Analysis Of Shiloh By Bobbie Ann Mason

Bobbie Ann Mason is an author of an abundance of short stories and has become quite famous for her work and is known as “a full-fledged master of the short story.’ As the readers of her stories get deeper in her short stories she reveals a way of thinking that allows the readers to become more attracted to her stories, making them think about the different aspects of life she is talking about. Masons writing has the ability to have each reader take a look at their own life in comparison to what they are reading. Through her story telling she uses writing techniques to show the themes of her story to best present it to her readers. The short story Shiloh portrays the change in domestic roles in the Moffitt household as Mason uses plot to specify

Mason’s showing the feelings of Leroy is a contributing factor to the conclusion of the gender roles being reversed. Not knowing the true feelings of Norma Jean leave her to appeal as a shut off character, just like a typical male emotions would be. Even though in the story, her character might be having the same feelings, Masons ability to cut the emotions off of Norma and all onto Leroy leads him to be the feminist character in the story. If the story would have been told from more of Norma’s thoughts the story could have had a different outlook. Maybe the characters would not have seemed to be so separate in genders roles, or maybe they would have seemed more drastic coming from a woman’s point of view on their relationship. By writing the story from Leroy’s side gave the best option for readers to see that the roles were backwards from society’s eyes. Mason’s short story Shiloh was able to interpret the story of these two individuals’ lives and the transformation of the two characters. She took the characters from a long distance relationship to a couple that had grown so far apart from the different paths they took after suffering a tragedy in their lives. Through the plot of the story and the point of view focused on Leroy, Mason took the characters gender roles and questioned what society thought of the differences from