The Contribution Of Family Loyalty To The Snopes Family

Family loyalty is an important value to every family today. To the Snopes family, they take it even further to make it more important than the law itself. Throughout the story Sartoris is forced to choose which is more important, loyalty to family or loyalty to the law. Although Sartoris betrays his father towards the end of the story, he stands beside and defends his family for most of the story. One instance is when he defended his father against a boy who called him a “barn burner”. Sartoris whirled around and confronted the boy, in which ended with Sartoris’ face being bloodied. This blood could be used as a mark of pride due to the fact he defended his family name. At the end of the story, Sartoris betrays his father by telling de Spain that his father will be burning his barn. This shows that Sartoris has decided that family loyalty is too much for him to handle. Once the father is shot (presumed dead) by de Spain, the family is freed from the criminal father; but Sartoris feels the guilt and begins to weep.
Even when Sartoris betrays his father, he soon realizes the wrong he did and automatically feels guilty. Even if his father was the worst man around, it will always be his father and apart of his