Sarty and Pecola: Overcoming Childhood Struggles

William Faulkner’s Sartaris Snopes in “Barn Burning” and Pecola Breedlove in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye are both abused by their fathers, but in the end the abuse is turned around and backfires on the parents. These two characters have some obvious differences that are seen immediately. They are of opposite genders and are from different ethnic backgrounds. Sarty’s family shows him some affection, although very little, but Pecola is given no love from those who should be closest to her. The problems they face are different in context, but their reactions are very similar.
Sarty and Pecola have very harsh childhoods because of the way they are treated by their fathers. Sarty is raised on the lies that his father tells him. In the beginning, he greatly respects his father and believes all that he says. Throughout childhood Sarty is led to believe that his father was a soldier in the Civil War and was wounded while fighting. Later, he learns that Abner was me...