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Randy
Virgil Mathis is a “boastful policeman” with whom Leroy used to shoot pool years ago. Virgil recently led a drug bust that uncovered over $10,000 worth of marijuana in the back room of a local bowling alley. Throughout the story, Leroy—who regularly smokes marijuana, ostensibly to manage some of the pain from his trucking accident—experiences recurring mental images of Virgil proudly seizing the drugs. Leroy’s fantasies of Virgil’s drug bust may be related to his own insecurities about the stability of his marriage or his reliance on marijuana to dull his pain.
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Virgil Mathis Character Timeline in Shiloh
The timeline below shows where the character Virgil Mathis appears in Shiloh. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Shiloh
...“crazy and small” his town has come to seem over the years. He thinks of Virgil Mathis , a policeman Leroy used to shoot pool with. Virgil recently led a giant drug...
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...the soldiers who died there, he smiles, thinking instead of a board game and of Virgil Mathis ’s raid on the bowling alley in his town.
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