Family Loyalty In 'The Barn Burning'

Family Loyalty Loyalty is a value our society has implemented into our way of living. Loyalty is taught at a young age, and can vary among what or who you are loyal to. Eventually, we become loyal to someone or something in our lives. In “The Barn Burning”, William Faulkner shows how loyalty is established through life events, how loyalty can be tested, and how one can decide what they are loyal to. The protagonist in “The Barn Burning” is a 10 year old boy named Sarty who is taught loyalty at a young age. We learn in the beginning that the protagonist’s father Abner has been called to court for the crime of burning a barn. He is the only witness to the crime and has been called to testify against his father. “Get that boy up here. He knows” (Faulkner 340). However, he struggles with his conscious as to what is the right thing to do or what his father wants him to do. “He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do hit.” (340). Hal McDonald states that, “He is bound to his clan by the same ties that bind Sarty, and he never deserts his family” (46). Luckily, he does not have to testify. “Do you want me to question this boy?”
He knows what his father does is wrong, but he his reminded by his father that he must remain loyal. “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you” (342). Marilyn Ford states, “Sarty 's father, terrorizes his son and impels him prematurely toward manhood when Sarty must choose between the dictates of his own conscience and his father 's frontier justice” (527). Although, he knows his father is a barn burner he defends his father after they leave the court room. He gets into a fight with some boys who call his father a barn burner. This shows he is willing to defend his father and that he will remain loyal when