The Incompatibility of Tradition and Contemporary Culture in
Bobbie Ann Mason’s Shiloh
“Many of my characters are caught up in the myth of progress; from their point of
view, it means liberation, the promise of a better life”
- Bobbie Ann Mason (Rothstein 50)
It seems as if Bobbie Ann Mason’s Shiloh is a story which has not much to
“say” to its reader, one might think. The narration concentrates on everyday situations
and uses everyday-speech to tell the story. The characters are not self-reflexive and the
reader does not get an inside look into their heads. In order to extract a meaning from
the text, the reader has to pay attention to details, which might seem banal at first. Upon
examining Shiloh more closely, one becomes aware that it is a story full of symbols. By
taking these symbols into account, the story becomes more than just a slice-of-life-
story; it becomes a dialogue between two fundamentally different concepts of living.
“Mason’s story Shiloh is about two people and a community who are affected by
their beliefs in the American dream and the myth of progress: you can succeed and
build a happy life for yourself and your family […] if you keep up with the times […]
(Henning 690). Norma Jean tries to improve her life by turning away from her
traditional role as a housewife in order to transform into a modern, progressive woman.
Leroy, on the other hand, desperately tries to save his marriage by clinging on to
tradition, but “with his dreams of a log cabin, his unwillingness to get back to work, and
his desire to stop speeding by details – [he] is a failure, in terms of the myth of the
progress” (Henning 694). The dissolution of Norma Jean’s and Leroy’s marriage in
Shiloh serves as an allegory for the incompatibility of tradition on the one hand and
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contemporary culture on the other hand. Thus, Shiloh shows the consequence a society
has to live with should it fail to acknowledge its history and devote itself only to
progress to any price.
Leroy thinks that turning to tradition will make his and Norma Jean’s lives
better. He “wants desperately to go back in time and make things right, but he is unable
to act” (Henning 692). However, it becomes clear when we look at the imagery of
houses, which is used extensively throughout the text, that this plan won’t work, as they
both have fundamentally different views of what a better life is. When Leroy tells
Norma Jean that he wants to build them a log house, the ideas of tradition and
contemporary culture collide. Clearly, Leroy has a very romantic image of the past and
he thinks that by living in a more traditional way, his marriage would improve. Mason
herself stated in an interview that “the past is very appealing to a lot of Americans. They
see it as something to hold on to, something more cohesive than this fragmented,
chaotic life we mostly live now” (Lyons 451). That is why Leroy wants to build an old-
fashioned log house. He starts by building a miniature model of a cabin out of Popsicle
sticks, which he places on today’s society’s altar – the television set. “This tiny cabin he
so adores represents a simple, more easily understood past” (Thompson 56). The idea
of log house, Leroy idealizes, and the subdivisions, those modern communities that are
spreading in front of his eyes, could not be more contrary. While a log cabin stands for a
time where houses were built when there was a need for them, the subdivisions are built
in advance, without people being there to live in those modern settlements. Leroy
compares subdivisions to oil slicks and thus makes it clear that he is irritated by this
modern development. Terry Thompson is quite fond of this simile, as an oil slick is a
type of environmental catastrophe. However, “oil spills are eventually cleaned up, but
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subdivisions continue to devour valuable farmland that could grow corn or wheat
instead of sprouting generic ranch houses with generic mortgages and synthetic
neighbors” (55). Leroy also discovers this negative effect of building in advance when
he wonders that “the sign on the edge of town says ‘Pop: 11,500’ – only seven hundred
more than it said twenty years before” (Mason 3). The accumulation of houses has
directly influenced and fueled the loss of traditional values. “The farmers who used to
gather round the courthouse square on Saturday afternoons to play checkers and spit
tobacco juice have gone” (Mason 4). This very traditional and positive image of rural
Southern culture has vanished in the light of cultural progress. There is simply no place
for those farmers left among all those modern housing units. However, Leroy did not
notice a change while he was driving his truck, as “he was always flying past scenery”
(Mason 2). He used to be part of this modern society while he still had a job, but now,
as he is an outsider of this short-lived world, he is able to see the mutations that
contemporary culture generated.
Norma Jean, on the other hand, does not like this idea of living in a log house at
all and Leroy knows it. Still, he won’t let go of his plans. Norma Jean would much
rather live in one of the modern subdivisions. For her these modern housing units, are a
symbol of progress and as she goes on to develop further, one of these homes seems to
be the appropriate place to live for a woman with Norma Jean’s ambition. However, it is
very questionable that one of those subdivision homes would make her life any more
fulfilling or at least more bearable than living with Leroy. The opposite seems to be the
case – the emptiness she feels cannot be filled by modern culture, but tradition alone is
not the answer either. Only a mixture of both can provide her with fulfillment. Although
it cannot be denied that subdivisions provide cheap housing to America’s working class
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and thus have also positive aspects, Thompson notes that “many […] commentators on
America’s postwar culture blamed the […] development[ of subdivisions] for many of
the country’s alleged and real ills, from destroying its farmland to emasculating its
husbands” (54). This statement is controversial and misleading, just like the question
“which came first, the chicken or the egg”. Are these communities really the root of all
evil in today’s society, or are they just symptoms of how modern times make it
impossible for the individual to feel satisfied? Probably the latter, but one thing is
obvious – the trend in society is that people are always striving for something and when
they have accomplished it, they find something new to strive for; they are never
satisfied with what they have got and always feel a need for improvement. This is where
the conflict of this marriage becomes obvious – Leroy wants to improve his life through
tradition and his marriage plays an important part in his plan. Norma Jean, on the other
hand, is not willing to lead a life according to traditional standards. This black-and-
white-thinking is the source of their marital trouble.
Leroy’s plans are destined to fail, because the change, he is refusing to accept, is
already in progress. Norma Jean has started to evolve from a typical housewife into a
modern woman, according to today’s standards. The many musical references in the text
are used to show Norma Jean’s transformation. They foreshadow that Leroy’s attempt
to save his marriage through tradition will fail, because Norma Jean will not embrace a
traditional way of life, as she sees a modern lifestyle as the only way to progress. The
instrument of her expression is still provided by Leroy, who buys her the electric organ.
When she plays the very easy Chopsticks, her “embryonic status” is emphasized (Blythe
Shiloh 53). However, as her personal growth progresses, she buys herself The Sixties
Songbook. This symbolizes a certain degree of independence, as she explains her
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actions for the first time in the story. She has begun to think about her life, but to talk
about self-reflection would go too far. She just has “this crazy feeling [she] missed
something back then” (Mason 3). This is an expression that she is not fulfilled and so
she begins to search in her past. As her independence grows, she starts to add variations
to the songs from the book. It is apparent that she refuses to “embrace the traditional”
(Blythe Shiloh 53) and thus, she starts to add variations to each of the songs. Leroy is
just watching and listening, because he is standing still and not willing or able to evolve
with Norma Jean. He “likes to lie on the couch and smoke a joint and listen to Norma
Jean playing” typical love songs of the sixties. With the story progressing, Norma Jean
emancipates herself and she starts to play hard rock songs. This is evidence for a
changing of the traditional gender roles, because the hard rock genre is dominated by
men. Norma Jean breaks with her stereotypical role by “invading” this genre. This
shows how Norma Jean is not willing to live her life by conventions dictated by
tradition anymore; she wants to be free and progressive.
Later the musical references disappear from the text and it seems as if Norma
Jean breaks with her own history. Music was something she did when she was a
teenager and according to her “it don’t leave you” (Mason 3). However, with her
progress, her interest in music ends and she stops playing the electric organ. She has
“mastered” the songs from her book and developed the music further. Now, the
instrument and the music are not interesting anymore and she stops making music
altogether, in order to devote herself to other activities, which are new and interesting to
her. Although she wrote a paper titled Why Music Is Important to Me, she quits playing
the electric organ and it seems as if she wants to make progress for the sake of progress
and not in order to improve her life. “Norma Jean is willing to give up her past and any
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ideas and rituals involved with their heritage, including their marriage. […] She must
move forward and she perceives the development of technology as a step forward”
(Henning 694).
The change that has happened in their lives is further elaborated when we look at
how the borders of the traditional gender roles become blurred. At the beginning,
Mason gives us the typical image of the hard-working man, who loves his big machines
and everything connected with them and the frail woman, whose main concern is skin
care. “When [Norma Jean] explains to Leroy the three stages of complexion care,
involving creams, toners, and moisturizers, he thinks happily of other petroleum
products – axle grease, diesel fuel” (Mason 2). This stereotypical image is misleading,
although it may have used to be correct in the past. Now, the reality is that Norma Jean
is the provider of the family, while Leroy stays at home, thinks about his log-cabin and
smokes joints. The very first paragraph of the story gives evidence that this change has
already occurred without Leroy noticing. The reader is introduced to a weightlifting
Norma Jean who reminds Leroy of Wonder Woman. While she is literally building
herself up, Leroy is standing still and can only watch Norma Jean’s progress. He used to
be a truck driver, which is probably one of the manliest jobs in the world. Ask most
people how they imagine a trucker and they will probably tell you about a man with an
unshaven face, a trucker cap on his head, who is chewing tobacco and wearing his jeans
just a little too low. However, this is history, because nowadays Leroy’s rig “sits in the
backyard, like a gigantic bird that has flown home to roost” (Mason 1), just like Leroy
is now staying at home to “roost”. His truck, the symbol of his manhood, injured him
and now he is frightened and does not want to go back on the road. Norma Jean, on the
other hand, wants to move and thus she is trying out all sorts of new things like
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bodybuilding, cooking and writing. Her activities and the energy she puts in them have
made her Leroy’s exact opposite, but it seems as if Leroy is oblivious to this fact. He is
taking refuge in building miniature models, like his little log cabin. His idea of building
Norma Jean a real log house is only an attempt to go back to a past were Leroy was the
family’s provider. That is why Leroy’s attempts to save his marriage will fail, because
he refuses to accept and live with the changes which are happening around him.
When Leroy finally realizes that “he’s going to lose [Norma Jean]” (Mason 11)
and he sees his marriage go down the drain, he turns to Norma Jean’s mother Mable for
advice. She “is a spinner-creator (she makes them a dust ruffle), a moral censor (she
criticizes the couple for Norma Jean getting pregnant before marriage and Norma Jean
herself for smoking and cursing), and an advisor” (Blythe 225). While Leroy asks
Mable for guidance, Norma Jean seems to be slightly annoyed by her mother’s constant
intrusion into her life, to say the least. Mabel is trying to make her daughter live by
traditional values and she is constantly criticizing on how Norma Jean is leading her
household. “When she visits, she inspects the closets and then the plants, informing
Norma Jean when a plant is droopy or yellow” (Mason 5). However, the main problem
is that Mabel is reminding her of her own past and here we can find a reason for Norma
Jean’s aversion against her own personal history – the death of her child Randy. She
becomes very agitated when her mother tells her about a “datsun dog” that killed a
baby. Norma Jean thinks that by telling her a story like that, her mother is trying to pay
her back, because she caught Norma Jean smoking. Norma Jean implies that Mabel
tried to hurt her by reminding her of Randy’s tragic death. At this point in the story,
Norma Jean looks “small and helpless” for the first time since the beginning of her
transformation. Therefore, it is no longer a mystery why she does not want to be
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reminded of her history when it only pains her and makes her feel weak. She did not
have the power to save her child in the past and thus she is now trying everything she
can to become stronger and wiser. Mabel, however, tells Leroy to go on a trip to a place
full of tradition: Shiloh. She tried to convince the couple to go there before, but failed.
Now, that Leroy reached the end of the line, she finally got them to make the trip. The
historical sight is not only a place of American history; it also has a place in Norma
Jean’s personal history. However, Mabel’s and Leroy’s plan backfires when Norma
Jean finally tells Leroy that she is going to leave him. This shock makes Leroy move
“toward a higher level of awareness of [his] situation” (Brinkmeyer 23). Now Leroy
realizes that his idea of a better life for his wife and him was not good enough. He has
discovered that the tradition, he idealized at the beginning of the story, is not what he
expected it to be. Leroy tells us that “Mabel and Jet [her husband] visited the
battleground, and then Norma Jean was born, and then she married Leroy and they had
a baby they lost, and now Leroy and Norma Jean are here at the same battleground
(Mason 16). This is their story, but “he is leaving out the insides of history” (16) and
that is just too simple. Now he knows that life is not like the models he built out of
Lincoln logs, it is more complex and more meaningful. The past is gone and will not
come back, despite all his effort. It was the time “when Mabel was still thin and good-
looking (Mason 15 f), but now Mabel is an old woman whose views are outdated. He
finally begins to realize that living in the past cannot be the answer to his problems.
“With this new understanding, [Leroy is] in much more control of [his] live, even if [he
is] not entirely happy or [has] few options on which to act” (Brinkmeyer 23). The
pilgrimage to Shiloh, that was supposed to strengthen his belief in Mabel’s tradition and
to convert Norma Jean, has the opposite effect: Leroy has learned that living in the past
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will not save his marriage.
Bobbie Ann Mason leaves the reader with an ambiguous ending. He must find
out for himself, if Norma Jean and Leroy are able to overcome the incompatibility of
tradition and contemporary culture and if they will find a compromise that will enable
them to improve their lives by blending these two contrary ideas. After Norma Jean tells
her husband that she is going to leave him, Leroy closes his eyes to let the words sink
in. He has to make a decision – will he keep on standing still and lose Norma Jean, or
will he finally move on with his life. When he opens his eyes again, “Norma Jean has
moved away and is walking through the cemetery […]” (Mason 16). On the one hand,
there are signs that lead to the conclusion that they decide to leave the past behind and
will move on together and on the other hand, there a signs that they will not overcome
their differences. In a symbolical act, Leroy gets up and they both leave the graveyard, a
place of long-gone history, behind and move towards a river, a symbol of energy and
motion. “The river is flowing, but in a distance. The couple is neither immersed in it nor
travelling upon it” (Blythe Grail Quest 226), so this symbol is inconclusive. Norma
Jean leads the way and Leroy follows with distance, because his leg is hurting. Contrary
to the symbolism of the river, this suggests that Leroy, although willing to follow his
wife, is not able to keep up with her pace, as the past, symbolized by his leg-injury,
won’t let him. When Norma Jean reaches the bluff by the river, “she turns toward Leroy
and waves her arms.” (Mason 16). Leroy is indecisive if his wife is beckoning him, or if
she is just “doing an exercise for her chest muscles” (Mason 16). Just like Leroy, the
reader has to interpret this sign and decide if there is hope for the couple, or if their
marriage is over. Should there be hope for both, it will certainly not be easy to mend
what has already been broken. The very last sentence of the text indicates that although
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they must live in the here and now, they will not be able to live their lives without
acknowledging their own history. The sky has the “color of the dust ruffle Mabel made
for their bed” (Mason 16). The bed is a symbol for their relationship and it is covered by
a traditional dust ruffle. This indicates again that modern life cannot neglect history, but
has to deal with it.
As we have seen, Bobbie Ann Mason’s characters in Shiloh are between a rock
and a hard place. Leroy longs for a live in the past, which is indicated by his wish to
build a log house for Norma Jean and him. This will not work, because his view of the
past is distorted and a life by traditional values is out of the question for Norma Jean.
She thinks by turning completely away from tradition she will be able to grow. For her
the past makes no sense and even thinking about it is too painful, because it reminds her
of her dead son Randy. With views that are so fundamentally different it is no wonder
that their marriage is not working. The trip to Shiloh, that was initially supposed to save
their marriage, now stands for their failure. Still, Bobbie Ann Mason does not leave the
reader without a ray of light, as the end is characterized by ambiguities. The reader has
to decide if the couple will make it or not. Still, one thing is certain – the stubborn belief
into either one idea will not work. Neither the past nor contemporary culture is without
flaws. Bobbie Ann Mason created two characters that embody the prototype of
tradition and history. Norma Jean, the representative of a belief only in progress without
acknowledging the past, has ambition, but no goal and that is her problem – she does
not know what she’s striving for and so she keeps on going and loses her identity on the
way. Leroy, who represents the wish for a society that lives by traditional values, has a
goal, but he has no ambition to move on and to improve and that keeps him from
fulfilling it– he is trying to save his marriage, but just like the log house it is only an
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idea, a miniature model in his head and so he is destined to fail. Only if they both can
accept that blending the best of both ideas will result in a better life for both of them,
they will succeed. Therefore, Norms Jean’s and Leroy’s marriage becomes an allegory
of what happens when tradition and contemporary culture clash. The couple, which is
the smallest unit in a community, gives evidence what could happen to a society that
neglects its history. If there is no compromise the dissolution is final.
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Works Cited
Blythe, Hal and Charlie Sweet. “Mason’s ‘Shiloh’. Explicator 61.2 (2003): 114-7.
Blythe, Hal and Charlie Sweet. “The Ambiguous Grail Quest in ‘Shiloh’”. Studies in
Short Fiction 32.2 (1995): 223-226.
Brinkmeyer, Robert H., Jr. “Finding One’s History: Bobbie Ann Mason and
Contemporary Southern Literature.” Southern Literary Journal 19.2 (1987):
20-33.
Henning, Barbara. “Minimalism and the American Dream: ‘Shiloh’ by Bobbie Ann
Mason and ‘Preservation’ by Raymond Carver.” Modern Fiction Studies
35(1989): 689-98.
Lyons, Bonnie and Bill Oliver. “An Interview with Bobbie Ann Mason”. Contemporary
Literature 32.4 (1991): 449-70.
Mason, Bobbie Ann. Shiloh and Other Stories. New York: Harper & Row, 1982. 1-16.
Rothstein, Mervyn. “An Interview with Bobbie Ann Mason”. New York Times
Magazine. 15 May, 1988. 50 +.
Thompson, Terry. “Mason’s ‘Shiloh’. Explicator 54.1 (1995): 54-8
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