The Character of Norma Jean in ShiloNorma Jean Moffit is a major character in Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shilo" who undergoes a profound, yet subtle change. At the age of eighteen she had to marry the man who impregnated her and, in a cruel twist of fate, the little girl suddenly died of cot death. Now, at age 34, she is ready to have the life she feels she was always meant to have, yet she is stuck in a loveless marriage with a man whose interests are opposite to hers. Her decision to leave her husband, Leroy, at the end of the story seemed a long time coming, and various aspects of her character revealed that desire. These aspects of her character were her devotion to self-improvement, her inability to communicate with her husband, and her apparent unhappiness that Leroy had returned home for good. From the beginning of the story, Norma Jean is portrayed as a woman who continually seeks to improve herself. He takes the opportunity of Leroy's rehabilitation from the accident to start bodybuilding. After the body building class is over, he takes an exam...