“Freedom is worth paying for. . .” Jules Verne Can an individual break hierarchical associations to find freedom and at what point might enlightenment be validated by achieving freedom through conflict? William Faulkner writes in “Barn Burning” of the individual's desire to break away from the family due to disbelief in the values ​​and morals represented by a father. Abner becomes powerless with the freeing of the slaves and chooses to transfer his negative desire for power onto his son. Although Sarty breaks the blood tie between him and his father, he leaves with a greater sense of enlightenment. John Updike portrays the same hierarchical breakdown in “A&P,” but within this story, the breakdown is between employer and employee. The breakdown of power is driven by ulterior motives related to women and fame. Sammy chooses to challenge the authority figure in hopes of proving himself, but to his surprise, his actions are invalidated after he walks out and the girls leave. Dale Bailey writes about a hierarchical breakdown in "Hunger: A Confession" between two brothers and the gradual manipulation that led Simon to kill his brother Jeremy. Simon's enlightenment is achieved through unconventional methods and only after his brother's death does Simon realize the extent of Jeremy's murder. The obvious cause of Jeremy's death was that Simon took the tools and killed his brother. If Jeremy and his family had treated Simon differently, he would never have been forced to ruthlessly kill his brother. Simon and Jeremy's relationship has taken many forms. For a moment, Jeremy would treat Simon like any brother would, exchanging baseball cards and delving into unknown mysteries in the basement. Jeremy told scary stories of ghosts, Indian burial grounds, and psychopathic killers just like a normal brother would, but desperate attempts to scare Simon drove his brother crazy. Simon was never good enough for his parents and was always Jeremy's half boyfriend. His mother spoke of him as “the shape-shifter,” speaking of him as if he were born from someone else's genetic makeup. Simon spoke of himself as “a skinny, unpleasant boy, always peering at the world through a pair of thick glasses that Jeremy used to set fire to ants” and considered his brother “blond, handsome, broad-shouldered, friendly, and the guy everyone wanted to sit with in the dining room.