"Shiloh" and the Trap of Tradition

In this blog post, I'll seek to frame an analysis of the short story "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason around the following quotation: "He can't always remember where he learns things anymore" (Mason 149). This line occurs in the context of the protagonist Leroy's reminiscences. Once a truck driver traversing America's vast network of highways, he is now forced to spend time at home with his wife, Norma Jean, after he suffers an injury. The two are forced to grapple with the fact that they never really knew each other. They got married young after Leroy got Norma Jean pregnant. She subsequently suffered a miscarriage, and from then on, Leroy went to work his current job as a truck driver. Of course, the line reflects that many of the ways Leroy views his situation remain unconscious to him. One hegemonic structure of his community that seems to greatly inform his understanding is that of a marriage where the man travels outside as the breadwinner, only rarely interacting with his wife in the brief yet joyful moments of reunion when he returns home. 

Norma Jean seemed content to maintain this type of ritual back when Leroy spent much time away from her at his job. The story notes that before the accident, "when Leroy came home he used to say in the house with Norma Jean, watching TV in bed and playing cards. She would cook fried chicken, picnic ham, chocolate pie -- all his favorites" (Mason 153). Now, however, this feeling of being acknowledged, cared for, has faded for Leroy. In his descriptions of living at home with Norma Jean, a palpable theme is emptiness. There's "a cooling place in the bed" where she used to be in the morning after she goes out for work, leaving "soggy tan balls" of cereal floating in a "milk puddle" (Mason 154). Just as Leroy sees the hollowness of the rituals of care that once accompanied their brief reunions, he notes that there are other objects of her affection now. Leroy notes how "she saves the bread heels for the birds" and he "watches them at the feeder" (Mason 154). He uses the example of the birds to reflect on his own displacement, wondering "if they close their eyes when they fall" and comparing it to how Norma Jean closes her eyes in bed to avoid looking at him (Mason 154).

 

 

Realizing the emptiness, the lack of reality, implicit in this domestic vision, Leroy attempts to recreate it in a smaller form. Particularly, he is attempting to recreate the ideal of a home. The text notes how “he is not sure what to do next” (Mason 148). He does not wish to merely go back to a life on the road. Rather, he seeks to reflect on and attempt to make his community’s vision of family life real. He thus begins work on a symbolic rendition of this ideal. The text notes how he “makes thing things from craft kits” and “started by building a miniature cabin from notched Popsicle sticks” (Mason 148). He treats the Popsicle stick cabin similar to a talisman, having “varnished it and placed it on the TV set” where it resembles to him “a rustic Nativity scene” (Mason 148). These sort of projects are part of Leroy’s larger motif of reflection on his circumstances. The text notes how he “has grown to appreciate how things are put together” rather than “always flying past scenery” on the road (Mason 148). He believes that he can translate this ideal of a log cabin home into the real world. However, such an idea is unrealistic. Norma Jean tells him, “‘They won’t let you build a log cabin in any of the new subdivisions’” (Mason 148). Still, Leroy connects the idea of a log cabin to an ideal of domesticity. He notes that their current house doesn’t “feel like a home” because it is rented, “small and nondescript” (Mason 148).

 

Ultimately, however, Leroy’s ritualistic performances will separate him from his wife. The free and indirect discourse of “Shiloh” shows just how tenuous the relationship that Leroy imagines is. When Norma Jean explains to Leroy her drugstore work, “the three stages of complexion care, involving creams, toners, and moisturizers,” he instead ponders “other – petroleum products – axle grease, diesel fuel” (Mason 148). He reassures himself that “There is a connection between him and Norma Jean,” noting how she has never called his truck a “widow-maker” although she does seem disappointed when she realizes he is at home. The traditionally masculine performance that Leroy attempts to engage in also isolates him from Norma Jean. When Leroy finally decides to broach the topic of their fading marriage with Norma Jean, his mind immediately “goes blank” and he reverts to his programming, telling her, “I’ll sell my rig and build us a house” (Mason 155). He later notes that he really wanted to know “what she thought. . . about them (Mason 155). Yet the traditional discourse of marriage prevents him from communicating with her. Instead, he notes how he would even go so far as telling hitchhikers “his whole life story” on the road, “his travels, the baby, his hometown” (Mason 155). Still, what comes across is his own resentment of his emotions. He notes how he would stop such recountings when he realized that his voice sounded “whining and self-pitying, like some teenage tragedy song” (Mason 155). A traditional view of marriage ultimately leads Leroy to believe that rituals can merely give him the relationship he wants instead of genuine connection with his wife.

At the end of the story, Norma Jean leaves Leroy, and it’s easy to see why. She is advancing herself, getting a job and taking classes at a community college. He is following a script from a bygone era and realizing something’s wrong, but he just can’t put his finger on it. Still, to some degree, one has to sympathize with Leroy and how the changing conditions have blindsided him. In the 21st century, living in a neoliberal economy, many of the rituals that once guaranteed success or respect in our society have evaporated, especially for the middle class. Still, we’re determined to cling to them.