Throughout the tale of "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason the many social, cultural, and gender issues mold this story. Socially, Leroy is doing illegal drugs to subdue his problems. Culturally, Leroy is no longer comfortable with the fact that he is not providing the main source of income for his family. Gender, the most important issue in the story; now that Leroy is home all the time he is upset by the fact that his wife Norma Jean is never there and that he is not the center of her life at this point.
             In the course of this story Leroy has had an ongoing problem with drugs. For example " as Leroy lights up a joint and lies on the couch, laughing to himself about Mabel catching him at it... (Pg 71)." Whenever he is feeling down he turns to the drugs. As the story progresses he continues to use the drugs more and more. The most common problem with Leroy and his drug abuse is the fact that the drugs do not solve the problem they just delay it. They make him oblivious to his problems with Norma Jean and become part of the reason forcing them apart in the end.
             Leroy, he had an accident; this causes him to go on disability and he can no longer drive his truck, before this Leroy was a truck driver who was rarely ever home. When he was home though Norma Jean spent all her time with him. An example of this " Before his accident, when Leroy came home he used to stay in the house with Norma Jean, watching TV . . . Now he is alone much of the time (pg70)." Being that he is home virtually all of the time now he has realized that his wife has found a life for herself and that it does not include him. This is a lot of what is pulling them apart. It's not that she doesn't care for Leroy anymore it's just he's been away and in such long periods of time that she has found things to keep her occupied. Now that Leroy is home she can't just drop everything and be his slave. Th
             ...