American Literature

    A mothers choices are never easy. In Shiloh, Mabel Beasley tries to help so much that she drives a wedge between Norma Jean and the past, the real world, and her husband, Leroy. In The Leap, Anna Avalon chooses the life of her child and herself over her husband. Ironically, both Norma Jean and Anna Avalon end up losing their husbands with their children.

    Mabel is the antagonist. She is a living, breathing, relentless reminder of all of the events that led to Norma Jeans marriage to Leroy. Even though the marriage in itself may not have been the mistake that Mabel believed it to be, Norma still seems- with her mother playing puppetteer- to bear her husband as an albatross until she finally waves her arms in Shiloh as if she herself will fly away.

    Flying may have been scary to Mabel, but it was second nature to Anna Avalon. As she soared over the past, the real world, and her husband, Anna seems to be the protagonist, the phoenix to Mabel, the crotchety crow rummaging mournfully through the ashes to devour any remnants of life. Anna holds three audiences captive a circus tent of patients, her adoring second husband and daughter, and the reader. She is the protagonist standing brave and solitary at center stage. She is happiest there. We are made aware of this when she saves the narrators life during a house fire and paradoxically smiles as she propels herself over the flames with her child. The narrator sees heroism in two matters which seem- at first glance- to be simple survival of the body and survival of the soul.

    The mothers are as different as night and day. Mabel never lived her own life- but has some desire to live through her daughter, to fix the grave injustice which resulted in her daughters embarrassing pregnancy. This injustice could have had its roots in any number of causes, but Mabel believes in only one Leroy, Norma Jeans husband. As unforgivable as a premarital pregnancy was, losing the child- the very reason for her marriage to the man that her mother disapproved of so heartily- was the card Normas mother, Mabel, would play whenever she did not get her way.

    Mabel sat relaxed as she related the account of the dachshund that gnawed away a childs legs and killed it. She expounds, presumably warning Norma about her husband rather than trying to reveal her nature Datsuns are like that. Theyre jealous dogs. Theyll tear a place to pieces if you dont keep your eyes on them (Mason 7). It seems an innocent enough comment, but Mabel is pointing at her daughter as the cause of the babys death. Although her daughter could not have prevented the childs death, seeing her son lifeless and limp and heavy like a sack of flour is no easier for Norma Jean to shake off than her mothers obvious accusatory reference. (Mason 3). 

    Mabel named Norma Jean after the real name of Marilyn Monroe. Glamor and a flawless appearance are what she idolizes. A man named Leroy does not fit the bill. Now that he is jobless, hes a real winner. When he returns and realizes the predicament of living with his wife again and trying to live with his mother-in-laws visits, Leroy begins to talk about a new life, about building a log cabin- a permanent place for him and Norma Jean to start over. Mabel eventually stops belittling the idea and merely sets her coffee cup down on the blueprints in passive disapproval. The rugged terrain of Shiloh is her idea of better days- long before she had Norma Jean, her perpetual disappointment.

    On the other hand, Anna Avalon is selfless, admirable, and spirited. The heroes of young children  are often costumed, good-looking, men and women with amazing abilities- people that they have watched every Saturday morning as they save the world. It must have been surreal for the narrator to fly with Superwoman. It must have been more surprising yet to look up and see that the Superwoman whisking you away from danger is none other than your own half-naked mother wearing pearls.

    Anna never complained and never challenged lifes ability to provide her with more and better opportunities. Her daughter writes that the inability to read remains the greatest difficulty of her blindness there is no one to read to her (Erdrich 109).  Annas sadness if focused more on her personal lack of companionship than the loss of her husband. Whether it is a defense technique of avoidance or Annas acceptance of more death, the narrators cursory, quirky, perhaps even unconscious, condemnation of her mother, make the great Anna Avalon the bad guy, the begrudging antagonist. The narrator of The Leap returns to play the hero to her mother for once Annas daughter says this in a way- that her purpose was to return from her failed life to read long into the dark if I must (109). It would seem that the narrator has been living in the dark of her mothers shadow but cannot bear to cast the Wonder Woman dreams away. The harsh truth is that we can only be human and look even more fallible next to the saints.

    If you were not properly introduced to Annas character, then you might assume that the irony of progressing from playing blind to actually becoming blind was fates commentary on her Oedipal choices. The ability to let your husband go in a split-second decision and not look back is depicted as heroic, as is the mothers never-look-back approach to courting another man while recovering from the unfortunate accident that killed her husband.

    The difference in the reader perception of the two mothers lies in the depiction and the ability to read between the printed lines. Mabel is a nagging high-and-mighty dowager, and Anna is the Virgin Mary figure. Why Because the daughters told the reader what to think, we see them through that narrow window. Norma Jean and Anna are both survivors of loss. Norma Jean literally pretends it never happened, and Anna moves on without a second thought. The reader can sit idly by and criticize both courses of action, but both short stories clearly illustrate one point in death there are no survivors. Sitting beside the cemetery in Shiloh, frantically trying to reach Norma Jean through the haze of people obscuring her from his reach, Mabel finally succeeds to help Norma Jean bury all of her humanity in Shiloh. Be careful what you wish for.