Avoiding Salvation
...ime. Leroy was not working anymore and spending much more time with Norma Jean than in the past. Mason writes, “Leroy likes to lie on the couch and smoke a joint and listen to Norma Jean play ‘Cant Take My Eyes Off You’ and ‘I’ll Be Back.’ He is back again. After fifteen years on the road, he is finally settling down with the woman he loves. She is still pretty. Her skin is flawless. Her frosted curls resemble pencil trimmings.” For Leroy, being home constantly is a positive life change for him (Knorr, Jeff, Schell, Tim). As happy as Leroy seemed, he had lost his ability to be the “man” in the relationship. He had become an Anti-Hero; a character that is a victim of their own circumstances. Norma Lean has now become the “bread-bringer” of the house by working, going to school and house work while Leroy makes promises about building a log house but sits and smokes pot. All he has to do is muster up the motivation to do what ever he feels like but he decides to relay solely on Norma Jean. Norma Jean is proving the protagonist in this story of the as the character that is torn between trying to stick out the relationship or go her own way without Leroy. A literary criticism by G. O. Morphew describes well the struggle that Norma Jean is going through; “Because she is so dominated by her mother, Norma Jean skirmishes as much with Mabel as with Leroy in her struggle to free herself from a marriage she no longer wants. The struggle is long and difficult because the tradition of the sanctity of marriage in this culture is old and strong” (Downhome Feminists in Shiloh and Other Stories). Through this description, the reader gets a broad view of the internal conflict that Norma Jean is having when trying to deal with her marriage. Even though she has been exposed to higher education, Norma Jean acts almost childish when trying to deal with her problems. Instead of directly communicating with Leroy she took up activities that pointedly do not include Leroy. She tries to give Leroy a list, “Things you could do,” as her way of making a move at home. A large portion of Norma Jeans’ anxiety seems to be based on the stress issues caused by her mother constantly badgering her about her life and her husband not living up to promised standards. Her mother suggests that they take a trip up to Shiloh suggesting that, “A little change is what she needs.” Now Norma Jean can deal with only Leroy, she can win her own battle when she announces that she is leaving him. It is very human of Norma Jean to want to fight her battles when and where she feels like it; when a person feels like doing something they will do it. It i...