shiloh
"Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason represents a change over the course of a young woman's life. Bobbie Ann Mason uses Norma Jean to help clarify that relationships can fail and that roles do change in today's relationships. Mason uses the character Norma Jean to give her audience an idea how times have changed as well as people. Norma Jean, who was forced to marry at a young age, sees a new path as the modern days draw near. Norma Jean is a woman who has very low confidence, very dependent on her mother, her husband, and is motivated to change her life. As time passes, she begins to change from being dependent on everyone to a woman who is very independent and gains confidence in herself. Norma Jean has many traumatic events in her life. At the age of eighteen, she was pregnant and was forced to marry Leroy, the baby's father, because of "southern traditions". When the baby, Randy, was four months and three days, Randy died of sudden infant death syndrome, as Mable thinks Randy died of neglect. As they took Randy to the emergency room, the doctor told them, "It just happens sometimes" (Mason 48). Here she was married to a man that she made a mistake with and lost the baby that brought them together. What would happen to them now? Would
they stay together or would they go their own ways? On top of dealing with her husband, and the death of her child, Norma Jean's mother is very controlling over her life. Norma Jean is often felt intimidated by her mother. When her mother visits, "she inspects the closets and then the plants, informing Norma Jean when a plant is droopy or yellow" (Mason 48). When Norma Jean was thirty-four, her mother caught her smoking. Mabel does not like the fact that her daughter is smoking and she brings up a story about a dog that chewed the baby's legs and is on trail for neglect. Later that night when Mabel leaves, Norma Jean tells Leroy "She just said that about the baby because she caught me smoking. She's trying to pay me back." (Mason 52) Bobbie Ann Mason is using Norma Jean to show how relationships between her mother is becoming tense and is making Norma Jean realize how controlling her mother is over her life. Leroy is not doing anything to help the relationship between Norma Jean and her mother better. Mabel is sitting with Leroy and tells him "I don't know what is going on with that girl" (Mason 52). Mable wants to be controlling over Norma Jean, but Norma Jean wants her freedom. Norma Jean is a typical American woman. She stays at home, while Leroy is away working, she cleans the house and cooks. She has no job, and no activity she can turn to until Leroy buys her an electric organ for Christmas. Norma Jean used to play the piano is high school. She told Leroy "It don't leave you, it's like riding a bicycle." (Mason 47) She bought a songbook and learned every tune in it. As she began to play, she cried, "It's an orchestra!" (Mason 47) she was so excited she had something she could do, she did not have to have anyone else, it was
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Approximate Word count = 1173
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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