Challenging the Parent

"Old Woman Magoun" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner both represent the binary relationship of a parent dominating a child. Jessica Benjamin stated that in a binary relationship, one person must dominate and one must be submissive. The PARENT/child binary is quite common although not usually to the level taken in these two stories.

In "Old Woman Magoun," Old Women Magoun dominates her granddaughter Lily. She is very controlling and has kept Lily an innocent child, so much so, that Lily carries a rag doll with her everywhere, even at age fourteen. Old Women Magoun has kept Lily submissive by limiting her contact to the outside world, and Lily has submitted, unknowingly, because she was kept naive.

Abner and Colonel's binary relationship has different reasons for submission. Abner, Colonel's father, likes to be in control  and has a natural aggression. It is through fear that Abner exerts his dominance over Colonel and fear through which Colonel submits. Colonel also feels loyalty to his family, which was always encouraged by his father,  and that allows him to be submissive.

Lily and Colonel both agree to be submissive in the beginning of the story. Colonel  knowingly submits to his father out of fear and loyalty whereas Lily unknowingly submits because of her ignorance. Colonel, however, challenges the binary in the end when he runs away from his father. Lily does not have a chance to think about her relationship with her grandmother because she ends up dying at the end of the story. The actions of the two children therefore show that in order to challenge the binary one must know that they have submitted. That is why challenge was possible for Colonel but not for Lily.