In "Shiloh," Norma Jean embraces and wants to be a part of
the future, while Leroy retreats into and wants to reclaim the
past.
The two live in a changing environment. Their world
is changing from rural to urban. Norma Jean tries to better herself. She exercises and
takes a class at the local college. She wants a contemporary house. Leroy dreams of
building an old fashioned log cabin. The two are heading in different
directions.
They even exchange gender roles. Norma Jean
becomes the main earner in the home, rejects her mother, and even drives her and her
husband to Shiloh near the end of the story. Leroy, the truck driver, lets his wife
drive him around, stays at home keeping busy doing crafts usually performed by women,
doesn't work, and sides with Norma Jean's mother, the
in-law.
Their marriage is as dead as the soldiers buried
at Shiloh surrounding them when Norma Jean tells him she wants to leave
him.
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