Analysis Of Shiloh By Bobbie Ann Mason

“Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason
“Shiloh is a Civil War Battleground where more than twenty-three thousand troops from the North and South fought in April 1862 and most of them died” (Mason, 364). “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason was used as a reference place for the couples Leroy and Norma Jean to re-ignite their marriage, but their problems were deeper than visiting a historic site. Out of touch with each other because of misfortunes, they find ways to tolerate each other to keep their marriage going. In “Shiloh” Mason depicts how lack of communication in a marriage and not grieving for mishappenings could lead to distress, regret and unhappiness in most marriages, as it shows in Norma Jean’s and Leroy‘s marriage.
Leroy was recently injured while

driving his truck, after being a truck driver for 15 years. After Leroy’s injury he had to return home. Upon Leroy return’s Norma Jean started working on her pectorals muscles by doing some body building training to keep her occupied and out of Leroy’s way. Mason begins the novel by sharing Norma Jean’s process in body building training where she worked on her pectorals and lifted weights. In the mist of that Mason was portraying Norma Jean’s process of turning into a strong woman, she even reminded Leroy of Wonder Woman because of her statue. Norma Jean is building up her strength to approach her changes while Leroy is injured and can’t be the man he supposed. Leroy rather collects from unemployment than to find a job to support his family. Leroy and Norman Jean’s relationship is moving backwards and their switching roles. Norma Jean worked at the Rexall drugstore in the cosmetic department to support both her and Leroy. Most of their marriage life together they coped, because Leroy spent most of the days on the road. Leroy was happy to be home, but he doesn’t feel like Norma Jean feels the same way, because being home might remind her of their dead son Randy who died from SIDS while he was four months old. Leroy felt that a couple who loses a child their marriage would fail, but he was happy his and Norma Jean were still intact. But, in reality it was not because they haven’t given themselves time to grieve for their dead son and much less talk about how they're feeling. They carried on with their lives in silence with each other about their dead son, almost like it didn’t happen. While at home, Leroy found an interest in crafting, sewing and visualizing building a log house for Norma Jean. He would share his stories with other drivers and Stevie, whom he occasionally buys marijuana from, but they would show no interest in Leroy’s stories. Norma Jean wasn’t happy with that idea of Leroy building a log cabin; she just thinks he should find a job because that would be the more realistic thing to do. With Leroy being injured and Norma Jean working, he wasn’t the breadwinner of the house no more almost like him and Norma Jean switch gender roles they played in the household. On Christmas Leroy bought Norma Jean an electric organ so she could start playing again because she used to play the piano in high school. Norma Jean played the electric organ while Leroy smokes and listens on the couch while she plays "Can't Take My Eyes off You" and "I'll Be Back."
Norma Jean’s mom, Mabel would come visit often, Leroy realizes how much she would visit them since he been home; she would make sure their laundry and plants are intact. Leroy and Mabel usually don’t get along because Leroy feels that Mabel resented him for getting Norma Jean pregnant. Mabel has always been controlling over Norma Jean’s life since she and Leroy got married. Norma Jean always listens to her mom advice about what to do. While visiting Mabel would encourage them to visit Shiloh for years because that’s where she and her late husband went for their honeymoon before Norma Jean was born. Mabel felt it would help their marriage as well. Leroy and Norma Jean denied going to Shiloh. When Leroy usually comes home from the road Norma Jean would cook all his favorites while they stay home, watch TV and play cards. He then realize things about Norma Jean that he didn’t notice before like the cereal she eats in the morning, how she puts on her slippers on every evening around 9 o’clock, feeds the birds and even the way she cuts onion when she’s cooking. Leroy would take drives around the new subdivision at night. He would observe the houses and the changes that were made to the community like a thief preparing for a robbery he would drives around. Returning home one evening from a meaningless drive around the neighborhood Leroy finds Norma Jean in tears in the kitchen while she was cooking. Norma Jena was crying because Mabel caught her smoking a cigarette. Leroy tries to comfort her saying “I know she would found out sooner or later”, but Norma Jean was very upset, Leroy suggested she played him a tune so she could relax. Norma Jean chooses to play “Who’ll be next in line” and “Sunshine Superman” on the electric organ very angrily. Norma Jean felt like she didn’t have any privacy even in her own home, and that was just the breaking point of realizing that she never had control of her life. After that incident Mabel came over to visit and mention a story that she heard of a baby who was killed by a Dachshund dog and was saying it happen because the mother was neglectful. Norma Jean knew Mabel told the story to taunt her about her baby dying from SIDS almost like she never forgave her. Mabel personality in the novel shows that she’s not a forgiving person and she would hold a grudge. Mabel resented Leroy and now she’s showing the same reaction to Norma Jean for smoking.
As Leroy get more worried about losing his wife, Leroy realizes that Norma Jean had changed because they don’t watch television or play cards anymore, and now she’s going to night school.

After the body building training finished Norma Jean decided to go back to school and enrolled in an adult-educated English composition class at Paducah Community College. She’ll spend most of her evening outlining paragraphs. Leroy becomes a little jealous because Norma Jean was always smarter than him. Her doing the English class writing composition was helping her to feel like herself again. After a while she stopped playing the electric organ, but instead started to write music. “All musical references disappeared when Norma Jean successfully completed her transformation from traditional wife to enlightened woman, and what the Norma Jean had desired has come to the present” (Blythe and Sweet). After a while, one day when Norma Jean wasn’t home Mabel finally convinces Leroy to take Norma Jean to Shiloh. Leroy brought it up to Norma Jean and she finally agrees after Leroy kept bothering her. They left for Shiloh that following Sunday. On their arrival at Shiloh they agreed it was a beautiful place like what Mabel said it would be and they both laugh. It didn’t look like a battlefield, but more as a park, but they could still see the bullet holes in the log cabins. They had picnic close to the cemetery where they could still view the graves of the dead soldiers. While sitting down Norma Jean balls her fist up and finally says to Leroy that she wanted to leave him. Leroy was shocked, but nothing he said would change Norma Jean mind. “By the middle of the story, Norma Jean growth and improvement had made her more independent and physically stronger for this moment” (Blythe and Sweet). He asked her for a fresh start, but Norma Jean denies staying because she feels like she’s eighteen again when she and Leroy got married and she hates it. It’s like she had been preparing herself

for this moment to finally face Leroy. At that moment she realizes she was freed and she had the strength to do this all along. Afterwards, she got up and made her way to the Tennessee River. “Norma Jean’s quest to being independent as she tells Leroy she’s leaving him came in effect as she walks away quickly through the cemetery of Shiloh Leroy struggles to keep up with her showing being with Leroy was only holding her back rather than her being free” (Cooke).
Realizing that Norma Jean is really leaving him Leroy smokes a joint while sitting down as Norma Jean walks away. He came to understand that bringing Norma Jean to Shiloh would not help their marriage and building the log house was a bad idea. As he got up to call Norma Jean, she turns towards Leroy and waves her arms almost like she was doing an exercise to work on her pectorals. “As Leroy looks to the sky, he sees that its pale, almost like the dust ruffle Mabel made for him” (Mason, 372). When in a time of mishappenings it best to address those grieves and to have closure with oneself and others if they’re involved in order to move on. In “Shiloh” Leroy and Norma Jean never received that closure after their son died, which cause their marriage to crumble the way it did. Mason uses specific song lyrics to show Norma Jean’s desire to leave Leroy. As the story process the more she’s growing and gaining the strength to do what she wanted to do all along. She’ll play songs with the lyrics saying “I want to go, but I hate to leave you”, at the same time Leroy knows but fears losing his wife. At the end of the story she herself echoed the same lyrics when she was about to leave him “I want to leave you”.