Character sketch for Shiloh In Bobbie Ann Mason’s story “Shiloh” she presents the character of Norma Jean as having a strong personality but an emptiness deep within. Norma Jean is presented as a strong character on the outside in the opening of the story. “She lifts three-pound dumbbells to warm-up, the progresses to a twenty-pound barbell.”(Mason p. 46). However as the story progresses she exhibits the emptiness which she feels. “One day Leroy arrives home from a drive and finds Norma Jean in tears.” (Mason p. 50). Norma Jean feels an emptiness toward her deceased child, her husband, and also her mother. Her emptiness t