Bobbie Ann Mason's Shiloh shows the relationship of a couple breaking apart. In the beginning of the story we see that their relationship is already strained giving off a heavy vibe in the story with them tiptoeing around each other. While they had married at the age of eighteen, they were in their thirties and felt as if they hardly knew each other anymore (366). Their baby, Randy, had died years ago of SIDS and because Leroy and Norma refused to talk about him, they started to drift. Leroy was a truck driver, but because of an accident, he now stays at home all day. This leaves Norma to be the breadwinner of the family, having a job and then enrolling into weightlifting class and night school because of the overbearing presence of her husband.
