What are some symbols and examples of irony in "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason?

In Bobbie Ann Mason’s story of a disintegrating marriage, the Shiloh battlefield that gives the story its name is one important symbol. Another key symbol is the house that Leroy wants to build but can never apply himself to finishing. The house is also connected to the story’s central irony, which concerns the disconnection between husband and wife. Because Leroy does not understand Norma Jean, his plans do not bring them closer together or resolve the problems in their marriage. Instead, his plans drive them farther apart and contribute to her decision to leave him.

Leroy and Norma Jean visit the battlefield memorial as a second honeymoon that will bring them closer together. The battlefield symbolizes the rift in their marriage, as it commemorates the US Civil War.

Leroy, whose disability keeps him from working at his usual job of long-distance trucker, is confined within the couple’s house. He tries to expand his craft activities into a larger project of building a house. He tells himself that Norma Jean wants the security of a house and that finishing it will resolve problems. Instead, a house represents confinement to her. As the house symbolizes different things to each of them, it also stands for the gap between them. The house’s symbolism figures into Leroy’s final realization of his inadequate understanding.

It occurs to him that building a house out of logs is similarly empty—too simple. And the real inner workings of a marriage, like most of history, have escaped him. Now he sees that building a log house was the dumbest idea he could have had.

The irony of the story is connected with their miscommunications and differing perceptions of marriage. He believes that staying home has been good for them, but she resents his constant presence. Norma Jean says that "in some ways, a woman prefers a man who wanders." This realization further leads her to see that she does not want to live with him.

Identify the dramatic irony, allusion, paradox, and ambiguity in "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason.

At seeming to be about marriage, Bobbie Ann Mason’s "Shiloh" (1982) is also a story about the death of the American Dream as well as the cost of modernization. Mason uses irony and paradox to capture the sadness and uncertainty that accompany such monumental, irreversible changes.

One of the most interesting and subtle examples of dramatic irony is that even as Leroy takes up construction and assembly as a hobby, his own marriage is disintegrating. At home on temporary disability after he broke his hip in a truck-driving accident, Leroy takes to building things from “craft kits.” He begins to pay attention to “how things are put together” and wants to build an actual log cabin for his wife, Norma Jean. Leroy also feels that he finally has the time to work on his home after all those years on the road, when reality flew past him “like scenery.” However, Leroy does not realize that it is his marriage that has already flown the coop, never to return. Norma Jean is not interested in his endeavors or his dreams of building a log house. Leroy notes that she seems “disappointed” in him, but he cannot tell why. Ironically, the more Leroy attempts to salvage their marriage, the faster it crumbles.

In a paradox, tradition and modernity coexist uncomfortably in the relationship between Leroy and Norma Jean. Leroy wants to build them an old-fashioned, rustic log house, but Norma Jean dreams of a modern house in the “new sub-divisions,” or suburbs. Similarly, Leroy wants to be “the king around here,” as is suggested by his name, and to maintain traditional gender roles, but Norma Jean lifts weights and goes out to work, assuming Leroy’s masculinity. However, a deeper paradox lies in the fact that Norma Jean, whose outlook seems more modern than Leroy’s, judges Leroy for his “feminine” occupations and states that a woman "prefers a man who wanders."

Another paradox is that while both Leroy and Norma Jean want to pursue the American Dream in their own ways and rewrite their future—Leroy through his construction projects and Norma Jean through her self-improvement exercises—they haven’t fully processed their past. The loss of their infant son, Randy, fifteen years ago still hangs heavily between them. While Leroy says he has almost “forgotten” the child, it is clear Norma Jean has not. Paradoxically, Leroy wants to rebuild a future with Norma Jean without acknowledging and resolving the past.

Norma Jean’s name, of course, is an allusion to the actress Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was born Norma Jean Baker and committed suicide at the age of thirty-six. Thus, the figure of Norma Jean in the story is imbued with a sense of sadness. Her name also foreshadows a possible tragic end. Like Monroe in real life, Norma Jean in the story constantly tries to reinvent herself, taking up weightlifting, various courses, and elaborate cooking projects. The subtext is that Norma Jean is in search for a lost, wholesome self. This self is the promise of the American Dream, where everything is achievable with effort. However, the story suggests that the promise of the Dream is hollow.

Thus, it is fitting that the story’s biggest ambiguity lies in the unknown fate of Norma Jean. Towards the end of the story Norma Jean and Leroy visit the historical site of Shiloh, where Norma Jean tells Leroy their marriage is ending. Leroy, in a state of denial, fixates on a plan to win Norma Jean back, as she gets up and walks away, “towards the bluff of the river.” Leroy tries to follow her, his “bad” leg slowing him down. In the story’s last scene, Norma Jean has reached the Tennessee River.

Now she turns toward Leroy and waves her arms. Is she beckoning to him? She seems to be doing an exercise for her chest muscles. The sky is unusually pale—the colour of the dust ruffle Mabel made for their bed.

What happens to Norma Jean? Is she indeed calling Leroy to her? Why does she raise her arms, as if to dive into the river? The story leaves these questions unanswered. Some critics argue that the ambiguous ending suggests that Norma Jean commits suicide, especially since her name itself foreshadows such an outcome. However, I think Mason leaves things a little more open-ended, suggesting that Leroy and Norma Jean are at the brink of a final, decisive transformation.

• The foremost dramatic irony in "Shiloh" is found in the characterizations of Leroy and Norma Jean.  Disabled by an accident, he is the physically weaker of the two; his wife lifts weights and prides herself on her physical robustness. She works outside the home while he fills his days at home doing crafts, including needlepoint. Their gender roles are the reverse of what would be expected in the story's setting.
• The allusion to "all the big football players on TV do it" with regard to Leroy's needlepoint refers to 1970's NFL athlete Rosey Grier, a needlepoint aficionado who wrote a book about it.  
• The story's paradoxes seem to involve Norma Jean; though she loves music and writes a paper about it for her composition class, "she doesn't play the organ anymore." And when Norma Jean tells Leroy that she wants out of the marriage, she says "in some ways, a woman prefers a man who wanders."
• The story's conclusion is its most ambiguous feature.  Norma Jean seems to reverse her request for a divorce when she says "I don't know what I'm saying. Forget it," but she could also be talking about something else, since it is in the context of the confusion and despair she felt at eighteen.  It is not clear at the story's end whether their marriage will survive or end in divorce.