Sarty's Father

Sarty is a ten-year-old boy who was born into a dysfunctional family. His father, Abner was the head of the family and controlled them with physical and psychological violence. In this story, Sarty is not very close with his family members and doesn’t give much detail. However, we learn Sarty has taken over his older brothers role of being his father's right hand. Sarty also has a mother and two twin sisters. Sarty’s mother has tried to take control of Sarty’s father to stop him from causing harm that could affect the family. However, she is too afraid of physical and psychological abuse from him. Sarty’s mother is protective over her two daughters that Sarty isn’t the biggest fan of. He describes these two girls as not being very useful.
Sarty describes the smell of the market that smells like cheese and “the old fierce pull of blood” (188). The pull of blood represents the bond between him and his father. In the beginning, he believes he has a strong relationship with him. Not wanting to go against his father during the case, Sarty does not speak. Since Sarty is unable to stand up for himself because he fears his father his father “struck him with the flat of his hand on the side of the head (190).” His father tells him that he must learn to be a man and says, “stick to your blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick you”
Sarty spoke about his father's “terror and despair” (191). He had hope that his father still had time to change. After they had moved to a new home, Sarty explained how his “terror and despair” went away when he saw the new surroundings. He believed that the surroundings can change his father too and said; “maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he couldn’t help” (192). Sarty was optimistic of his father's ability to change to become a better person. However, his father did not have respect for him. Sarty often times asked to help his father, but his father would not even reply to his