Shiloh Analysis

It’s clear that Norma Jean has changed in ways that make it very difficult for her to stay with Leroy.

If you were a marriage counselor, and Norma Jean and Leroy came to you for help, what would you suggest to them? Would you suggest they stay together? Do you think this relationship should be saved? Write your journal entry referencing the story. Be sure to write a minimum of 400 words. If I were Norma Jean and Leroy’s marriage counselor I would probably suggest for them to spend some time apart then rethink before just completely getting divorced.

The narrator states that, “Leroy had been home in Kentucky for three months, and his leg is almost healed, but the accident frightened him and he does not want to drive any more long hauls. He is not sure what to do next.

” Him and Norma Jean went from barely seeing each other to seeing each other way more and many times this can cause grief on a relationship because you’re not used to that. So in that case, I would suggest that they say together. Norma Jean started to feel locked up in her marriage.

At the end of the story the narrator states that Norma Jean said, “–you won’t leave me alone. ” She says this while crying after Leroy ask, “You and me could start all over again.

Right back at the beginning. ” Norma Jean said that, “We have started all over again, and this is how it turned out. ” She says that she “feels eighteen again” and that “can’t face that all over again. ” Referring to all the trauma and sadness that they went through when she got pregnant at eighteen and the loss of their son Randy at such an early age. Such trauma usually causes strife in a relationship.

After starting a body building class Norma Jean starts to have a new leash on life, feeling brand new.

This usually causes trouble as well. I think that the another problem with their relationship is a lack of communication. Things “have changed” in their home, and Leroy feels like Norma “is disappointed about” Leroy being home. He knows that ” she closes her eyes” when they make love, and that he does not know how to connect with her. When he came home from being hurt they should have sat and discussed what their next move would be. Whether e would work again or not.

But instead everything was pushed under the rug. I know from personal experiences that on numerous occasions lack of communication is a major problem in a relationship. The death of their son is also a major cause of separation. Norma Jean and Leroy never discus his death and hoe much they are hurting they just sweep it under the rug. The death of a child can cause a lot of pain and even more if it goes without being talked about.

So really if they would not work on the communication problem then no their marriage could not be saved at all.