Hello Everyone =)

That’s meee!
I’m Lindsay. I am going into my senior year here at Stockton College and am very excited about that! After I get my BA in Literature, I am planning on going into the Education Program here at Stockton as well for my certification in Elementary Education. This site was constructed for “The American Short Story,” instructed by Professor Gussman. I decided to do my weblog on the short story “Shiloh,” written by Bobbie Ann Mason. Along with a short story summary and close reading on “Shiloh”, one will be able to read an author biography about Bobbie Ann Mason and see images pertaining to Mason and the story. Enjoy =)

The short story “Shiloh,” written by Bobbie Anne Mason, is about the downfall of a marriage between the two main characters, Leroy and Norma Jean. Leroy and Norma Jean were married when they were both eighteen years old; Norma Jean was already pregnant with their son Randy who tragically died of sudden infant death syndrome when he was four months old. Although devastated over the loss of their son, Leroy and Norma Jean tried to move on with their lives, continuing on with their jobs and with their marriage. Leroy was a truck driver who was gone for long periods of time and Norma Jean worked at a drugstore where she worked with cosmetics.

After being involved in a terrible tractor-trailer accident in which he severely injured his leg, Leroy returned home for good because of his inability to drive any longer. While he is home, Leroy begins to appreciate his wife much more than he did before but realizes that there is something different about her. She does not seem to be as enthusiastic as he presumed she would be about the fact that he is home as much as he is now. While dealing with such stresses within their marriage, Norma Jean’s mother, Mabel, adds more fuel to the fire. She scolds Norma Jean when she catches her smoking, and makes harsh comments about the death of her baby, stating: “fate was mocking her” because of getting pregnant so young and while unmarried (“Shiloh” 542). This infuriates Norma Jean and the pressure she feels because of all of her stressors has become too much for her to handle. Seeing how much stress Norma Jean is under, Leroy suggests going to Shiloh, an old battleground in Tennessee, where Mabel has been insisting they go for quite sometime. Norma Jean agrees.

While having their picnic on the battlefield in Shiloh, Norma Jean and Leroy do not say one word to one another. Then, all of the sudden, Norma Jean tells Leroy that she wants to leave him. This blind-sides Leroy. Although knowing in his heart that he truly can’t stop her from doing what she wants to do, Leroy tries to tell Norma Jean that they can start over, that they can fix it. She refuses. As Norma Jean walks away, Leroy reflects on his life. He realizes that he has never paid attention to the important things in life and is now paying for it.

Below is the citation of the main source of “Shiloh” that I used to cite quotes in the short story summary:

Mason, Bobbie Ann. “Shiloh.” American Short Stories: 8th Edition. Ed. Hitchcock. 539-549.

Bobbie Ann Mason’s short story “Shiloh,” focuses on the lives of Norma Jean and Leroy, a couple whose marriage plundered after the death of their four month of baby, Randy. When Leroy comes back home for an extensive stay after a brutal tractor-trailer accident, he is confused by the lack of affection and emotional shunning shown to him by his wife Norma Jean. No matter what Leroy does for Norma Jean or what he may try and say, her mind is elsewhere. She is distraught, stressed, and worn out; there is nothing Leroy can do to fix her pain. Although Leroy and Norma Jean aimed to stay together and beat the statistics of couples who split-up after the death of a child, Norma Jean realizes that she wants to leave Leroy. As he reflects on their lives together and what they have been through, Leroy realizes that “the real inner workings of a marriage, like most of history, have escaped him” (549).
The theme of this story is exposed through Mason’s extravagant use of characterization: sometimes love cannot fix everything. When describing both Norma Jean and Leroy, Mason reveals underlying messages about whom each character is and both of their weaknesses. These weaknesses pertain to their marriage and their personal struggles. Readers are first introduced to Norma Jean as she is “working on her pectorals. She lifts three-pound dumbbells to warm up, then progresses to a twenty-pound barbell. Standing with her legs apart, she reminds Leroy of Wonder Woman” (539). This opening description of Norma Jean tells the reader a lot about her from the get go. Although she is trying to build strength physically, this scene makes the reader think that there may be more to this image than Norma Jean just working out. As the reader reads on, he/she will begin to pick up on the fact that Norma Jean is working out for numerous reasons. Yes, she is working out to stay in shape so that she can try her best to avoid injury and build a strong body, but Mason is also trying to express another factor to the reader. Norma Jean is trying to build both emotional and mental strength as well as physical strength. The death of her four-month-old baby was very tragic for her and the underlying message of her trying to build strength physically is also a cover to build herself back together emotionally and mentally. She does not want anything else to hurt her the way that the death of her child hurt her so she feels that if she becomes physically strong she can prevent any kind of hurt. Norma Jean is trying to be strong for herself and for her marriage. It is an interesting way to reveal this to the reader the way Mason does because it is not an easy concept to pick up on. After reading the story once or twice, one will be able to see the connection between building the physical strength and the emotional strength.
Leroy is also described in such a way that one can read into the parallels between his character and what is actually happening in the story. His injury to his leg symbolizes his permanent hurt over the loss of his son and the damage the failing of his marriage does to him. Although Leroy got into an accident that did not directly involve either Randy or Norma Jean, he will always have the hurt, he will never be able to piece back together his leg to work right; this is the connection and symbolism Mason is revealing to her readers between his life and his accident. Another factor in correlation with the theme of this story that is portrayed by Leroy’s character is that no matter what he tries to do for Norma Jean, it is not enough, it never will be. He wanted to build Norma Jean a new house, something that is every woman’s dream one would think. But Norma Jean does not want anything to do with what Leroy has to say about the house and wants no parts of it. Even the fact of Leroy being home all the time, which gives them the opportunity to re-kindle their marriage and start all over again, seems to be no interest of Norma Jean’s. All of these strange courses of events confuse Leroy and make him question his wife. It is not until the end of the story when Norma Jean actually leaves him that he realizes love was not enough, it could not fix her broken heart and nurse her back together.
The setting is also a very significant asset to the story. Norma Jean and Leroy live in a rented home, nothing that is stable, nothing that is always going to be theirs: “It does not even feel like a home” (540). In their backyard is Leroy’s old, broken truck that looks “like a gigantic bird that has flown home to roost” (539). All of this broken scenery resembles the hearts of Leroy and Norma Jane and the destruction of their marriage that has built up over the years. The scene where Norma Jean tells Leroy that she wants to leave him also resembles their lifestyle: a battlefield. While at this battlefield in Shiloh, history was made: “Confederates’ daring attack on the Union camps…where Mabel and Jet Beasley were married…then Norma Jean was born, and then she married Leroy and they had a baby, which was lost, and now Leroy and Norma Jean are here at the same battleground” (548). The ending setting of this story being set at Shiloh is a crucial necessity to portray to the reader. Shiloh, in a way, is the history of Leroy and his wife’s lives. Critical moments leading Norma and Leroy to where they were at that exact moment in Shiloh, happened on that battlefield. It would only be fit for the author to construct such an event with such a parallel to a battlefield, on a battlefield. Love, in fact, is a battlefield.
One piece of imagery in particular stands out in this story: the log cabin Leroy wants to build for Norma Jean. As stated earlier on in this close reading, Leroy and Norma Jean do not have a very nice house and Leroy has been itching to build Norma Jean a log cabin for quite some time. Although she refuses each time the subject is brought up, he continues to push his luck with the situation because he does not seem to understand why Norma Jean would not want a brand new house, one they can call their own. It is not until the end of the story that Leroy realizes why she would detest such a house: “It occurs to him that building a house of logs is similarly empty - too simple” (549). Leroy realizes that just like everything else that he has done in his marriage, it would be easy work. No true effort would be put forth to just build a log cabin. This imagery metaphorically resembles the lack of effort he has put into his marriage. The emptiness felt by Norma Jean would most surely not diminish in a log cabin, but increase. The emptiness the log cabin portrays in this story is the imagery in which the Mason wants the reader to pick up on.
Bobbie Ann Mason does a very good job with the organization of this story as well. In the beginning, Mason introduces the characters physically and also reveals some personal history of the characters through their recollections on their lives. As the reader reads on, the happening events continue to build up, making the reader anticipate when the climax of the story is going to happen. Personally, I liked having the climax be at the very end of the story. By doing that, it puts the reader on the edge of his/her seat in astonishment, completely shocked at what is going on so close to the end of the story. It makes the reader want the story to pro-long so that he/she can find out what actually happens and leaves him/her pondering about such late events even after he/she puts the book down. This, to me, is a very clever tool used by the author.
The final element to be discussed in regards to this short story is the point of view. This story is told in the limited omniscient point of view. With a story being told in this point of view, there are both good and bad sides. The good sides of this story being told in limited omniscient point of view is that readers do get to indulge into the true thoughts and feelings of one of the main characters, Leroy. The story is being told through Leroy’s character and readers get to see his perspective on all of the events that take place. This, I do feel, was a success to the story “Shiloh,” because a sort of empathetic feeling towards Leroy grows in the reader as he/she reads through the story. One feels bad for Leroy and his failing marriage, and Leroy in the end, is the character that gets left. The only negative side to the limited omniscient point of view is that readers do not get the opportunity to have the intimate relationship and understanding with any of the other characters in the story as they do with the character that is telling the story. In regards to this story, it would have been interesting to actually see what was going on inside of Norma Jean’s thoughts and feelings as much as readers were exposed to Leroy’s thoughts and feelings.
In conclusion, after reading this close reading, one should be able to better understand the story and the reasoning behind it. The story “Shiloh” is a very satisfying reading to its reader. It has many of the necessary qualities needed for the success of a short story.

Bobbie Ann Mason, a short story and “American novelist writer” was born on May 1, 1940 in Mayfield, Kentucky (“Mason” World Authors, 1). Her parents, Wilburn and Christie Arnett raised Mason on dairy farm (“Mason” World Authors, 1). Bobbie Ann Mason attended the University of Kentucky pursued English in college, along with journalism, but “did not begin writing fiction until she completed her Ph. D.” (“Mason, World Authors, 2). In regards to Mason’s writings, she is considered a writer of the “new South” (“Mason” World Authors, 2). Her characters are constructed in an applauded and indulging way. They are overall described as “torn between the security of their familiar lives and the desire for change and independence,” her stories involving “inconclusive endings,” and her themes are known to be based on “loss and deprivation…the disquieted lives of men and women not blessed with much money or education or luck, but cursed with enough sensitivity and imagination to suffer regrets” (“Mason” Contemporary Authors, 1). Overall, Mason is a writer of events that are common in everyday life. She focuses on writing works of literature that will be appealing to all ages lifestyles; everyone at some point in their lives goes through loss, depression, and/or suffering. Mason’s writings involve all of these thematic claims and she has been nominated and awarded numerous times for various pieces of work.
Besides the short story “Shiloh,” which is the main focus of discussion on this weblog, Mason has written many stories, including: her first novel, “In Country,” “Spice + Lila,” and “Midnight Magic.” Mason has also received numerous amounts of awards for her exceptional work: “Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award (1983), Pulitzer Prize for autobiography nomination (2000) and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award (1984)” (“Contemporary Authors, 1). In conclusion, Mason is a very accomplished and successful writer. Her works are praised by many critics and enjoyed by her readers.

“Bobbie Ann Mason.” Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008.

Literature Resource Center. Gale. VALE - Richard Stockton College of

NJ. 14 June 2009

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=richstockcol

“Bobbie Ann Mason.” Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale,

Literature Resource Center. Gale. VALE - Richard Stockton College of

NJ. 14 June 2009

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=richstockcol.

“Bobbie Ann Mason.” Vinetta Colby, ed. World Authors 1980-1985. 1991.

Biography Reference Bank. The H. W. Wilson Company. Richard Stockton

College of NJ. 14 June 2009

http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.ezproxy.stockton.edu:2048/hww/results/getResul ts.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.21.

Web Sources:

“Bobbie Ann Mason (Vol. 54)” Enotes. 2009. 14 June 2009.
http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/mason-bobbie-ann/introduction

This website is a short, but informative criticism of Bobbie Ann Mason’s overall work. Includes criticism of numerous works of Mason’s as well as a short biography as an introduction.

Henningfield, Diane Andrews. “Shiloh (Criticism). 14 June 2009.
http://www.answers.com/topic/shiloh-story-8

This website picks apart the short story “Shiloh,” going through every detail to explain it more intensely to the reader. It also compares and contrasts Mason’s writing with other authors, such as Raymond Carver. Offering an overview of Mason’s work, this reading is well worth one’s time if interested in learning more about the way Mason writes and how her critics and readers view her.

Ploeg, Scott Vander. “Mason’s Character’s Get Some College.” Border States: Journal
of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association. No. 12. 1999. 14 June
2009
http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/HTALLANT/border/bs12/vanderpl.htm

Although an older article, the information within this reading is very significant to a reader better understanding the characters in all of Mason’s writings. Ploeg goes into detail about the educational and social aspects of the characters in Mason’s stories.

Stockton College Library Database Sources:

Bentley, Greg. “The Return to Shiloh: Family and Fantasy in Bobbie Ann
Mason’s ‘Shiloh’.” Journal of the Short Story in English. 39 (Autumn
2002): 81-89. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic.
Vol. 101. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 81-89. Literature Resource Center.
Gale. VALE - Richard Stockton College
of NJ. 14 June 2009
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=richstockcol

This website is a very insightful and significant piece of criticism for one to read. It includes critical analysis and criticism of the story “Shiloh,” and of Mason’s work in general.

Bradley, Patricia. “Rip Van Winkle” and ‘Shiloh’ Why Resisting Readers still Resist”
Critique. 48.2 (Winter 2007) 137-148. Academic Search Complete.
Richard Stockton College of NJ. 14 June 2009
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.stockton.edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=108&sid=58c78d36-1dc5-49b3-bd01-825eb5513b45%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=24660571%23db=a9h&AN=24660571

This website presents a critique of both works “Shiloh” and “Rip Van Winkle.” With in-depth analysis, the reader is able to better understand the characters through Bradley’s criticism.

Jersild, Devon. “Review: The World of Bobbie Ann Mason.” The Kenyan Review.
11, No. 3 (Summer, 1989) 163-169. JSTOR. Richard Stockton College of
NJ. 14 June 2009
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.stockton.edu:2048/stable/4336137?&Search=yes&term=Critique&term=Bobbie&term=Mason&term=Ann&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DBobbie%2BAnn%2BMason%2B-%2BCritique%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3DBobbie%2BAnn%2BMason%26Search%3DSearch%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=4&ttl=522&returnArticleService=showArticle

This article found on JSTOR critiques not only Mason’s short story “Shiloh,” but a variety of her works. Going into detail about the construction of Mason’s work and the tools she uses to craft her literature, Devon Jersild helps the reader to better understand Mason professionally.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find full texts of stories written by Bobbie Ann Mason online.

Bobbie Ann Mason, the author of the short story “Shiloh”

A book containing “Shiloh” and more of Mason’s stories

A picture of the memorial at the battlefield of Shiloh, Tennessee

A picture drawn of the battle at Shiloh, Tennessee

Just for fun…She is too cute! (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter Shiloh)