The Journey of Injustice

“The boy said nothing. Enemy! Enemy! He thought; for a moment he could not even see, could not see that the Justice’s face was kindly.” Many questions are asked as the reader reads the beginning pages of Barn Burning . Why is this small child worried about telling the truth? What is he trying to hide? And most importantly as the story progresses, why is he protecting his father? As you can see by the initial quote this child thinks the Justice of the Peace is an enemy and after reading more you find it is based solely on what his father has taught him and by what he has been told. He doesn’t take into effect that this “enemy” might not be an enemy and instead might help him. His mind is too clouded by the persuasion from his father (whether it be good persuasion or violent persuasion) and his family to understand legitimately what is right and what is wrong. There is a theme of justice being injustice throughout the entire novel which I will discuss at the end of this blog. For now I will talk about how this short story is about the journey into manhood for our main character, the young boy.

At the very beginning this story starts off with a small child being questioned about his knowledge on the transaction between his father and their neighbor. You can tell immediately that the child does not know what to say and is scared for his father’s reaction to the events transpiring. Anyone can see that he is ruling his family by violence and that his word is law. This story continues in the perspective of our young characters mind and you see how his family works together and how dysfunctional they are. During each “action scene” or scene that describes his father lashing out with violence or burning yet again another barn the young boy can be seen debating whether or not this was okay. But unfortunately he never had time to do anything about it because his father always ordered him to participate or to get his family to safety. That child was always unsure about his father’s actions but he was then pushed into participating in some way. As the story comes to its end you can even see the debate of man versus child found within this young boy as he is carrying the can of oil towards his father. He cried out to his Dad asking him to send someone to warn the family, like last time, but his father will not listen and this is where the boy reaches manhood. He fights against his father and his family in order to do what is right. Once he is free he does exactly that and his actions cause his father’s death. This shows you his transition from boy to man found within this story but it also brings back up the question of justice and how it was portrayed.

I think it was a portrayal of justice being injustice. What I mean by this is that every time “justice” should have been done it is not real justice and then when “real” justice happens it is still an injustice. I know that might be confusing so let me explain. First let’s understand the definition of the word justice. Justice is the moral principle determining just conduct or the quality of being just; righteousness equitableness, or moral rightness (Webster’s Dictionary). So based on the definition at the beginning instead of justice happening, the father of the young boy is not held accountable and instead he is just asked to leave the country. That is an injustice-which is a violation of the rights of others or an unjust or unfair act (Webster’s Dictionary). Further down the father is asked to pay the family back for ruining their rug and instead he decides to burn yet again another barn-theirs. When his son gets away to warn the family the result is that the father gets shot that may seem like justice but in fact it is not real justice. This was another person taking justice into their own hands and killing someone by deeming it justice. The father needed to be held accountable for his actions but it was not up to that family to decide that. So in the end you think justice has been served but in fact it was yet again another injustice. You may or may not agree with me and that is okay but these are the conclusions I found within the story.