1. The reason why I chose the terms that I did to explain in further detail is that they influence one another especially the terms "tradition" and "morality". Faulkner is commentating that morality is not a stagnant idea rather it changes over time, which is why things current society deems as immoral such as murder are not only deemed as fine such as within the short story "Red Leaves" but necessary in order to complete traditions. Morality is not innate or it doesn't exist on its own, instead traditions determine morality which is why those two concepts are on the same side design wise. For the term "exile", I chose that because in current society and in historical narratives, there's a romanticization of exile and immigration, often ignoring or refusing to acknowledge the violence that oftentimes caused that movement from one place to another. It's very much a departure from the works of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.
2. Exile
2.1. Faulkner plays with the idea of internal expatriation in that at least one character from "A Rose for Emily", "Barn Burning" and "Red Leaves" is displaced by the end of the story.
2.1.1. Through these respective journeys, Faulkner focuses on why individuals are forced or choosing to go into exile away from their homes and challenging how American society romanticizes movement across geographic lines whether it be the westward migration in the 18th century or the migration from the north to the south in the 19th and 20th centuries
2.2. In "A Rose for Emily"the character Homer Barron has moved from the north to Mississippi and Emily goes through a self imposed exile after killing Homer.
2.2.1. In regards to Homer Barron, he is very much a stranger when he is first introduced in the story and there is never a specific reason as to why left his home for Mississippi. The information that is given to the reader is that he works as a day laborer. Faulkner is romanticizing Homer's immigration to the south not only humanize him, but to also to play with the role that exile has on the American Dream. Much of the American Dream centers around the idea of hard work and movement, whether it be to a new house or across the United States. By having Homer present these traits and then ultimately killing him, Faulkner is presenting this dual sense of physical and metaphorical death in regards to exile and immigration. When Homer leaves the north and arrives in the south, there a cultural death that foreshadows a physical one.
2.3. In "Barn Burning" Sartoris and his family move from place to place due to his father's propensity for committing arson. By the end of the novel Sartoris runs away from his current home.
2.3.1. "Barn Burning" the romanticization of immigration and exile is deconstructed by the narrative making it clear that Sartoris' family is not leaving their home periodically in search of a better, life rather his father's violent actions are the driving force of their exile. Instead of Sartoris' family choosing exile out of their own free will at the beginning of the short story, it is the court or government that chooses for them. By associating immigration and exile as a byproduct of violence rather than the American Dream, Faulkner is directly going against and problematizing the frontier fantasy that accompanies immigration within the United States.
2.4. In "Red Leaves", the runaway slave is away from his original home of Ghana and in Mississippi due to the slave trade.
2.4.1. Unlike the examples of exile and immigration in the previous two short stories, the exile in "Red Leaves" is not from within the United States but rather on a transnational level. The triangular slave was extremely violent and very different from expatriation that Hemingway experiences while in France. With the runaway slave, his inability to return to his homeland of Ghana marks him for death. Faulkner is reversing the notion that exile is for survival and stating that exile causes some form of death.
3. Connections and Design Choices
4. Morality
4.1. Morality is problematized in Faulkner due to the actions of the main characters in his short stories.
4.2. In "A Rose for Emily", the southern society views morality in women as being gentle, demure and non violent.
4.2.1. Emily acts against this notion of morality by killing Homer Barron and remaining unmarried.
4.2.1.1. By failing to achieve morality as defined by southern society, Emily becomes the "mad woman in the attic" in that she self isolates from the society that she clearly valued.
4.3. In "Barn Burning", morality as defined by the court is being honest and nonviolent.
4.3.1. Sartoris goes with this ideal of morality by informing de Spain that his father is attempting to burn the barn down.
4.3.1.1. By going with the terms of morality set by the court, Sartoris looses his father by inadvertently causing his death due his honesty.
4.4. In "Red Leaves" morality is defined by cultural assimilation
4.4.1. The runaway slave is deemed immoral due to his inability to assimilate into mass culture.
4.4.1.1. The slave has no chance to successfully plead for his due to his non-existence in terms of morality. He is presented as an antagonist by his inability fit in the norms of morality that were written by white settlers. Therefore, his death has no real consequence towards the indigenous people.
5. Tradition
5.1. Faulkner is questioning the validity of tradition and the long running notion that tradition is inherently good.
5.2. In "A Rose for Emily", the Southern Belle trope is a tradition that southern society upholds in order control women. It's this tradition that causes so much turmoil in Emily's life to the point that she commits murder to maintain that tradition.
5.2.1. This tradition is presented as being extremely harmful in that there is no one who is shown successfully embodying this tradition. The tradition is portrayed as being extremely repressive and suffocating and Faulkner presents no real positives to following this tradition. Interestingly enough, Emily herself becomes a tradition to the townspeople who feel obliged to take care of her to some extent despite her inability to complete the traditions of the southern society.
5.3. In "Barn Burning", family is treated as a tradition. For Sartoris' father, loyalty to family is a custom that he wants passed to his children.
5.3.1. Faulkner plays into the popular idea that loyalty is inherently a good custom by applying it to the tradition of family. Faulkner choose to have the members of this family be less than upstanding citizens to play with this idea as to whether the family structure and its values are worth keeping. Because of the family's loyalty to their father, their lives are constantly uprooted. Faulkner is making a statement about whether or not family is an important when it causes so much disarray.
5.4. In "Red Leaves", tradition presents itself through the practices of the indigenous people. One practice in particular is when a Chief dies, their possessions are buried with them including their personal servants.
5.4.1. Faulkner immediately gives negative a negative connotation by having Basket and Berry the two main characters in the short story be unenthusiastic about the prospect of carrying out a detail in the burying tradition of a Native American chief which includes killing the personal servant. By including death as part of the tradition, Faulkner is combining a modern sense of morality to question whether or not traditions should continue when they harm other people and those who carry out the tradition are unhappy in doing so.