Shiloh by Bobbie Ann Mason Essay

Paul Newman once said, “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked” (74). There is no such thing as the perfect relationship, however, being involved in a healthy relationship is essential for a person to feel valued, safe, and happy. Unfortunately, in the situation of Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour,” include extreme examples of unhealthy relationships. The essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” shares painful experiences of Sundberg’s physical and emotional abusive relationship with her husband Caleb, while “The Story of an Hour,” shares a rare reaction of a married woman, Louise Mallard, who explores her emotions cautiously when hearing about the death of her husband. Each woman faces their own prison created by their husbands. The two marriages represent the figurative meaning of doors being locked in a marriage. Both pieces of literature convey the theme of confinement by using the literary devices of foreshadowing, imagery, and conflict.

After Shiloh the South would never smile again. Known originally as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, The Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle fought in North America up to that time. Pittsburg Landing was an area from where the Yankees planned to attack the Confederates who had moved from Fort Donelson to Corinth, Mississippi. The North was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant and the South by General Albert Sydney Johnston.

The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age describe an era of prosperity and entertainment. With fancy parties, cars, houses, and a multitude of wealth, people go about their day with frivolity. However, not all were willing to accept the social changes that goes with the 1920s. One such novel that addresses the liberal era and some reluctance is Eudora Welty’s novel Delta Wedding. Beginning with Laura McRaven travelling to visit her extended family, the Fairchilds, at their plantation in the Mississippi Delta, she experiences the turmoil surrounding her departed mother’s family: the uproar of the oncoming wedding, the tension between her aunts, and the difficulties one must face in becoming a Fairchild. Despite Laura playing the main role of the novel, Welty uses her minor character Robbie Reid to explore the compact Southern family and the polarity between precedent archetypes and the liberal woman of the 1920s.

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

In “Shiloh,” by Bobbie Ann Mason, the reader is able to glimpse the beginning of the end of a marriage. Mason allows the audience to see the different strings unravel as the character’s separates from each other, emotionally, mentally and physically. In “Shiloh,” a woman’s husband, Leroy, has been in an accident and is no longer able to continue with his work of truck driving. The woman, Norma Jean, is unable to cope with her husband being home all of the time and begins to find ways to get away from him and her overbearing mother, Mabel. Throughout the story we see Leroy’s struggle to stay with his wife and Norma Jean’s struggle to break away from her husband. As Leroy and Norma’s marriage continues to drift apart, Mabel

At first, John from “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Leroy Moffitt from “Shiloh” seem completely different from each other. John is a physician who only believes in what he can physically see, while Leroy is a man lost in his own life, looking for a purpose. John’s wife is very dependent on him, whereas Leroy’s wife Norma Jean has her own life. However, the two seem more alike than first appears. If we compare John and Leroy, we can see both stories demonstrate how husbands can drive their wives away by being too restrictive of them.

Alabama, known as the “Heart of Dixie” or “The Cotton State,” joined the union as the 22nd state in the year of 1819 of December. This state is located in the southern part of the United States and its capital is Montgomery. During the 16th century, Europeans reached the Alabama area and about 10,000 years ago, American Indians was engaged in the area. Alabama got its name after the Alabama River. An Indian tribe lived in the territory around 1540 and spelled it as “Alibamo.” The origin of the name Alabama is thought to come from a combination of two Choctaw words; Alba and Amo. In Choctaw, "Alba" means vegetation, herbs, plants and "Amo" means gatherer or picker. "Vegetation gatherers" would be an apt description for the Alabama Indians who

Throughout one’s lifetime growth occurs, and the trials and tribulations they face shape their opinions and beliefs of the world. The Death of a Confederate Colonel, written by Pat Carr, shows the hardships Saranell Birdsong, a young girl, experiences and how she conquered her struggles during the Civil War period. Though Saranell’s pain was enough to ruin her emotionally, she was able to overcome and change into a more mature young girl. It is only through tragedy that true growth can take place.

The log cabin is connected to the next symbol of the story, Shiloh, the Civil War Battle site. Mabel, Norma Jean’s mother, is constantly trying to talk her daughter and son-in-law to go visit the town from basically the second

Nina Silber’s historical analysis in The Romance of Reunion, takes an in depth look at the groundwork that was behind the reconstruction of the nation after the Civil War. While most historians refer to the political agenda behind fixing the segregated nation, Silber takes a moderately different approach and focuses more on reunification, rather than reconstruction. Her argument is made very clear throughout the book and through the use of numerous illustrations that were developed during this time period, Silber created an approach to the situation that generally focused on the opposing views of gender roles within the North and the South.

In the story "Shiloh", by Bobbie Ann Mason, characters Leroy and Norma Jean go through changes in their life as each begin to discover what their real identity is, and what it is they actually want out of their marriage. For some people this may take years, and for others they may never realize it, while merely trying to grasp on to the past, or the way they think things should have turned out. In this short story, Mason uses a couple in their thirties to portray people who are experiencing these types of changes, and depict how they deal with the situation. In the end, the couple is faced with dealing with the inevitable fact that they indeed cannot save their marriage; it was a battle they could not win. However, before the story

Think of what you would be like if you lived in another era. Perhaps you were fighting in a battle during the Civil War, living through WWII, or working as an immigrant in the United States in the early 1900’s. You would certainly be much different than you are today. The experiences that people go through shape who they become. In the short story “War Party” by Louis L’amour, the main character, Ma, is making her way across the frontier with her husband and children in the mid-1800’s. When tragedy strikes, she is forced to take on an even more challenging role. Because she is living in this difficult time period, Ma has to be strong-willed, observant, and wise in order for her and her children to survive.

Newlywed couple, Robert and Elizabeth Fernea, stepped into their little house in El-Nahra on a stormy night in 1956. The house was dirty; birds perched on the straw and leaf covered roof, and books, clothing, dishes, and paper was scattered throughout the room. As she spent several days trying to turn the mud house into a home that she could share with her husband, Elizabeth was not looking forward to beginning married life in a society thousands of miles away from home and with people whom she would have a hard time communicating with due to a language barrier. The change was for Bob, who was doing his doctoral research studies in this village. The western couple was quick to learn that their stay in this village would need them to adapt to the new culture and

“Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason is the story of the struggling marriage of a middle aged couple, Leroy and Norma Jean Moffitt. A series of events lead to the ultimate demise of the relationship, which seems to be out of control of the narrator, Leroy Moffitt. Why had his wife left him after over 25 years of marriage? In the end of the story Leroy self reflects, in an attempt to grasp an understanding, and doubts himself as a person. Various themes and symbols in the story lead the read to the answer to Leroy’s question. An answer that he also sees throughout the story, but chooses to ignore. The departure of Norma Jean Moffitt is no secret. In Bobbie Anna Masons “Shiloh” Norma Jean is compelled to leave her husband due to the transformation of

Everything changes when Marvin Macy the husband of Miss. Amelia from a whopping ten day marriage wanders back after a stint in the penitentiary down in Atlanta and he is nasty. His marriage to Miss. Amelia lasts only ten days, mainly because having married only to gain companionship she refuses to consummate the marriage. Disgusted by his attempts to seduce her, Miss. Amelia puts him out of the house. Macy leaves town vowing revenge and quickly returns to his old ways, robbing gas stations and supermarkets and becoming a suspect in a murder. He is eventually arrested and sentenced to serve time in a penitentiary near Atlanta. It is a tale that shows great depths of human emotion packed into a short into the deep south back in the day when a