Sunday, February 10, 2013
Trevor Coopersmith Blog #2 Shiloh
In the short story Shiloh by Bobbie Ann Mason, the story is revolved
around a married couple, Leroy and Norma. Leroy is a disabled truck
driver that is losing touch with his wife Norma. Leroy and Norma got
married at the age of 18, they have been together for over a decade.
Throughout the story, Leroy is constantly bringing up an idea to build
Norma a log cabin to live in. "I'll sell my rig and build us a house."
Norma's mother, Mabel is constantly interfering with their marriage.
Mabel is not supportive of the log cabin idea and is strongly apposed to
the marijuana use that Leroy and Norma share. Mabel will also pressure
Leroy to visit a battlefield named Shiloh and would remind Leroy about
the instantaneous death of his four month old child, who passed away
years ago. Leroy is often frustrated with these feelings and begins to
feel that his marriage is slipping away. "He wanted to know what she thought—what she really thought—about them." Leroy was listening to Norma play the organ, she asked what he thought of her song. Leroy was really thinking about his marriage and paying no attention to the song. This is a conflict that Leroy faces throughout the story.
Leroy is afraid that the organ he purchased for Norma and the marijuana
are the only things stabilizing their marriage. Norma is often occupied
with bodybuilding and english literature, which Leroy is incapable of
relating to. Towards the end of the story, Leroy and Norma decide to
visit Shiloh, as Norma's mother has always wanted. They laugh once more
together at Shiloh, and while eating food together, Norma states that
she is leaving Leroy. Leroy is very hurt and confused as to why she is
leaving. Leroy realizes that the log cabin he wished to build was an
idiotic idea and that Norma wishes for Leroy to be independent and
wander. I feel that Leroy is afraid of losing Norma. He is always trying
to find things that he and Norma can do together, rather than
independently. He feels that he is losing touch with his wife. They have
awkwardness and unresolved tensions that often bring Leroy down. Leroy
feels he is no longer the powerful male that supports his wife. Norma is
becoming independent and straying away from normality in marriage. The
story is very ironic as Leroy who originally had power and control is
left alone and powerless. At the end of the story, Norma is walking away
towards a river bank. She is practicing her exercises and is completely freed from Leroy's down bringing. Norma is now a fully independent woman and plans to complete her goals on her own.
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Hi Trevor,
ReplyDeleteYou write, “This is a conflict that Leroy faces throughout the story."
The nature of this conflict isn’t clear though. You say he believes only a few things stabilize his marriage, but all told, the conflict isn’t clear. It might help to try identifying clearly the nature/type of conflict (character vs. character? (external) or character vs the self (internal). Then, articulate the exact nature of the conflict. You also write, “hey have awkwardness and unresolved tensions that often bring Leroy down.” This is a good start , but you’d want to then identify these tensions (you do when it comes to the fact that LeRoy is constantly trying to establish togetherness while his wife seeks independence.
***When you say, “Norma is becoming independent and straying away from normality in marriage” I think you mean “tradition” as it’s quite normal for women to be very independent, even within the context of marriage.
I assume you’re working toward New Criticism given this: “ The story is very ironic as Leroy who originally had power and control is left alone and powerless. Are you trying to use this idea as your thesis? That LeRoy is both powerful and powerless, both masculine and feminine, throughout the story? If so, you want to “solve” the paradox with regard to LeRoy, not Norma. You conclude by writing, “Norma is walking away towards a river bank. She is practicing her exercises and is completely freed from Leroy's down bringing. Norma is now a fully independent woman and plans to complete her goals on her own”, but this solution is about Norma, not LeRoy. If you want to focus on LeRoy, then make sure you articulate a paradox and resolution that both deal with his point of view and characterization. If you want to focus on Norma, then do the same. As is (if you ARE trying to develop LeRoy’s struggles as the paradox, then be sure to resolve using LeRoy . For instance: what does Norma’s walking away (which you establish as symbolic – good) mean for the resolution of HIS struggle. Does it leave him ultimately feminized and powerless or the opposite? Why? Keep in mind that you will need to deal with the ending more particularly if you write your paper on this story. We don’t “know” what Norma actually does (i.e., does she jump off the cliff, or simply physically walk away?)
***Post is clear but pretty heavy on summary – make sure to cut that down to four to six sentences for the paper. I hope these ideas help.!