Gender, Independence, and Power Theme Analysis

After Leroy’s trucking accident, his wife Norma Jean becomes their family’s breadwinner, and their gender roles begin to shift. While Leroy is homebound, making crafts and dreaming about homemaking, Norma Jean is out working, lifting weights, taking night classes, and developing an independent life. This shift in gender roles benefits Norma Jean, who becomes empowered to leave an unfulfilling marriage and seek a better life. But it creates tremendous anxiety in Leroy, who feels emasculated and unable to picture a future for himself, preferring to dwell in a mythical past. Set in the early 1980s, the story suggests that the era of women’s liberation often affected men and women differently, making men feel insecure or anxious about their roles while allowing women to chase new, independent lives.

Right off the bat, the story establishes several ways in which Norma Jean and Leroy’s gender roles have reversed. In the past, whenever Leroy was home from his trucking job, Norma Jean performed the role of a traditional wife: she would stay at home with him, cooking all his favorite foods. But now that he’s home for good, she’s no longer acting like a housewife: she’s constantly away at work, earning money while Leroy recovers. And whenever she is home, she makes her own favorite foods and she spends time on her hobbies while neglecting the housework. Norma Jean’s new hobbies emphasize her shifting role. Her passion for bodybuilding (a pastime that is traditionally gendered male) signals her commitment to strength and independence. And her writing class shows that she’s trying to finally find her own voice rather than saying or doing what she feels is expected of her.

Leroy, meanwhile, is having an opposite experience. His trucking job required strength and independence, and he has spent much of his life alone on the road while handling a dangerous rig. But his injury has confined him to the home—he can no longer earn a living, he’s physically weak, and he spends his days pining for his absent spouse, placing him in a position that would be traditionally considered feminine. Underscoring this sense of emasculation are Leroy’s new hobbies: to pass the time, he gets into needlepoint, string art, and macramé—craft projects that are traditionally gendered female. Furthermore, he often daydreams about the log cabin he wants to build for Norma Jean, showing how his thoughts have turned to homemaking. It’s Norma Jean, not Leroy, who seems to have independent ambitions outside of marriage.

These shifting gender roles make Norma Jean feel powerful, freeing her to chase the things she’s always wanted out of life. For example, Norma Jean begins talking to Leroy more excitedly about her job at the cosmetics counter of the local pharmacy. While this is a traditionally feminine job, it gives her the confidence and independence of a breadwinner. This is apparent when she boasts to Leroy about her ability to stand behind the counter all day on her “strong feet,” framing the job as physical and demanding and drawing attention to her strength and endurance. In another scene that shows Norma Jean coming into her own power, she tells Leroy that his name means “the king.” When Leroy sheepishly asks if he’s still the king of the house, Norma Jean deflects his question and brags that her own name is derived from the Normans, powerful 11th-century conquerors. It’s clear from this interaction that Leroy is not the king of the house; Norma Jean is in charge now. And she finally uses her power at the end of the story when she walks away from Leroy as he’s pleading with her not to end their marriage. This shows that she feels free to simply walk away from a conversation—and a marriage—that doesn’t suit her anymore.

While their shifted roles allow Norma Jean to claim her independence and create a new life, this role reversal emasculates Leroy. In one incident, his mother-in-law Mabel mocks him for doing needlepoint, and he insists that “all the big football players on TV” also needlepoint. This is an improbable claim, but by invoking an icon of masculinity—a professional football player—he shows that he’s defensive and insecure about his own masculinity. In another moment, Norma Jean suggests that he apply for a bunch of jobs that he physically can’t do anymore, such as working at the lumberyard. This makes him feel useless—especially when Norma Jean points out her own ability to stand up all day at work. To make himself seem capable, Leroy insists that he’s going to build Norma Jean a cabin, which is both physically implausible and a backhanded admission that he’s actually focused on their home now, not on finding a job. Since Leroy is uncomfortable and emasculated in his new role, he has trouble imagining his future. He envisions only implausible scenarios, including building them a log cabin—a style of house that Norma Jean finds repellent. Leroy’s fixation on building an antiquated log cabin shows his desire to return to a past in which Norma Jean still loved him and he was still the man of the house. But the story makes clear that this log cabin will not get built, suggesting that their new roles are here to stay.