Before It's Too Late

A story review. Relationship changes over the passing of time as circumstances in life shape a person's way of thinking and way of life. Whether it flourishes or decays depends greatly upon how both people react to these alterations.

Before it is too late

Relationship changes over the passing of time as circumstances in life shape a person's way of thinking and way of life. Whether it flourishes or decays depends greatly upon how both people react to these alterations. In Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shiloh" and Ryan Harty's "Why the Sky Turns Red when the Sun Goes Down", the couple in both stories are standing at the crossroads of their life where changes have happened and decision have to be made. Having to stay at home after a job-related incident, Leroy Moffitt in "Shiloh", realizes how much the relationship, between his wife and him, have changed over the years. Although they have known each other and stayed as husband and wife for such a long time, they have "forgotten a lot about each other" - the thoughts and feelings they had, the reasons which made them fell in love with each other. Similarly, in "Why the Sky Turns Red when the Sun Goes Down", the couple are faced with the apprehension of a seemingly permanent change in their relationship. Both have seemed to reach a point where "[they couldn't] go on". When oblivious to change, marriage becomes a word which only holds two people together. Negligence for the need to work together to resolve the influential issue will lead to irresolvable misunderstandings and irreversible consequences.

The changes which have occurred in both of the stories interrupted the false sense of closeness among the couples, serving to spark off long-term problems they had not realized. In "Shiloh", Leroy, is forced to retire to home after injuring his leg in a highway incident. Just like his truck, Leroy, no longer able to make his living as a truck driver, "has flown home to roost". However, he makes little effort to find another alternative to make his living. Realizing that he has missed so many things in life when he was still "on the road, he wanted to enjoy the freedom he had now, and to take more notice of the things happening around him. He no longer wanted to "fly past scenery". His wife, Norma Jean however, fails to acknowledge Leroy's attitude. Expecting Leroy to assume the responsibility of caring for the household, watching him idle around, taking up needlepoint and crafting, agitated Norma Jean. As the days went by, her unspoken expectation for Leroy heightens, and so does the tension for their marriage. Although they lived harmoniously, without any real arguments, Norma Jean's disapproval for Leroy's lack of productivity served to relief problems the both of them never really knew existed.

Likewise, in Ryan Harty's "Why the Sky Turns Red when the Sun Goes Down", facing the recurrent malfunctioning of their D3 child, Cole, weariness for the problem provoked Mike and Dana to face the problems they had discarded aside in their marriage. Wanting to "live a life of uninterrupted normalcy" Dana had always wanted to get Cole a D4 center chip which would alleviate all malfunctioning. However, installing a new D4 chip would mean giving up on Cole since the new chip would result in the child having a totally different personality after it was replaced, even though he may look the same on the exterior. Mike had greatly disliked this suggestion as he did not want to let go of Cole and the person Cole had grown into over the years. As a result, this issue had always been a matter in which the couple heavily disagreed upon. With Cole breaking down once more, the couple finally realizes that their problems have never been truly solved. Moving to the Southwest had only been an illusion to escape from reality. It had internalized their problems but not helped to resolve them.

Unsure of how to handle the change in relationship, Norma Jean and Dana had resorted to running away rather than facing it. As if gotten used to Leroy's absence in the house when he worked as a truck driver, Norma Jean appears uneasy with Leroy's now permanent existence in the house. She "[was] often startled" in finding Leroy's presence and lacks the joy a wife should have, now that her husband could spend more time at home. Like an unconscious reaction to Leroy's accident, Norma Jean appears to assume the role of the man in the family and spends less and less time at home. She becomes obsessed with working out to make herself "hard" - so as to be tougher in face of change, and enrolls herself in a night school. Inability to adapt to the changes in the relationship, and perhaps the awkwardness of not knowing how to face a stay-home Leroy, Norma Jean resolved to keeping herself busy. In her opinion, having "something to do" gave her a goal and occupied her thoughts. It was better than having nothing to do at all.

Similarly in the case for Dana, keeping herself occupied was the way she tackled when problems from Cole arises. "[Taking] on longer hours at work", Dana immersed herself in an option which did not require her to focus on Cole and the disagreement between her and Mike. Knowing that Mike and her would never come into an agreement with the D4 issue, she also "grew distant when she was home", as if she was trying, by all means, to recoil from the need to be confronted and reminded once again of Cole's problems. However, when faced with the situation of Cole breaking down again,