"Barn Burning" focuses on the prejudices of the patriarch of the Spores family and the rebellion of Sarty against his father. Abner shows his disdain for African-Americans both literally and symbolically when he and Sarty go to the house of Major de Spain. Abner left "deliberate...prints on pale rug." William Faulkner doesn't call the rug white but pale, referencing skin color. Faulkner uses the rug as a symbol for the Caucasian race and the footprints as blights on that race. Abner sees all the slaves as animals and cannot deal with being on the same level as them. His anger doubles when the slave acts as though Abner is beneath him and someone to be watched. Abner tries to push his prejudices on Sarty through guilt, saying his son should think only of the family.
Sarty starts to see how his father acts towards other people. He is seen as the child that is the closest to Abner in appearance, actions, and thoughts. But Sarty is at the age to ask questions and notice more than people believe. He begins to tell the truth at the courthouse but is quickly silenced by his father. After Sarty leaves his family, he walks through a forest, a dark place, and sees the light of dawn. Sarty walks under the "liquid sliver voices" of the forest animals and becomes baptized from the prejudices of his family into the beginning of a man who he wants to be and has seen from other people around him.
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