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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