William Faulkner’s short story Barn Burning goes to the heart of this human dilemma. At the start of the story, young Sarty Snopes sits in a courtroom and listens to the case against his father for setting Mr. Harris’ barn afire.
Sarty declares the Justice of the Peace who tries the case “his father’s enemy” then and as if he suddenly remembered that his father and he are one, he declares the Justice to be “our enemy”. This despite the fact that Sarty knows his father, Abner Snopes, is guilty of the crime with which he has been accused. The struggle to lie to protect his father creates conflict within Sarty. He sides with his father. He is unable to sever the tie. He is unable to see himself separate from Abner.
Insight and inner guidance
In her book Finding Your Own North Star, Dr. Martha Beck refers to this decision to abandon one’s own deep desire in favor of helping another person maintain their social identity as “navigational breakdown”. Beck states that in her therapy practice this is one of the major reasons for client illness, both physical and psychological.
The choice to ignore or/and abandon one’s deepest longings in order to gain peace with a larger society or with an individual perceived to be more valuable than oneself, may, as it did for Sarty Snopes when he escaped the courtroom without having to testify, bring temporary relief. However, the long term impact of ignoring what one really wants can be devastating.
If Beck had treated Sarty, she likely would have noticed his conflict straightaway. After all, he literally shoved his mother aside when she tried to wash blood off his face subsequent to a boy slugging him after he left the courtroom and headed for his family’s worn out truck, taunts of “barn burner” sounding in his ears.
Deep down, like anyone who is injured, Sarty likely wanted to give in to his mother’s care. Yet he couldn’t afford to be helped. He had to remain loyal to his father. Otherwise, he might be punished.
Courage to Live From One’s Own Truth
As readers may have encountered in their own lives when met with someone who refused to allow them to live from their own truth, Sarty knew his father could be mean if he dared voice a thought contrary to his. Faulkner notes this further into the story in a nighttime scene where Sarty is observing Abner from a distance.
“There was something about his wolflike independence [Sarty muses about his father] and even courage when the advantage was at least neutral which impressed strangers, as if they got from his latent ravening ferocity not so much a sense of dependability as a feeling that his ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions would be of advantage to all whose interest lay with his.”
There are occasions throughout the story that illustrate that not only Sarty but Abner too have not realized that, “none of the individuals you’ve loved or hated. . . has the ability to control your choices.” For example, Abner reveals his ignorance of this when he tells his wife, upon acceptance of a new job for a man named de Spain, “I reckon I’ll have a word with the man that aims to begin to-morrow owning me body and soul for the next eight months.”
Disappointing Circumstances and the Temptation to Quit
Perhaps Abner’s anger stems from the fact that he has time and again surrendered his true identity to wealthy land owners he feels he needs in order to feed his family. And in his angst, he has turned his hurt upon his young son, has tried to keep Sarty safe by making him just like him. The insanity of this dysfunctional parenting is akin to social suicide. It takes a hard blow at Sarty’s core.
On social suicide, Beck states, “When you’re in circumstances that poison your core, all the subtle mechanisms that make for smooth social behavior get gummed up. . . Then you try to talk yourself to a safe haven and end up so deeply embarrassed that certain people will cross the street to avoid you for the rest of your life.”
Honesty’s Amazing Power
So how does someone find their true identity and make honest choices? They learn to read their emotional compass. As Beck notes in Finding Your Own North Star, when faced with conflicting desires (what a person really wants vs. what they feel will bring them the least social resistance) stop and ask these four basic questions: “What am I feeling? Why am I feeling this way? What will it take to make me happy? What’s the most effective way to get what I [really] want?”
It is important that everyone be honest with themselves when answering these questions. Answers to these questions will help people to discover what they should do next in their lives which will, in turn, bring them peace and happiness.
Moving Forward Into a Rewarding Future
It takes courage for someone to live from their true identity as Sarty learns at the end of Barn Burning when he runs to de Spain’s, his father’s employer. But it can be done. For as Abner heads down the road to extract revenge on de Spain for embarrassing him over the matter of a damaged rug Sarty shouts, “Barn! . . . Barn!”
de Spain heeds Sarty’s warning; his barn is sparred. Sarty’s fear of Abner turns to despair then a moving on and a growing courage as the young boy heads down the road away from everything he has known before and does “not look back”.
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