The Escapist Must Face Reality in Bobbie Ann Mason's "shiloh"

The Escapist Must Face Reality in Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shiloh"

"Chains do not hold a marriage together... It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years" (Simone Signoret). A marriage between two equal partners ideally encompasses the values and ideas of being "sewn together" in all aspects in which the goals, aspirations, and progression of the individual is no longer that of the sole individual, but rather of a conjoined effort in respect toward evolution of the relationship and of a greater, driven purpose. In Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shiloh," Mason portrays a marriage that lacks shared goals. The reader is presented with an independent, driven woman, Norma Jean, and her husband with escapist tendencies, Leroy, who is to blame for the failure of the marriage.

Death and the recovery from the open wound that grief leave in its midst, requires matters of understanding and intense nurturing of the soul. Love in its purest form is the only natural and true medication for ailment of the sould, especially within a marriage that has lost the unity of no other magnitude, a child. After the sudden death of Norma Jean and Leroy's four month old infant, Randy, Leroy inconsiderately chooses himself over the concern of his partner and the relationship, and abandons Norma Jean to endure the grieving process alone. His excuse of removal through truckdriving, or rather his escape, is his form of cop-out, a self denial of weakness. Due to Leroy's escapist tendencies, Norma Jean subsequently learns to heal her wounds entirely devoid of Leroy and the marriage, damaging the ties that once connected them.

"He was always flying past scenery" (Mason 570). The author, Bobbie Ann Mason, uses images of life in perpetual motion, giving birth to the idea that Leroy is symbolically letting life pass him by. Leroy fails to acknowledge any form of depth in life and dwells upon details of unimportance such as, "She puts on her house slippers almost precisely at nine o'clock every evening..." (Mason 573). In doing so, his life patterns that of escape, or failure to face reality. The importance of purpose in a relationship, refers back to the earlier stated idea that a married couple should have a similar mindset or outlook on life and common goals, creating an evolution of growth. Doing and being are two seperate entities and realities altogether, the difference between progression and stagnation. Leroy is engulfed in the latter. His life cannot move forward, nor can his relationship move forward until he has established within himself the practice of doing. Norma Jean is quite aware of his lack of drive, as she suggests a list of "Things you could do" (Mason 573). The reader can note that Norma Jean is avidly pursuing a greater purpose, security.