It Just Happens Sometimes: Subverting Gender Roles in “Shiloh”

Bobby Ann Mason’s “Shiloh,” is seen as a masterpiece of feminist short-fiction and it is through this prism that the author skews the traditional love story and readers’ understanding of gender roles. The story is named after a Civil War battlefield that serves as the setting for the final scene in the story where Norma Jean and Leroy face the end of their marriage. The story was published in 1982, a time in which the second wave of feminist politics was facing its most decided opposition, other women who claimed to be feminist but strongly…