Switching Places

The confusion of traditional gender roles in Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh” are critical to the outcome of the story.

The marriage worked at first because Leroy Moffit clearly held the role of the male in the relationship. He acted as the husband in the physical and emotional sense. As a truck driver, he was the only one in the family with a job, and the money he earned was subsequently used to support the family. Leroy bought Norma Jean gifts, like an “electric organ” to keep her happy and to treat her well. The story does not go into much detail, but we assume that he was in at least moderately good shape. As a typical male, he was also distant emotionally, as well as being distant physically.

Norma Jean also fulfills the typical female role in the family. She “would cook fried chicken… all his favorites” and would stay at home with the baby. She is docile and meek, illustrated by her mother’s catching her smoking. When her mother caught her smoking, she was highly embarrassed and is panicked and crying.

However, as time goes on, Norma Jean and Leroy start to switch their roles in the family. Leroy’s injury weakens him physically, and takes away his livelihood. The loss of his job is the catalyst that sets off the whole switching of roles. With Leroy out of a job, Norma Jean feels compelled to pick up the slack. She then finds herself a job to support the family. Once Norma Jean gets a job at the “Rexall Drugstore”, she feels compelled to better herself, physically and mentally. Mentally, she starts going to night school in order to learn and get a better education. She also starts to play the organ that Leroy got her. She patiently and painstakingly teaches herself more and more complicated pieces, until she is finally a decent player. She also starts to work out, specifically on her pectoral muscles. Her working out in general seems to be out of character, but specifically working on her pectoral muscles is a strange action. She also starts to become the dominant personality in the household. She becomes more critical and abrasive, and sheds her quiet, meek persona for an outspoken and opinionated one.

While Norma Jean is drifting further and further towards the masculine end of the spectrum, Leroy is drifting towards the feminine side. His injury seems to demotivate him, and he spends his time at home lazing around. Instead of trying to find a job, he does needlepoint, something that Norma Jean points out “that’s what a woman would do.”

Who is to Blame?

Ann Tyler’s story Teenage Wasteland was an interesting and thought-provoking text. It dealt with the issue of a troubled adolescence, and through the main character Donny, showed how confusing a time adolescence can be. One of the most recurring themes that I noticed was the issue of blame. Blame was present throughout the whole story, and all of the characters were guilty of assigning blame at one point or another. Of course, for blame to be directed, there must first be a problem of which we are unsure of the answer. In Teenage Wasteland, in broadest terms, the problem was Donny. Donny’s slipping into bad behavior at the beginning of the text turned into a downright freefall at the conclusion. Throughout his adolescence, the question that everyone had in his or her mind is “Who or what is to blame?”

Most of the characters in Teenage Wasteland easily shrug off the blame onto the shoulders of others. The “blame game” starts out in the beginning of the text, when Donny’s grades start to slip. Donny’s teachers, who are not happy, with his performance, call in his parents for a conference. In this conference, the principal inherently accuses Daisy and Matt of poor parenting skills. Daisy, in particular, is befuddled. She has spent her whole life raising Donny, and everything has seemed to be fine up until now. Daisy rationally knows that Donny’s recent behavior is truly not all her fault, but her insecurities overpower any rationale that she might have. Cal is another character that likes to place blame on anyone other than himself. Cal, in fact, blames just about everyone; the school, the teachers, the parents, society; everyone except himself and Donny, that is. His immature eschewing of all responsibility has a negative effect on everyone in the book. Not only does it make Daisy and Matt feel even more worthless than they are, it angers the school and the administration. The worst effect, however, was on Donny. Donny clearly looks to Cal as a role model of sorts, but Cal does not live up to that role. Instead of encouraging Donny to be motivated and educated, Cal teaches Donny to place all blame on others and to make excuses for everything. In Teenage Wasteland, Cal almost encourages Donny’s excuses instead of questioning their legitimacy or why they even need to be made in the first place.

Ironically, the only person that should be internalizing the blame is the only one who is not. It is, ultimately, Donny’s fault that he has landed in such a bad situation. By shifting the blame onto other characters, he has shirked all responsibility and not grown as a person. He has not taken responsibility for his actions, and he therefore has not taken control of his own life. He has refused to truly “grow up” in the most meaningful sense. He seems to expect that life will be handed to him without any effort on his part. When he realizes that this is not true, his principles are shattered and he does not know how to react. By not taking responsibility, Donny loses his way. His obviously confused and irrational decision to run away at the end of the book is a sad ending to a sad story. Watching a teenage boy slip farther and farther down into the well of despair was a hard experience for all involved, especially his parents, and it is natural to try and find out the cause of this tragedy. However, in the end, it was Donny’s emotional immaturity that was to blame for the conclusion of the story.