely affected his family greatly.  Unlike his father, Colonel Sartoris Snopes acted like a true "man", doing what was right for his family, even if that meant risking his own safety, for the safety of others.  Colonel Sartoris Snopes is the real man of this tale.