The author William Faulkner has an eminent style of Southern Gothic in his story “Barn Burning”. Southern Gothic is characterized by shock, theme and violence. In this story, it depicts a father and his son agonizing with enormous internal conflicts along with the finale of those conflicts. This is clearly illustrated by a ten year boy named Sarty Snopes, who is haunted having to confront a dilemma in his early childhood days. Sarty feels responsible for having to choose between loyalty to his father, Abner Snopes or loyalty to the justice system. The son is overwhelmed and sickened with his choice to save his father by lying or tell the truth. His heart and his head are colliding constantly. Many times good and evil are fighting a war inside the small child’s mind. The decisions that Sarty makes will have a life time of consequences on the entire family. Abner Snopes constantly makes sure his son, Sarty knows the importance of family. There are…show more content… “The southern charm life on the plantations”(Susan Gagliardi, setting) that the Snope’s lived on numerous times all fueled further resentment with the fathers need to imprison his son. The father’s ferocious behavior had always been inside him and became more vivid once he returned from the war. He thought he was inferior to others. His violent behavior stems from a deep wound inside. Burning barns was like an addiction or a nasty, abnormal habit that Abner could not shake and he resented anyone who tried to get in his way. It was as if he was mentally handicapped. “The set of characteristics applied to Southern Gothic literature is much more than the use of southern dialects and corn-fed, barn-raised, country folk lifestyle” (Bedford Anthology of American
