Consider Barn Burning And Almos A Man Essay, Research Paper

Consider Barn Burning and Almos A Man as examples of IDENTITY stories in which the main characters are trying to discover their adult selves while leaving their boyhood behind. By In Barn Burning by William Faulkner and Almos A Man by Wright Richard, the main characters go through dramatic situations as they grow older . A change in their character occurs as they are growing up.This Barn Burning is an identity story that lets a character to change from a youth to an adult while leaving his boyhood behind. The two main characters are Abner Snopes and his son Sartoris. The story takes place some thirty years after the Civil War. Sarty changes in the story when he begins to see his father in relation to the larger world.Sartoris Snopes looks small for his age, a vigorous person just like his father, brown hair with gray eyes. Although he is nervous human being, he is kind as well. At the beginning of the story, the little boy defends his father. He does not want his father to be the enemy of the country.He could not see the table where the justice His father and his father s enemy (our enemy he thought in that despair: ourn! Mine and his. Both! He s my father.(p,) If it is his father s enemy, follows his old man s actions and hates the enemy as well. This is a national act, boys tend to do what their fathers do. Young children, sometimes look at their parents as idols. His father says that he has to stick to his family: You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain t going to have any blood to stick to you. (p,). Sartoris understands that he has to stick to his blood if he wants his family to care about him. Until a certain stage in his life, he allows some feelings to control his thoughts. This sentimental attitude starts to notice that whatever his father is doing to the barn is wrong. But he limits his critical thinking. Although he can think on his own, still he will not betray his father, yet. He does not talk against him. Sarty only says what his father wants to hear. In one way, he respects his father, but this situation will not be the same. Therefor, the boy is closer to his father than his older brother. Perhaps, his father thinks Sartoris is more like him. Later, the boy sees his father s actions as wrong. The father tells him to get the can of oil to light up the barn on fire. This time, the boy refuses and deceives the old man. Sartoris pursues his thought and does not listen to him. His father thinks his son does not obey him and hits him.

Sartoris Snopes is a little boy who listens to his father until a certain age. He changes from youth to an adult and leaves his boyhood behind. Now, he realizes who his father truly is. He does no like the attitude and he decides not to go back. However, how could he go back when he betrays his own blood?In Almos A Man , a seventeen year old boy, by the name Dave, whose desire for independence leads him into trouble only because he thinks that possessing a gun will make others respect or see him as an adult. One of theses days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, then they couldn t talk to him as though he were a little boy.(handout, p 8) His obsession in being a man, clouded the clarity of his mind and uninfluenced by the advise of his elders, i.e. Mistah Joe: You ain t nothing but a boy. You don t need a gun. (handout, p, 10) and his mother: One of these, he said again, not daring even to point.She glanced up at the page, then at him with wide eyes. Nigger, is yuh gone plumb crazy? (handout, p, 10),but at the end manipulated his mother into giving him the money to obtain the object of his desire, i.e. a gun. After obtaining the gun, Dave feels a sense of power, making him think that from now and on people must respect him for he is an adult. Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would respect him. (p, 11, handout) As the story progresses Dave tries out his new power, but seeing that he could not handle it: The report half deafened him and he thought his right hand was torn from his arm. , and found himself on his knees, squeezing his fingers hard between his legs. he starts to blame it: He gritted his teeth and kicked the gun. Yuh aloms broke mah arm. The irony of the story takes place after Dave bought the gun, assuming with a possession like that everybody would see him as an adult, but his character did not involve as he thought it should, because it made him lie to his mother, by not giving the gun, and to the people, about how the mule died. If Dave wanted to be so badly a man he should have taken responsibility for his acts, because a real man wouldn’t run like a coward. A real man would stand for what he believes in!