Week Five - "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason
Shane Nelson
sarahryanrobinson
Sarah Robinson
English 151
October 23, 2012
“Shiloh”
No relationship is straightforward, especially not a marriage. People get used to being a certain way, coming home a certain time, saying the same certain things, and then, if suddenly something were to change, a proverbial wrench would be thrown in the gears of a perfectly serviceable partnership and, well, things can just go downward from there. The marriage of Norma Jean and Leroy is, in its way, so provocative and hard hitting because of its plain provincial nature. Even down to their names the couple is as ordinary as green grass in a graveyard: Norma Jean and Leroy. Like they just popped fresh out of a production of Oklahoma.
One identifies with Leroy’s plight, having been resigned to unemployment after an unfortunate highway accident on his truck, even if most of us have never driven anything bigger than a Prius. And women in particular can recognize the drive in Norma Jean to grow and learn and identify herself as something greater than being a housewife and cosmetics countergirl. To wit, the story opens on Norma Jean lifting barbells with determined concentration, even likening her to Wonder Woman.
As the story progresses it becomes increasingly clear that the marriage of Leroy and Norma Jean is in dire straits and, barring some unexpected miracle, Leroy will find himself bereft and alone. It is through the author’s skill at her craft that the reader finds itself drawn closer and closer to the character of Leroy, hoping against hope that he will be able to somehow salvage his failing marriage. The simplicity of his dreams for himself, but mostly for his beloved wife, makes one wish that, just this once, such modest aspirations could come true. Even his mother-in-law, for whom he has no great affection and who has made more than a few cruel comments toward him and his wife, in the end attempts to bridge the growing chasm between them in her suggestion that they go to the location of her honeymoon. Her hopes, of course, were that the disenchanted couple would find the romance and passion that she once had when visiting the battle site. In the end, though, what Leroy had hoped to avoid becomes inevitable and Norma Jean confesses that she wishes to leave him. He receives these words like a blow before watching her walk off forever. These last few lines are particularly powerful, to me anyway, because of the heart wrenching metaphors that are thrust upon the couple. Leroy, hobbling and in pain, unable to catch up to his beautiful soon to be ex-wife who is simply doing her exercises in a pale sky, the color of a dust ruffle.
On Sunday, October 21, 2012 2:06:54 PM UTC-7, Shane Nelson wrote:
anna.valibeigi
Anna Valibeigi
Jeb Wyman 10am Creative Writing
“Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason
Norma Jean is a character I relate a lot to and yet am still mystified by. When she was on the hill breaking up with Leroy, she said a statement that made everything come together for me. “I feel eighteen again. I can’t face that all over again.” When her and Leroy were eighteen they were fresh and new, so when Norma Jean got pregnant it was like taking on an adventure though not one she had signed up for. Her and Leroy got in the mindset of a bread winning father and a stay at home mom. Norma Jeans mom even takes on teaching her daughter what she knows about being a wife and a mom though not necessarily in the best fashion. So when their child doesn’t passes away very young, the roles they’ve laid out for themselves and into their futures have shattered in their faces.
It’s very natural for humans to creative false realities to cope with what’s going on around them so it seemed to me like they continued to play these roles as if nothing happened. They don’t talk about their deceased child nor change their “father” “mother” roles. Norma Jeans mom says that “Her brain’s all balled up over them books.” I think that’s Norma Jean trying to escape her reality, in school work and books and learning new things. It has nothing to do with her life or what’s on her plate. I am say this from experience.
Leroy’s false reality or what he’s obsessing over in order to avoid what’s on his plate is building a log cabin for Norma Jean. He never stops to actually listen to her when she says she doesn’t want it and gets angry over it. He acts as if he knows what’s better for her than she does. This brings it back to Norma Jean at eighteen. Perhaps then she didn’t want to be a housewife and a stay at home mom. Maybe she wanted and still wants to break free and do what she wants to day to day. When Leroy talks about this cabin I think it’s a reminder to Norma Jean about her submission to him and his life and it’s kind of like a jab in the side to her.
Shane Nelson
Shane Nelson
October 21st, 2012
English 151 – Wyman – 10AM
Shiloh by Bobbie Ann Mason tells the story of a man, Leroy Moffitt, realizing that his wife has changed while he has been away, impacting their marriage. His wife, Norma Jean, has transformed herself over time since their marriage while he has often been away, driving as a long haul trucker. He returns home for good after an injury and finds his wife is almost a stranger to him. She has changed greatly, pursued new interests without him, and there seems to be no place in her life for him. Leroy realizes that Norma Jean’s overbearing mother, Mabel, has been in Norma Jean’s daily life consistently. Mabel still feels resentment towards Norma Jean and Leroy for the shame she felt when Norma Jean was a pregnant teen bride. Norma Jean has been creating a new self outside the image of pregnant teen in secret from her mother.
In her thirties Norma Jean hides from her mother her smoking and the fact that she is pursuing an education at night. Norma Jean and her husband were never able to talk about their child who died of crib death in their car while they were at the Drive-In. Leroy discusses the baby’s death with hitchhikers until he realizes that he sounds pitiful and needy. Norma Jean does not discuss it but feels her mother Mabel is rubbing it in her face when her mother Mabel brings up the death of another child by neglect. The turning point comes when the mother Mabel catches Norma Jean smoking. Norma Jean realizes that she doesn’t have to be seen as the disgraced teen by her mother Mabel anymore. She has been revealed to be a grown woman who smokes and is going to school at night. Even thought the couple travel to Shiloh, a place where the grandmother Mabel thinks the flame of their marriage can be rekindled, Norma Jean tells Leroy she is leaving him.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The character development, learning who Mabel and Leroy are and their strengths and frailties, was engaging. The falling action of the story was somewhat predictable, as it seemed obvious that Norma Jean had moved on without Leroy and that Leroy was more baffled than prepared to handle this change. While Leroy may seem to have been left behind by Norma Jean, life isn’t fair and people change. The relationship between Norma Jean and her mother, Mabel, is a sad one. Mabel is probably less mature than her daughter, as Mabel blames her grandchild’s death on fate as some sort of punishment for Norma Jean’s teen pregnancy. Mabel cannot forgive, while Norma Jean and Leroy cannot communicate. The dead baby, the elephant in the room, is not talked about and is a metaphor for the failed marriage, which the couple also cannot talk about. I liked the symbolism regarding the gulf between the couple at the end of the story. Leroy tries to talk to Norma Jean about the split, she walks away from him. He cannot follow her. She stands at the cliff and he cannot tell if she is beckoning him or absently doing her pectoral exercises.