Shiloh Character Analysis

The first character that I will discuss is Mabel, which is Norma Jean's mother in the story "Shiloh." Mabel is very controlling and pushy when it comes to her daughters life. She is also very straight forward with her daughter about what she has done wrong in her life and what she should be doing with it now. Mabel has very strong roots from the south since that is where she grew up. She takes pride in being from the south and part of the confederacy even though the Civil War was fought almost one hundred years before this story was written. With Mabel being proud of being apart of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she felt like her life needed to be almost perfect so she didn't approve of how her daughter was living her life.

The next character is Leroy, I think that he is laid back and has a determined mindset but will never actually start what he says he will do. He doesn't communicate very well with people and is stoned most of the time. Leroy wants his marriage to Norma Jean to survive and he is trying to do what she wants. Part of him and Norma Jean both being bad communicators made it so neither of them talked about the death of their child. Leroy doesn't know a lot about
She is very emotional and confused about what she wants and about what is going on. Norma Jean is used to not having Leroy around very much when he was truck driving but he is now home all the time and she doesn't know what to think of it and wants him to find another job. She is very distant with what she is thinking. Norma Jean is driven by having independence, "In the mornings, Norma Jean disappears, leaving a cooling place in the bed" (236). Norma Jeans relates to history differently than the other two characters because she strives to gain her mothers acceptance and wants her to be happy with the way she is living her life. She wouldn't have been as upset for being caught smoking if she didn't care about her mothers