Better Late Than Never

My favorite story this week was “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason. “Shiloh” is a story about a middle aged Norma Jean who finally grows up. Married as a pregnant teenager to Leroy Moffitt, Norma Jean does not realize her disaffection with her life until an accident forces Norma Jean to change her day to day lifestyle. Leroy her trucker husband is home indefinitely and now Norma Jean for the first time becomes involved in activities outside the home. She starts by weightlifting and graduates from a six-week body-building course. She then decides to take “an adult education course in composition at the Paducah Community College” (610). She also begins to cook “unusual” foods like tacos, lasagna, and Bombay chicken. The final sign that Norma Jean is living her own life comes when her mother catches her smoking. Instead of reacting like an adult, Norma Jean reacts like a guilty child and starts crying. Eventually she accepts responsibility for her smoking habit and makes the decision to quit. All of these events reflect Norma Jean’s desire to take responsibility for her life and discover who she is and what she wants.

One of the consequences of Norma Jean’s new life is her disillusionment with her marriage. There are many signs of this disenchantment —she never stays home with Leroy, she closes her eyes when they are in bed because she does not want to see him, and she has no desire to cook Leroy’s favorite foods for him anymore. Leroy’s desire to slow down and experience being home is in direct opposition to Norma Jean’s desire to get out and recapture lost opportunities. Unlike Norma Jean who seems to have been frozen in her “teenage” state most of her adult life, Leroy has spent his “flying past scenery” and he wants to slow down and examine things (605). He reverts to child-like hobbies, like “[making] things from craft kits” (604). He makes a miniature log cabin from notched Popsicle sticks, he tries string art and needlepoint, and he builds a snap-together B-17 flying fortress and a lamp made out of a model truck. He even wants to “[build] a full-scale log house from a kit” for Norma Jean. Norma Jean is impatient with Leroy’s hobbies. She does not want him to build her a log cabin house and she comes up with excuses like “they won’t let you build a log cabin in any of the new subdivisions” or “I don’t want to live in any log cabin” (608). It is this impatience with Leroy that leads to the disintegration of their marriage; as Leroy realizes in the end, Norma Jean is already lost to him.

Now that Leroy is home, he believes that “he is finally settling down with the woman he loves,” and he wants “to create a new marriage, start afresh” (605, 606). Norma Jean on the other hand has come to the realization that her marriage is over and wants to move on with her life. This obviously creates tension between them as “he wishes she would celebrate his permanent home-coming more happily,” and is saddened when he senses that she is disappointed with his presence (605). To further exacerbate the situation, Leroy still feels like an untried teenager around Norma Jean. When they visit Shiloh he becomes awkward and uncomfortable “like a boy on a date with an older girl” (612). Norma Jean and Leroy have been slowly growing apart throughout all the years of their marriage. When they are finally forced to live together again, the sad realization of their broken relationship comes to light. The story ends with Norma Jean finally breaking free of a marriage that has prevented her from growing up and experiencing a full and satisfying life. (626)