If one is used to a certain way life is would one be able to get used to a drastic change in their life? In Shiloh, by Bobbie Ann Mason, one overall theme is change. After a careful examination of the text one may see that Norma Jean is a strong independent woman who does not know how to adjust to the change in her life. In the short fiction Shiloh Norma Jean is presented as a strong woman from the beginning. Her husband is a truck driver who got hurt in a very tragic accident which prevented him from returning to that job and he ends up taking an interest in knitting and crafts. Norma is then left as the nurturer and caretaker who is not suitable for this lifestyle. The couple also have a couple of miscommunications between them which …show more content…
Her strength is how Mason introduces her character “[l]eroy Moffits wife, Norma Jean, is working on her pectorals” (804). Mason also goes on to state her exercising “[s]he lifts three-pound dumbbells to warm up, then progresses to a twenty pound barbell”(804). As one can see these statements go on to show that she is physically capable of lifting weights and being athletic which is not something a woman of this time period usually does. However, some of her actions may not be justifiable, but is understandable as to why she did them. The way she acts towards her husband is one of the many reasons as to why one may see her as the independent character she is. She ignores her husband like he is not even there because she does not want to talk about the death of their child, and she does not know how to communicate with him or to even make the relationship last considering she never really got the chance to talk to him in the past since he was on the road most of their marriage due to his job. Secondly, another reason she is shown as a strong character is the dialogue and tone that she uses when she speaks to Leroy. When she does speak to him it is a quick conversation so she does not have to talk to him long. Most times though when she starts the conversation the tone changes to one that is firm: “ [l]ike heck you are” (807) Norma Jean said this when her husband was talking about building her a log cabin, which represents the American Dream but as one can see she does not want that with