Also unnamed, the brother is older than Sarty and seems to have traveled farther along the path of becoming their father. Sarty considers him to be more an adult than a fellow child: several times Sarty becomes confused when he assumes that not he but his brother is being spoken to. The brother is mostly sullen and quiet: we don’t learn anything about his own fears or desires, though it does seem that he either agrees with Abner most often or else is willing to choose loyalty over any other sense of values.
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Sarty’s brother Character Timeline in Barn Burning
The timeline below shows where the character Sarty’s brother appears in Barn Burning. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Barn Burning
...as proof. Harris says the boy should come up and vouch for Abner—not the protagonist’s brother, who’s older, but the boy, who looks so muich like his father.
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...ball had lodged in his heel when he’d stolen a horse thirty years before. The brother also joins, chewing tobacco, and as they leave someone whispers, “Barn burner!”
(full context)
...rug. They deposit the rug at the corner of the house where his father and brother are sitting and gallop back.
(full context)
...Instead of striking him, his father grabs him by the back of the shirt. Sarty’s brother advises his father to tie Sarty to the bedpost, but Abner only responds by ordering...
(full context)
