In the short story "Barn Burning," the protagonist, Sarty Snopes has a very conflicted relationship with his father. Sarty is still a young boy of only ten years, but he is heavily under his father's influence. His father forces him to do and think the way he does. He not only forces, but also threatens as is evident when his father says, "You're getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you." His father says this in a way that will make Sarty feel threatened, but also guilty if he ever does go against his father's wishes.

In the beginning of the story, Sarty is being examined in a case in which his father has been accused of burning a man's barn. Sarty thinks, "He aims...