Growing into Maturity

Growing into Maturity

The main characters in these three stories "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner, "A&P" by John Updike, and “Kansas” by Stephen Dobyns are three examples of characters being in conflict with authority and oneself. In "Barn Burning, "Sarty" Snopes is the young son of a barn burner, who expects his young son to lie and conceal his barn burning. In A&P Sammy is a teenager who works at the A&P store with a manager who embarrasses a group of young teenage girls, and in “Kansas,” by Stephen Dobyns shows how one young man’s decision in life affects his life and haunts him for the rest of his life because of the decision he made. By comforting the farmer, he may have saved the farmers’ wife, but stayed silent because he was too afraid. His decision of not telling anyone about what happen affected him throughout his life. All these characters are conflicted with a decision they made along the path of their lives, and also with who they were destined to become. Even though the similarities seem numerous between these three characters, each story offers its own uniqueness as well (Roberts).

There are many similarities illustrated in William Faulkner, John Updike and Stephen Dobyns stories. The most viable similarity is the maturity level of these characters. Sammy is an employed teenager, illustrating his maturity. Although Sarty is only a child, and dealing with being poor his whole life, he has to learn to be independent. The boy in “Kansas” is a college student going home from school, also proving his maturity. The unfair treatment of Sarty of "Barn Burning", Sammy of "A&P", and the boy of “Kansas” is another similarity introduced in the stories. Sarty has to subject his life to the lies and violence that his father Abner Snopes has caused by burning barns. Sammy is made to follow rules set by Lendel the manager of the A&P store in which he quit his job, and the boy in “Kansas must keep his promise to the farmer, and not tell anyone about what occurred that day. All these characters show similarity in their dissatisfaction as they reflect on the future of their lives.

In "Barn Burning," Faulkner describes Sarty's thoughts like this: "Maybe it will all add up and balance and vanish-corn, rug, fire; the terror and grief, the being pulled two ways as between two teams of horses-gone, done with for ever and ever." (Roberts) Sarty is confused by his father's actions fearing that they are will never slow down. Sarty is unhappy with the thought of where his life is going (Spark). When Sammy quit his job, he looks in the window of the A&P store and sees his former manager, Lengel: "His face was dark gray and his back stiff,