Evan Byrd

Professor Sarah Kiewitz

Literature 2220-500

February 21, 2017

Divorce on the Prowl: Bobbie Ann Masons Shiloh

Today there is a 41% to 50% chance of a first marriage to split. These numbers are impersonal,

but each one includes a story. A story others will never know or understand. Bobbie Ann Mason

tells us of Leroy and Norma Jean. Two characters on the verge of total marital destruction.

Another failed attempt at death do us part, about to occur. Change, separation, and heartbreak

through the years leads to the ending of love.

I always aspired to things away from home, so it took me a long time to look back at home and

realize that that's where the center of my thought was, Mason gives a glimpse of the reasoning

behind the setting of her stories. She was raised in a dairy farm in Western Kentucky. Kentucky

is the setting for Shiloh. But not the beautiful countryside hills that are imagined. All the

houses look grand and complicated. They depress him, (par 54). A boring suburban district.

It was not the place that Leroy left though. The imposing houses were not what he remembered.

When he came, it wasnt for the a long period of time before he was back on the road truck

driving away. Things had changed. His neighborhood had changed, and his relationship with his

wife right along with it.

Mabel, he realizes, must know Norma Jean better than he does, (par 95). Mabel is Norma

Jeans mother, Leroys mother in-law. She may not have known everything about Norma Jean,
like her habit of smoking, but Mabel knew more than Leroy did. This is a troubling thought for a

husband. He didnt know or understand his wife anymore. Norma Jean had become a different

person through the years. Her habits had become new to him. Her activities had become her

distraction from Leroy. Leroy Moffitts wife, Norma Jean, is working on her pectorals, (par 1).

Norma Jean began to work on her physical fitness. It was a new change she had made. This is

one of the many things that Norma Jean had done different.

Marriages struggle when the spouse is not at home consistently. The struggle for Norma Jean and

Leroy was that they couldnt adjust to him being home. Leroy being gone was what they were

used to. When he comes home how can they get into a new routine? They both were unsure on

how to make changes.

The problems dont just begin there for the couple. Losing an infant in a marriage leads to a 60%

chance of divorce. The fact that their relationship had lasted this long was impressive, but is

since Leroy was never there. The couple dealt with their grief in different ways. Leroy was never

at home, and Norma Jean began having new habits. But she was still not happy.

Norma Jean wants to be able to move on. These also provided her with dreams of escape from

farm and small-town life, an ambivalence toward which marks much of her work, (Prics 2)

Bobbie Ann Mason wanted to escape her hometown life, she craved the change. Norma Jean

wanted the same thing. Mason found her joy in her hometown movie theatre. Norma Jean needed

to escape the place of her childs death.

Log cabins. Sounds like a strange obsession. Im aiming to build us a log cabin, (par 36).

Leroy became obsessed with the idea of a log cabin for him and Norma Jean. Maybe it wasnt

the cabin though. Maybe it was the permeance it would give. The two of them together in a log
cabin for the rest of their lives. It was a small hope for Leroy. An impossible plan in their

suburban neighborhood. It was the only plan Leroy had. He may not have realized it, but he was

losing hope for his relationship.

Another thing Leroy turned to was drugs. He wasnt addicted by any means, but it was how he

relaxed. He didnt talk to his wife, he lit a joint. It wasnt safe, and it wasnt necessary. Leroy had

run out of options though. Or had he.

Take her down to Shiloh. Yall need to get out together, stir a little, (par 104). Mabel gave this

suggestion to Leroy. She can see the faults in their marriage. Her idea came from a good heart,

but it was a wild shot. Their marriage had been going down for years. A small trip to a place of

war called peace, was unlikely to bring peace for the couple.

This proves true when Norma Jean spills the truth to Leroy. She wants to leave. She wants out,

and its not surprising for the reader, and it was not a shock for Leroy either. Norma Jean walks

away. She walks away. She leaves him behind with his limp leg.

The she waves to him. Leroy trails behind. The injured leg that caused him to come back was

now causing him to lag behind her. Readers are left wondering what will happen to the couple. Is

she only stretching her pectoral? Their marriage was falling apart, but it was over.
Works Cited
Prics, Joanna. Understanding Bobbie Ann Mason. Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 2000. ebook.