In the following excerpt, Morphew examines the qualities of Mason's heroines: their socio-eco nomic status among the rural poor of Kentucky and their feminist struggle to achieve "breathing space in their relationships with their men."

Much has been written about the loss of identity experienced by the characters of Bobbie Ann Ma son's short stories; the people of Shiloh and Other Stories in particular seem to be confused by the onslaught of pop culture, the media, and other forces of social change. The males, perhaps, seem the more affected, and more ineffectual in their attempts to seize or to create some new center for their lives. The women, at least most of them, react to their frustration and discontent more forcefully; they are or become downhome feminists, and the degree of their feminist responses within their cul ture is largely determined by education, by econom ic empowerment...