Sarty’s Struggle for Independence In “Barn Burning,” by Faulkner we are told the story of how Sarty (Colonel Sartoris Snopes) struggles with his father in order to find his own identity. At first Sarty is blindly following his father. Later on in the story Sarty questions his father, provoking some serious reactions on the part of the father. At the end, Sarty betrays his father and finally gains his independence from the bitter old …showed first 75 words of 617 total…

…showed last 75 words of 617 total…can never go back to the family he just betrayed knowing this, as we walked on in the night at the end of the story, “He did not look back.” (493) This suggests that Sarty fully realized the predicament he placed himself in, but did not turn back, he kept going as he wanted to, clearly showing his growth from child to a man, and gaining his independence from the family he had been bound to.