Bobbie Ann Mason is an American writer and novelist. She wrote many short stories and novels. She won many awards and recognition for all her hard work, including in 2016, Mason was the second living author inducted in the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
In her short story, “Shiloh,” Mason uses many building blocks of fiction. In this journal entry, I am going to talk about theme, symbol and motif throughout the story. I will show how Mason uses these building blocks to create a meaningful story.
First, Mason uses theme of a switch in gender roles between Leroy Moffitt and his wife Norma Jean. In the story, Leroy injured his leg in an accident a few months ago and now sits around the house like a housewife. He sits at home and build little things from kits and sews a Star Trek pillow cover, which Mabel refers to as what a woman would do. These are things that would most likely seem like what the woman is supposed to do. Norma started lifting weights after Leroy got hurt and always talks about her muscles and goes to body building classes. She seems to be taking on the male role because that is stereotypically what the male does. Leroy complains about taking a job that he would have to
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The first song Norma plays “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, indicating the way Norma may have felt about Leroy in the beginning of their marriage. Then Norma plays “I’ll Be Back”, in the story it says that after fifteen years of Leroy being on the road, he is finally settling down with the woman he loves. As Norma continues playing songs throughout the story, it seems to start getting to the bad end of their marriage. Norma plays, “Who’ll Be Next in Line”? and “Sunshine Superman”, maybe indicating that she wants to move on and find her superman because Leroy is no superman. Soon Norma just stops playing music at all, showing that she is probably just done with their
In a well-written short story, different literary elements and terms are incorporated into the story by the author. Ernest Hemingway frequently uses various literary elements in his writing to entice the reader and enhance each piece that he writes. In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway uses symbols to teach the reader certain things that one may encounter during daily life. Symbolism may be defined as relating to, using, or proceeding by means of symbols (Princeton). The use of symbols in Hills Like White Elephants is utterly important to the plot line and to the fundamental meaning of the story. Through this use of symbolism, the reader can begin to reveal the hidden themes in this short story.
Bobbie Ann Mason explores a relationship conflict in the short story “Shiloh.” Manson uses a metaphor of craft building as a way to tell the story of Leroy and Norma’s relationship. Craft show how easily an object is build and how a mistake can deform the outcome. In the story “Shiloh, craft building is used to display what takes place between Leroy and Norma. The craft building metaphor symbolizes Leroy wanting to restart his life and Leroy wanting to rebuild his life and Leroy wanting to rebuild his relationship with Norma. The craft building for Leroy to build a Log Cabin also foreshadows the outcome of the relationship.
Fear, an emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat, a feeling that no one wants to go through on a serious level. Imagine suddenly waking up to the sounds of gunshots and bombs without warning or constantly being surrounded by formidable men bearing guns. These experiences were not unusual for Ishmael Beah, the author of the book A Long Way Gone, and Paul Baumer, the protagonist of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque. Both books are based off a war; however, All Quiet on the Western Front is based off Paul’s involvement in WWI and A Long Way Gone is about Ishmael’s exposure to the civil war within Sierra Leone. Although the books are different in content, they both show
The Civil War had a very large affect on all of the States. It changed men from gentlemen that went to church every Sunday and never cussed to people who rarely went to church and cussed all the time. Some of the people in the war were also very corrupt and did not do things as they should be done. The way that the enemy was looked at was even changed. All of these things were talked about in "The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd".
Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh” follows Leroy and Norma Jean Moffitt, a husband and wife, and their struggling marriage. In the beginning they had a typical marriage, and then as bother her and her husband evolve, Norma Jean questions her marriage and who her husband is. Norma Jean finds herself struggling to make sense of her marriage, and Leroy struggles to move beyond his accident. Through plot structure and third person dramatic point of view, Mason explores the issues of evolving and changing gender roles within a marriage.
The Battle of Shiloh was an extraordinary event in the civil war timeline and would be a great deal as to when the war was fought at its hardest. The sources I have researched and collected will help me better understand this battle and many other facts I have yet to discover. The Battle of Shiloh is not the most well known battle during the Civil war, but it gives us an idea on how gruesome the fighting was during this time. I view this battle as a turning point for the Union and the continuing losses for the Confederate army as they try to gain back territory. Officers of each side had separate plans, where the Union needed to take the Memphis and Charleston Railroads, and the Confederates just wanted to stop the Union troops from advancing further south(CWPT).
There are several elements of literature that can be analyzed when discussing a good short or long story. The elements are plot, characterization, theme, setting, point of view, irony and symbolism. I read the short story Shiloh and have chosen to discuss the plot of this story. This is a great story expressing the way miscommunication in a marriage can tear the marriage apart.
Kenedy, X.J., and Dana Goia. "Shiloh." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Dana Goina and X.J. Kenedy. Eleventh edition. New York: Longman, 2010. pg. 569-578. Print.
In the story "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason, The reader gets different points of view and different feelings about the characters and the story. In this story the narrator explains how time and distance can create a gap between two people. It also talks about how naïve Leroy really is and also how self-centered he is. It allows the reader to understand that sometimes in doing something good people could be doing something that hurts others.
Symbolism is carried out through the pages of Yasmin Crowther’s novel The Saffron Kitchen. Crowther’s novel is about a women named Maryam, her daughter Sara along and her husband Edward who live in England; one day a tragic incident happens in Maryam’s family that leads her to feel guilty enough to leave to her hometown in Mazareh, Iran. Throughout this story secrets and childhood memories come forth. One unique symbol that is brought up throughout the novel is the red book, which contains poems in English. The red book was given to Maryam when she was younger by a boy named Ali; Ali was a young boy who was working for Maryam’s family. Throughout this story we are shown that this red book is very important to Maryam and one can see that it symbolizes relationships, memories, and a connection with the outside world.
The setting in the short story “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason works well to accentuate the theme of the story. The theme portrayed by Mason is that most people change along with their environment, with the exception of the few who are unwilling to adapt making it difficult for things such as marriage to work out successfully. These difficulties are apparent in Norma Jean and Leroy’s marriage. As Norma Jean advances herself, their marriage ultimately collapses due to Leroy’s unwillingness to adapt with her and the changing environment.
Mary Boykin Chesnut was born on her grandparents' estate at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina on March 31, 1823. She learned early about the workings of a plantation by observing her grandmother. Grandmother Miller rose early to assign the cleaning and cooking duties for her servants. Besides keeping the mansion clean and prepared for the frequent guests, Mary's grandmother also took charge of making and mending clothing for the slaves on the plantation. She spent whole days cutting out clothing for the children and assigning sewing to her nine seamstresses. Her grandmother worked with the servants and sewing crew so easily and effectively that Mary was nearly nine years old before she became aware that her grandmother's coworkers were slaves. Having learned to respect these workers, she thought of them as near equals.
Back in 1990, a man named Gary Soto decided to write an autobiography about himself, titled A Summer Life. One of the more interesting portions of the book was when Mr. Soto described a summer day back when he was six years old. On that day, young Gary found out what it felt like to be a true sinner, as he stole an apple pie from the local bakery. Some readers found this as one of the more interesting parts, not because of the plot, but because of the literary devices used, such as detail, imagery, and pacing. The three aforementioned literary devices are almost a backbone to the story, because without those three, the story would be shortened and fairly bland. The following three paragraphs will each describe a literary devices used by Mr. Soto to enhance the quality of his story.
While reading short stories, two stood out: Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and Raymond Carver’s Cathedral. The themes in both stories are powerful and convey strong messages that really pose existential thoughts. Not only is each story’s theme attention grabbing, but so is the common and reoccurring use of symbolism throughout the stories. They did not just use the Element of Fiction symbolism, but even used one common symbol. Ernest Hemingway’s story Hills Like White Elephants and Raymond Carver’s story Cathedral each contain existential and similar themes such as talking versus communicating and looking versus seeing, as well as demonstrating creative and comparable symbolism throughout.
Symbolism is commonly used by authors that make short stories. Guin is a prime example of how much symbolism is used in short stories such as “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and “Sur.” In both of these stories Guin uses symbolism to show hidden meanings and ideas. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” there is a perfect Utopian city, yet in this perfect city there is a child locked in a broom closet and it is never let out. A few people leave the city when they find out about the child, but most people stay. Furthermore, in “Sur” there is a group of girls that travel to the South Pole and reach it before anyone else, yet they leave no sign or marker at the South Pole. Guin’s stories are very farfetched and use many symbols. Both “Sur” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” have many symbols such as colors, characters, objects, and weather. The four types of symbols that Guin uses help the readers understand the themes in her short stories. Although her stories are farfetched, they need symbolism in them or the reader would not understand the theme; therefore the symbols make Guin’s stories much more enjoyable.