Shiloh bobbie ann mason essay

Poetry Explanation Essay

Write an explanation essay on the following essay.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43687/the-tyger

Attached PDF will have instructions on how to complete the essay.

In any relationship, whether it be a marriage or even just a work partnership,

communication is vital. In the short story Shiloh, Bobbie Ann Mason uses imagery,

symbolism, and characters to show just how the failure to communicate can result in the

destruction of even the strongest relationships.

Imagery is one of the elements Mason uses to illustrate how an absence of

communication can be damaging to a relationship. Leroy has spent most of his marriage

on the road yet when he comes home for good he does not recognize his hometown or his

marriage, and is not sure what to do to reconcile himself to either. Mason shows this

when writing, “He cruises the new subdivisions, feeling like a criminal rehearsing for a

robbery. Norma Jean is probably right about a log house being inappropriate here in the

new subdivisions. All the houses look grand and complicated. They depress him” (71). In

a suddenly changing relationship a person can be caught off guard and confused, not

knowing what if anything they can do to get used to those changes. When Leroy and

Norma Jean visit Shiloh, after years of being pushed to go by Norma Jean’s mother, their

marriage finally disintegrates. Mason writes, “The cemetery, a green slope doted with

white markers, looks like a subdivision site. Leroy is trying to comprehend that his

marriage is breaking up, but for some reason he is wondering about white slabs in a

Student 2

graveyard” (76). Divorce is often thought of as the death of a marriage, the end of an

entire way of life in some ways.

Like imagery, Mason also uses symbolism to show how a lack of communication

can change relationships without the people in them noticing. The organ that Leroy buys

Norma Jean is an example of how much she changes just in the short time he is at home

going from playing all kinds of music on it to not playing it at all. Mason illustrates this

when she writes, “She doesn’t play the organ anymore, though her second paper was

called ‘Why Music Is Important To Me’ ” (73). Sometimes it is smaller changes that

indicate a larger issue in a relationship that people do not pay attention to. Throughout the

story Leroy keeps insisting he wants to build Norma Jean a log cabin even after she tells

him she does not want it, which highlights the fact that he does not really know his wife

anymore and is not listening to what how she is changing. Mason writes:

“I’m going to build you this house,” says Leroy. “I want to make you a

real home.”

“I don’t want to live in any log cabin.”

“It’s not a cabin, It’s a house.”

“I don’t care. It looks like a cabin.”

“You and me together could lift those logs. It’s just like lifting weights.”

Norma Jean doesn’t answer. Under her breath, she is counting. (71)

People tend to cling to their ideas of how their spouse should be and miss cues that could

let them know that they are changing, and that the relationship is not as idyllic as it

seems.

Student 3

Mason uses the characters of Leroy and Norma Jean to highlight how people in a

relationship can miss or ignore all sorts of hints of discontent from the other. Leroy is a

simple man who does not know what to say to his wife, nor how to say it. Mason

illustrates this when she states, “Now Leroy has the sudden impulse to tell Norma Jean

about himself, as if he had just met her. They have known each other so long they have

forgotten a lot about each other. They could become reacquainted. But when the oven

timer goes off and she runs to the kitchen, he forgets why he wants to do this” (72).

Sometimes the lack of communication is not because a person does not know what is

wrong but that they do not know how to bring up their awareness of a problem, so they

simply leave it alone. Norma Jean is Leroy’s opposite, wanting for him to get a job again

so that he is not dependent on her for all of his emotional needs. Even so, she does not

tell him how unhappy she is until the very end, when Mason writes:

“Everything was fine till Mama caught me smoking,” says Norma Jean,

standing up. “That set something off.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She won’t leave me alone- you won’t leave me alone.” Norma Jean

seems to be crying, but she is looking away from him. “I feel eighteen

again. I can’t face that all over again.” She starts walking away. “No, it

wasn’t fine. I don’t know what I’m saying. Forget it.” (76)

It is fairly common for the unhappy party in a relationship to keep all their issues and

anger bottled up until they cannot contain it anymore and they let it all out at once,

usually quite explosively.

Student 4

People in relationships, especially those that span years, tend to forget to keep

open lines of communication with each other. In Shiloh, Bobbie Ann Mason shows how

that can ruin those relationships with her use of imagery, symbolism, and characters.