In “Barn Burning,” the author, William Faulkner, composes a wonderful story about a poor boy who lives in anxiety, despair, and fear. He introduces us to Colonel Satoris Snopes, or Sarty, a boy of maturity beyond his years. Due to the harsh circumstances of life, Sarty must choose between justice and his family. At the age of ten, Sarty begins to believe that his integrity will help him make the right choices. His loyalty to his family does not allow him to understand why he is warning the De Spain family at such a young age. Faulkner describes how the Snopes family is emotionally conflicted due to Abner's insecurities, how the consequences of a father's actions can change their lives, and how these choices push Sarty toward adulthood. anger, fear and despair. Abner Snopes, the father, is an angry man. He believes that he is always right, that he is violent and that he is always wronged by life. Although his wife is impartial about his actions, she looks at him with an “anxious face on her shoulder,” which describes how weary she is when in the presence of her husband (Faulkner 1961). Sarty's entire family lives under a climate of fear and anxiety due to his father's insecurities and resentment towards people who put him down. Sarty's older brother is easily impressed and follows their father's manipulative methods of dysfunction: the brother says, "Better tie him to the bedpost" (Faulkner 1965). Abner uses manipulation and violence to keep them feeling hopeless and afraid, never feeling safe. Sarty is too immature to put his young thoughts into words, thinking, "They are safe from him." The people whose lives are part of this peace and dignity exceed its...... middle of paper ......e the rifle of Spain. He mourns his deceased father as a young child would, but makes an adult decision to run away from everything and his family. Sarty ran into the woods to get to safety. He never knew how long he continued to run from the despair and fear of the choices he and his father made that day. Little did Sarty realize that walking through that door to Spain's mansion had led to freedom for him and his family: "Maybe it'll take a Sarty Snopes to get in through another front door and, though quickly fired, learning that he has power. the ability and willingness to make moral decisions that will lead him, not to death, but to life” (Samway 103). Sarty, knowing he would never again feel the terror and despair of his father's actions, he chose to grieve and made an adult decision to move forward toward a new start in life with his integrity intact..