Final answer:
The protagonist of 'Barn Burning' is Colonel Sartoris Snopes or 'Sarty.' The Snopes family leads an unstable life as tenant farmers due to the father's habit of burning barns, causing them to move frequently. Sarty is running from his family's legacy and does not look back in search of his own sense of justice.
Step-by-step explanation:
The protagonist of 'Barn Burning' is named Colonel Sartoris Snopes, often called Sarty. The family earns a living as tenant farmers, but they lead an unstable life primarily due to the father, Abner Snopes, who has a propensity for burning barns as a reaction to perceived slights and injustices. This destructive behavior causes the family to frequently relocate in search of new employment and residence. As a consequence, their life is one of constant upheaval and uncertainty, which prevents them from establishing roots or a stable existence.
At the end of the story, the young protagonist Sarty is running away from his family and his father’s criminal behavior. He does not look back because he is making a definitive break from the cycle of violence and instability that his father perpetuates. Sarty's flight is not just from the physical scene of his father's last act of barn burning, but also from the moral and psychological burden of his family's legacy.
William Faulkner, the author of 'Barn Burning,' was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. In his work, including 'Barn Burning,' Faulkner explores the human heart in conflict with itself, a theme he mentioned in his Nobel acceptance speech. This conflict is vividly portrayed in the strained relationship between Sarty and his father, where Sarty battles with his loyalty to family against his own sense of justice and morality.