These Paths Don't Converge

The first thing that stood out to me in the story Shiloh was the genre. I got a bit of a feel of what it was going to be from the author's bio, but as soon as read the first sentence I knew I was in for a realistic fiction, white, middle class story. Much like Raymond Carver's stories, I knew going in that the conflict would most likely be internal or with character relationships. Both of these exist in Shiloh and thus character is also a big part of the analysis as you get a sense of each of the characters and how their relationships work. Leroy's injury has rendered him unable to continue his job and you can see him losing his sense of purpose as he does crafts, drives around aimlessly, and tries to grasp an impossible dream of a log cabin for his wife. Whereas Norma Jean has been moving on without him, she has her own job that she is very passionate about, she is body building, and going to school. Not only has she replaced him as the "man of the house" but all this time while Leroy has been away at work she has been becoming more and more independent.
We can see through this characterization the internal conflict going on in these two, even though they are outwardly getting along. Leroy has lost his purpose and is trying to rekindle the relationship he had with his wife now that their dynamic has changed, and he is trying to do this by designing and building this house for them. On the other hand Norma Jean is making decisions for herself, living her own life and is being held back by her mother (who is always looming over her) and Leroy or perhaps even her marriage. Going back to genre we can see given the authors bio that she rights feminist works, so it isn't a surprise to see a role reversal with Norma Jean and Leroy. Even with Leroy's last ditch effort to get them to "meet" somewhere, in this case Shiloh. The resolution shows that Norma Jean has gone too far down her own path (wish I had the word count to talk about this symbol) of independence for them to salvage their relationship.