Shiloh : Changing Lives In Different Directions

In the story “Shiloh”, by Bobbie Ann Mason, characters Leroy and Norma Jean go through changes in their life as each begin to discover what their real identity is, and what it is they actually want out of their marriage. For some people this may take years, and for others they may never realize it, while merely trying to grasp on to the past, or the way they think things should have turned out. In this short story, Mason uses a couple in their thirties to portray people who are experiencing these types of changes, and depict how they deal with the situation. In the end, the couple is faced with dealing with the inevitable fact that they indeed cannot save their marriage; it was a battle they could not win. However, before the story climaxes, the reader is given a chance to witness some of the characters’ changes in identity and values. Norma Jean and Leroy struggle through their relationship because of miscommunication, trying to live through their past, and realizing that they have changed and grown apart.

Mason does an effective job of giving the reader a view of what is taking place in both characters’ lives. She makes the characters seem average, easily allowing the reader to identify with the changes the characters are going through with their relationship. In the beginning, an understanding of the background information is presented to the reader through the exposition, explaining Norma Jean and Leroy’s relationship. Since the accident that has now left Leroy at home, he has become indolent, and seems to be milking his injury for all that it is worth. Norma Jean, however, is a cosmetic consultant, who in her spare time, is taking some college courses and becoming more interested in exercising and expanding her life. The story picks up when Leroy is back home, and is finally beginning to look at Norma Jean in a new light after feeling guilty for not being with her for all of these years. Sadly, this realization is after many years of his periodical absence. Since then Norma Jean has been forced to become used to a life without him. When Leroy says, “Norma Jean is miles away,” (74) as they sit at the kitchen table, he realizes that even though the couple is finally able to reunite and spend time together, they feel as though they are distant and do not know each other.

On a more personal level the characters do have their personality diffe...

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...yle that is placed before her. She was rushed into a marriage just as fast as she decided she wanted out of it. With the pressure of expecting a child, and then coping with the absence of her husband for fifteen years, Norma Jean tried to make things work, working around Leroy. Finally, after awhile it seemed as though she was pushed to the limit, and she decided to do something for herself. Norma Jean probably did not have it in mind to grow apart from Leroy, but she had to find herself before she could completely love someone else. After she realized what she wanted, she understood that she could not find that in Leroy. Unfortunately for Leroy, he had found what he had been missing for all of those years, but it was too late for him to grasp it; the change had already taken place. Leroy pleads with Norma Jean to try to work things out and to start over again, but for Norma Jean, she had already begun to start over when he had left her alone for fifteen years. Looking back on the relationship, blame could never wholly be placed on one character. Over the years Norma Jean and Leroy had begun to go their separate ways by doing what was important to them; together they grew apart.