Sarty’s Struggles with the Pull of His Blood
...or his father by fighting to defend him as a boy from the crowd yells out “Barn burner.” Sarty is desperate to please and believe in his father, but as time goes on, the “old fierce pull of blood” starts to weaken as he begins to see the truth. As the family is evicted from yet another town, Sarty says to himself, “Maybe he’s done satisfied now, now that he has...” Faulkner at this point provides us with the knowledge that Abner has been in legal trouble more than once. Sarty hopes his father is finally able to control his rage. Abner knows that Sarty would have told the truth had he testified, and he takes the opportunity as they set up camp for the night to put pressure on Sarty. Abner makes, Sarty admit that he would have told the judge the truth if he had testified, and we once again see Sarty’s internal struggle. Sarty gathers the strength to admit that he would have told the truth. Abner threatened, “You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.” At this point, Faulkner shifts time and takes us to the future, to allow us to see Sarty begin to question his father. He knows that he should do what is right, but he still does not have the courage break the “old fierce pull of blood” and stand up to his father. As they arrived at the new farm to sharecrop, Sarty describes it as a “paintless two-room house identical to almost a dozen others they had stopped at before.” Abner takes Sarty to main house of the farm where the landowner, Major De Spain, lives. Sarty has never seen anything so big and beautiful, and the statement he makes, “Hit’s big as a courthouse” is ironic considering his father is always in legal trouble. The beauty and peacefulness of the De Spain house gives Sarty a look into a different world. It is a world that offers him hope that his father will change, “ Maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he couldn’t help but be.” However, Sarty soon realizes that his father will not be satisfied as his father purposefully steps in horse manure and tracks it across a beautiful expensive rug in the house. Sarty sees his father’s actions are wrong, and struggles with his convictions and the “old fierce pull of blood,” but again he still stands loyal to his father. When De Spain brings the rug to Abner for him to clean, Sarty again sees his father’s vindictiveness when his father deliberately ruins the rug by having his “bovine” daughters clean the rug by rubbing a hole through it with a rock. De Spain added 20 bushels of corn to his contract for the cost of the ruined rug. At this point Sarty tries to deflect his father’s anger to keep him from becoming angry and burning another barn. Sarty tell his father, “You done the best you could!” Once again, Abner is on trial for his malicious actions. The Justice of the Peace finds Abner guilty and decreases payment for the rug to ten bushels of corn, but, of course, Abner is not happy with the decision. It is at this point that the “old fierce pull of blood” starts to weaken. After...