Shiloh Season

In the beginning chapter, the author briefly summarizes the events of the first novel, Shiloh, to illustrate Marty’s internal conflict over his recent decision to blackmail Judd. Far from slowing down the narrative, this exposition actually functions to create suspense, introduce the novel’s main conflict, and highlight the theme of Discerning Right from Wrong, which will play a central role in the novel’s structure and message. In these early chapters, Marty feels conflicted because he blackmailed Judd and is now keeping this fact a secret from everyone, even his own family:

What my folks don’t know—what nobody knows except me and Judd Travers—is how the only way I got Judd to let me keep his dog was that I saw him shoot a deer out of season. A doe it was, too. And when he knew I could report him to the game warden—I would have, too—he said I could keep Shiloh if I kept my mouth shut about the doe and if I worked for him two solid weeks (5).

While Marty’s narration candidly reveals this series of events and marks him as a reliable narrator, psychological tension arises from the fact that he chooses to keep his arrangement with Judd a secret. His admission simultaneously acts as an essential summary of the first novel and propels the current story forward, foreshadowing further troubles to come because of his decision. The issue also highlights the author’s willingness to craft complex scenarios that have no clear moral solution. While Marty knows that it is wrong to keep secrets from his family and to engage in blackmail, his motivations for doing so are in accordance with the highest form of ethics, for his only goal is to keep Shiloh safe from Judd’s abuse. As the story unfolds, Marty’s internal conflict keeps building, raising the question of whether Marty will gain the courage to tell the truth, or if other characters will find out about his actions from a different source.

As Marty’s narration tells the story, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor employs a casual tone and idiomatic expressions to establish his distinct West Virginia dialect. For instance, Marty frequently uses nonstandard grammar in assertions such as, “That dog always finds something […] new he ain’t smelled” (2) and, “[W]hen a man’s got children, he’s got to look out for them” (6). These casual phrases create a sense of verisimilitude and make Marty’s character more accessible. The first-person perspective allows the author to showcase Marty’s informal syntax, word choice, and phrasing, which indicate his family’s rural upbringing. The author also injects moments of humor and conveys Marty’s efforts to adjust his speaking habits to better fit his teacher’s recommendations. For example, when Miss Talbot explains to Marty that he should use proper grammar in academic settings, he begins to correct himself, consciously suppressing his urge to use “ain’t” and replacing it with “isn’t” in order to conform to his teacher’s wishes. These subtler details create a nuanced impression of a boy who is eager to learn, grow, and improve, and his straightforward narration also crafts a linguistic portrait of his everyday life and ideas.

While Marty’s earnest desire to do the right thing drives the majority of the plot, Judd’s cruelty, selfishness, and moments of violence render him the clear antagonist of the novel, and his actions are often designed to thwart Marty’s wishes or bring him harm in one form or another. For example, Judd stands as the antithesis of The Ethical Treatment of Animals, physically abusing his dogs and nearly running Marty and Shiloh over on the road. Judd also hunts on the Preston family land, engaging in illegal trespassing and potentially putting the family at risk with his unsafe handling of firearms while intoxicated. Although his intoxication likely impairs his judgment, Judd is still responsible for his hazardous behavior. With Judd’s increased drinking, the tension heightens because he could easily hurt or kill someone while hunting, as Marty’s family fears. In addition to worrying about his family’s safety, Marty also feels anxious about Shiloh’s well-being, and his anxiety is so pronounced that he dislikes the idea of “being gone a whole night, Shiloh at home without [him], and Judd Travers maybe out there in the dark” (13). These fears indicate that Judd looms large as a threatening presence in his imagination even when the man is nowhere nearby, and Marty’s worries also foreshadow the fact that Judd will indeed shoot at Marty and Shiloh in later chapters. The author therefore intensifies the external conflicts by establishing Judd as the unpredictable antagonist, and it is clear that the family’s fears about their volatile neighbor are not unfounded.

Marty’s nightmare is a symbolic message about his growing panic over Judd harming Shiloh, and it also highlights Marty’s empathy. Because Marty fought to save Shiloh from Judd’s abuse in the first novel and loves the dog as his companion, he cannot stand the idea of losing him. The author uses a nightmare from Marty’s subconscious mind to illustrate his overwhelming fears. The boy recounts his dream in an urgent tone, stating “Whew, I’m thinking. [Shiloh] is all right. […] Looks like a branch has fallen out of a tree, maybe, and then I see it’s not a stick at all, it’s a gun, and it’s pointed straight at Shiloh” (19). The short, terse description of the nightmare conveys Marty’s rising dread that Judd will hurt his dog, and the scene also foreshadows the fact that Judd one day take a shot at Shiloh. Significantly, Marty only imagines and fears Judd harming Shiloh or his sisters, but he doesn’t fear for himself; this pattern displays his empathy and his selflessness.