“The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies”-(Unknown). In the book Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt she wrote about a nine year old boy named Jethro Creighton and his family. A war started to arrive in mid-April 1861, because of the north and south wanted to either keep slaves or to free them but that decision caused chaos to start to emerge. This chaos jumped into Jethro’s life when some of his brothers joined the war almost all of them joined the north but one joined the south, which in their case was the enemy. This left Jethro with the job of plowing the field. He got help from his fourteen year old Sister Jenny. Jethro’s mother Ellen and his father Matt were left worrying about their sons John, Tom, Bill, and their cousin Eb, and Jenny’s boyfriend Shadrach Yale. All this chaos with the war left the Creighton’s family worried sick, through all this they had to deal with the consequences of betrayal, and death on their minds.
The play tells the story of how a little compassion and empathy can change a town. Also, it touches on notes of racial injustice, class division, gender roles, and loss of innocence. Throughout the course of the play, Scout can be seen to slowly lose her innocence as she begins to learn about racial injustice, crimes (rape), and life. She is also shown to break stereotypical gender roles by dressing as a tomboy and going by the name Scout instead of Jean Louise. Racial injustice is portrayed when Tom Robinson was deemed guilty for attacking and raping Mayella Ewell. The overall theme of compassion was shown throughout the play when the characters began to understand Boo Radley’s reason for staying inside and when Tom Robinson was wrongfully charged for a crime he did not commit. It was also emphasized at the end of the play when all the characters joined together one by one saying “stand in other people’s shoes to finally see them.” A person will never truly understand another until they take the time to see things from the other person’s point of
Shelby Foote's Shiloh is a novel about a real Civil War battle told from the point of view of a few common soldiers, both northern and southern, who fought there. Because he chose to depict the action from these points of view, he limits what can be said of the big picture. If one can ignore that big picture, the book works very well at showing the reader what the experience must have been like for individuals caught up in different parts of the fight. Yet needing to provide some of that picture, Foote has each character present background on specific generals and their actions leading up to Shiloh. This exposition is, for the most part, pretty clumsy and simply detracts from ...
Shiloh, a story about a family broken apart because of differences, is set in the south. Kentucky or Tennessee, a young woman, Norma Jean, and her husband rent a small house. Norma is not used to having her him around the house, but because of a trucking accident, he is forced to stay at home.
Norma Jean, Leroy’s wife, works in the cosmetic department at a local drug store called Rexall. Even though she is the only one currently working she still does the cooking and cleans the house all while finding time for her hobbies. She seems to be emotionally detached ...
Leroy arrives home from a drive and finds Norma Jean in tears.” (Mason p. 50). Norma
Everyone has had some type of conflict in his or her life. Both “The Finish of Patsy Barnes” and “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” describe important conflicts that the main characters Joby, the fourteen year old soldier and Patsy, the young African American boy are affectedly their conflicts and each must attempt to find a resolution.
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.
... chapter in Norma Jean and Leroy's life now that they will be apart. There is nothing left in their marriage that can keep them together because according to Norma Jean it was over a long time ago.
The word family evokes an image of trust and a bond of loyalty. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” and James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”, the main characters in both these stories demonstrate the idea of family loyalty in several ways. While they continue to express the values of family loyalty, the main characters have to overcome several obstacles. Searching for ways to communicate effectively with their families and maintaining their changing identities trap the characters. In “Barn Burning”, Sarty is conflicted with being loyal to his family and being loyal to himself and in “Sonny’s Blues”, the brother has to deal with being loyal to Sonny’s values. During this process, it changes their character and forces them to change and learn about themselves.
Insecurities in relationships cause unwanted doubt and anxiety. It creates an unstable partnership that only becomes more destructive the worse it gets. For Leroy, his character relentlessly focuses on how Norma Jean feels about him. While he is confident of his love for her, he is unsure of what she still wants. Leroy is fixated on the idea of building her a log house—one he thought she always wanted. When he discovers that isn’t the case, he panics and tries to think of something else that could help their relationship before it is too
In the short story "Shiloh", written by Bobbie Sue Mason, Norma Jean and Leroy are an older married couple that are experiencing new roadblocks in their relationship. Leroy is injured in a trucking accident while, so he is unable to until his knee heals, but he is nervous to go back to trucking. Norma Jean his wife is use to being home without Leroy and does not know how to handle him being around so often. Her mother Mabel has decided to somewhat take Leroy’s place by hanging around he house more then he ever thought she did. She helps Norma Jean, but she also is a burden. It is up to the reader to decide whether Norma Jean and Leroy stay together, or end up getting a divorce at the end of the story. I believe that they can work things out if they were to see a marriage counselor. There are a couple of really big issues that I feel if were looked at, discussed and handled differently they could get through their rough spell. The death of their son, Mabel the controlling mother, and the inability for the two to communicate at all causes the cracks in their relationship.
She has, in a sense, taken on the masculine role in the household since Leroy has come home. She is the sole provider for the family, working behind the cosmetics counter at Rexalls. Her body building is indicative of the reversal in her role. When discussing the meaning on their names, Norma Jean tells Leroy that his name means 'the king'. He asks her if he is still king and she "... flexes her biceps and feels them for hardness." thus showing him that he is not. Furthermore, she 'drives the nail home' by telling him the meaning of her name. "Norma comes from the Normans. They were invaders." She has invaded, and taken over, his position as 'the head of the household'. At the end of the story "She turns towards Leroy and waves her arms .... she seems to be doing an exercise for her chest muscles." I believe that she was showing Leroy that she is strong enough, or has found the strength to leave him and forge a new path in life. Furthermore, I believe that she was implying that she was never going to find the strength to carry the two of them through this relationship when she stated, early in the story, "Feel this arm. It's not as hard as the other one." Norma Jean is a woman who had accepted her marriage for what it was, until her husband came home. It was than that she r...
...aking classes, she is able to slowly but surely find her independence again. Norma Jean finally tells her husband that she wants to leave him because she does not want to "...feel eighteen again" (500). By leaving Leroy and starting a new life, Norma Jean is able to forget the pain and embarassment she felt many years ago. The power she possesses enables her to succeed in her wish to move on.
All aspects of the story help create a strong image in the mind of any reader. All of the details of the characters and how they interact with one another and how they change are vital to the emotional connection of the reader to the story. The manner in which the story is told is also significant to the design and delivery of the story. Both men in the story learned about self, ego and forgiveness. Both men walk away damaged even if it is not fully noticed by either or both party. Part of the strength of the story is derived from the point of view from which it is told. The point of view provides a relatively third person view on the situation absent of as much bias as possible.