Distractions in "Shiloh"

Distractions in “Shiloh”

Norma Jean’s constant working out and night-school classes are her ways of distracting herself from the sudden changes in her life that cause her to dislike the life she has. Leroy Moffitt’s truck accident, resulting in a leg injury, leads to his perpetual presence in his house with his wife. This is a major shift in their marriage because in years past Leroy was hardly ever home because of his job, and Norma Jean had enjoyed her independence and solitude while he was gone. While Leroy was optimistic about strengthening his relationship with his wife through spending more time with her when she was at home, Norma Jean only grew more annoyed with his constant presence and realized that she wanted to leave him. As a result of her annoyance with Leroy, Norma Jean uses exercise and other activities as a means of distraction to the growing distance between her and her husband.

The very first fact that we learn about Norma Jean is that she “is working on her pectorals” (1). While Leroy claims that his physical therapy inspired his wife to start working out, I believe that instead, his physical therapy was the start of his being at home all the time and this, in turn, prompted Norma Jean to divert her attention to working out and becoming a new woman. In a way to get out of the house and a break from her husband, Norman Jean begins to attend a body-building class. Throughout the entire short story she is working out, consistently lifting her dumbbells or swinging her barbell a few times. This theme continues throughout, all the way up until the very last scene. Even after Norma Jean says she wants to leave Leroy and she walks away, Leroy sees her waving her arms; “she seems to be doing an exercise for her chest muscles” (156).

In addition to exercising, Norma Jean starts taking a class at Paducah Community College as another diversion and reason to get out of the house and away from her husband. When her husband asks why she was taking night school, her response was, “It’s something to do” (91). It is obvious that Norma Jean is just desperate to find something to do to distract herself from the annoyances her husband brings. Norma Jean does not even want to talk to him because she always responds with short, abrupt answers, such as the example above. When Leroy brings up the suggestion of building a log cabin for her, Norma Jean quickly rejects him and tells him that it is a stupid idea.

It is apparent that Norma Jean is not happy with her husband staying at the house. Even Leroy notices it; he perplexedly observes, “Norma Jean is often startled to find Leroy at home, and he thinks she seems a little disappointed about it” (9). In the end, Leroy’s staying at home, although initially with the intention of improving their relationship, only pushes Norma Jean further away from her husband and leads to the end of their marriage. (512 words)

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

Devin Ingersoll
AP English-3
Analysis on “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
At first glance of “A Good man Is Hard to Find,” it appears to be that the grandmother is ignored and unappreciated by her family; as a result, the reader feels pity for her. However, in actuality, the grandmother acts in her own interest and disregards her family. Up until the arrival of the Misfit at the car accident, the grandmother’s selfish nature is masked by the initial impression that she is mistreated and disrespected by her own family.

From the very start, it appears to be that the grandmother’s family is extremely disrespectful to her; her son and daughter-in-law completely ignore her and refuse to respond to anything she says while the children are rude and talk back to her. When the grandmother was trying to show her son the newspaper article about the Misfit heading to Florida, her son acts as if she hadn’t said anything at all and continues to read what is in front of him. However, the grandmother’s sole intentions for showing her son the article were to persuade him of not going to Florida, but rather Tennessee, for their family vacation. The grandmother wanted to go to Tennessee to visit her “connections” (1). As the narrator says, “she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s [her son’s] mind” (1). To no avail, the grandmother attempts to manipulate her son and her daughter-in-law by planting the idea of guilt over losing their children to the Misfit. Even after she gives up on going to Tennessee for the vacation, the grandmother defies her son again by sneaking in her cat despite the fact that her son does not like to have the cat come along. To justify her disregard for her son she comes up with an absurd and unlikely hypothetical situation; she was worried the cat “might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself” (10). This obscure thought of the grandmother’s is O’Connor’s way of mocking the grandmother’s selfishness. O’Connor adds a tinge of sarcasm to yet another statement when she describes the grandmother’s perfectly put together outfit for the road trip; “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead in the highway will know at once that she was a lady” (12). Not only does this quote further mock the grandmother’s self-serving and superficial nature, but it also foreshadows the ending of the story.

When the Misfit came and the grandmother recognized who he was, she only cared about him not killing her; not once does she try to save her family—in fact, she even offers the Misfit one of her son’s shirts. Instead, the grandmother just repeatedly says, “You wouldn’t hurt a lady, would you?” (87). Although the grandmother had assumed herself to be a lady, she and the reader come to the realization at the end that she has not been a lady; rather, the grandmother had acted in selfish ways throughout the entire story. O’Connor uses the grandmother’s interaction with the Misfit to make both the grandmother and the reader recognize the grandmother’s true nature. At the point in which the grandmother is threatened with death by the Misfit’s gun, the grandmother begins to portray “good” qualities; she continuously encourages the Misfit to pray and finds herself repeating “Jesus” with the meaning that “Jesus will help you” (129). In spite of the grandmother’s pleads to not kill her, the Misfit still kills her and says exactly what O’Connor is trying to convey, “She would have been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (141). With this statement, O’Connor conveys the idea that human beings may have the tendency to act as good people only in times of desperate measures. (639)

How does the scene at Red Sammy's Barbecue advance the story toward its conclusion?

Why do you think the grandmother is never referred to as “their” grandmother or some other term that shows a sense of belonging to the family?

How would you respond to a reader who complained, "The title of this story is just an obvious platitude"?

The Everyday Use of Irony

The Everyday Use of Irony

As I glanced over the follow-up questions that came at the end of the short story and read through the side notes I had made, I realized that “Everyday Use” reeks of irony and contradictions. Virtually every word Dee, or Wangero, speaks has a tinge of condescension towards the very heritage that she supposedly values so much. Additionally, this heritage and culture that is “special” to her is merely based on the superficial and material aspects which in turn, cancel the fact that she values it at all.

Dee, from the instant she greets her mother and sister, up until the point of leaving, places herself above her family through her statements and her actions. Dee corrects her mother quickly on her new name; Dee says, “Not ‘Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!” and claims that “Dee” is dead (25). The mother recounts the memory that Dee hated the house that they had lived in and consequently was too ashamed to bring her friends over. However, when Dee arrived at the house with her Polaroid camera, she never took “a shot without making sure the house was included” (22). Initially, I, as the reader, thought that there had been a clear shift between Dee’s demeanor in the past and how it was then, yet various clues proved me wrong; Dee still had a distorted view of her heritage. She acts as if she cares about her heritage but in actuality she only cares about the physical proof of her heritage solely for materialistic and superficial purposes. This is apparent when Dee first greets her mother and sister; she said, “Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!”(21). Her difficulty with speaking the native language shows that Dee is not in touch with her heritage despite her belief that she is. Later on in the story, Dee tries to take the blanket that her mother and Bid Dee made. When her mother decides to not let Dee have it but rather let Maggie keep it, Dee becomes outraged and storms out of the house. In the midst of her hissy fit, Dee reveals her true colors as well as makes the most outrageously ironic statements of the entire story. Not only does Dee say that “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!...She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use,” but also says that Maggie and her mother do not understand their heritage (66). Dee’s statement is completely reversed and it is shocking to hear that Dee would even believe this absurd thought.

Wangero perceives valuing her heritage through turning ordinary items, according to Maggie and the mother, into valuables. But in reality, the essence of the heritage is shown through putting these items that were hand-made, such as the benches and the blanket, to everyday use. In this way, the title is suitable to the story; it portrays how real heritage is seen through “Everyday Use.” (483)