The word “family” evokes many different emotions, on many different levels. Most of the time I think about the good times I spent with my family. The reunions, the vacations, the holidays, and just enjoying my family's company. However, there are other sides to a family. It is naive to think that you can spend so much time with family members and not have disagreements, arguments, disputes, and sometimes even outright physical altercations. Likewise, personalities sometimes conflict, causing family members to dislike each other. Sometimes people are just plain bad people, even if they are family, who are best left alone and avoided if possible. The story Barn Burning (339-49) takes us back in time to the dawn of America and the era known as the “Depression.” ”, when many people lived desperate and harsh lives. This type of life has forged desperate and tough, if proud, people. Some of these people were cruel and even dangerous. Abner Snopes was one of these people. He was a profiteer and an opportunist. He was also cold, cruel and cowardly. Yet his family remained by his side. They followed him from place to place after he was driven out or chased away. His youngest son, "Sorty", struggles with his conflicting feelings of admiration and contempt for his father. Abner's wife bends to his will with a broken spirit, and his older children are as contemptuous as he is. The aunt appears to be the only decent member of the family, aside from "Sorty", who disagrees with Abner's cowardly actions. Ultimately Sorty can no longer stand by and calmly allow his father to harm innocent people. He acts against his father and is ultimately responsible for his father's death. This story is rare in the aspect where it shows the darkest part... the center of the card... the second daughter. However, in this story the mother still wants to be part of her eldest daughter's life. In the end, mother and daughter are essentially still in the same situation they started in. These three stories combined show a plethora of emotions and conflicts that can and do arise in families. These complex situations are rarely depicted in stories. They take us to the heavier side of the human spectrum. The darker side, where there isn't always a happy ending, the grass isn't always greener, and the light at the end of the tunnel is a train headed straight for you. Works Cited Roberts, Edgar V. and Zwieg, Robert, ed. Literature: An introduction to reading and writing. 10th ed. Illinois: Glenview, Pearson Education Inc. 2012. Print.Faulkner, William. “Barn on fire”. Roberts and Zwieg, 339-49Walker, Alice. "Daily use." Roberts and Zwieg, 6-13