Through the eyes of a child In William Faulkner's "Barn Burning," Faulkner has chosen to tell his story through the point of view of a small boy, Sartoris Snopes. By choosing Sartoris viewpoint , Faulker has enabled the one person who was both closely affected by Abner's behavior and had the power to do something about it. It's not unusual to tell a story from a child's point of view, but on the surface this would not seem to be a child's story, and even from the first page of the story Sartoris is a victim of his fathers actions. Thus, by choosing Sartoris instead of Abner the author has brought in a different narrator, which makes the reader see things in a different way. At the beginning of the story, Sartoris shows that he has respects for his father because that is what is expected by a child towards a parent. Since Sartoris needs to obey Abners every command he has also become fearful towards him. Had Sartoris actually been called on to testify against his father, he would have lied to protect his father. Sartoris has always known that his father burns barns. It is as much a part of Abner's personality as striking his children or humiliating his wife or dragging his family from one shabby farm to another. Sartoris' moral values are not awakened because he suddenly and spontaneously realizes that his father is a wrong doing man. Instead, Sartoris has undergone a type of spiritual revelation when he first sees Major de Spain's plantation. He feels that the residents of this lovely home are safe from his father. As Sartoris states on paragraph fourty, People whose lives are a part of this peace and dignity are behind his touch, he no more to them than a buzzing wasp: capable of stinging for a little moment but that's all; the spell of this peace and dignity rendering even the barns and stable and cribs which belong to it impervious to the puny flames he might contrive . For the first time in the story Sartoris has ...
