Mason mentions log cabins in the story so many times that it is possible to build the whole village of log cabins. While it’s clear throughout the whole story that Norma Jean doesn’t want to live in a log cabin, Leroy doesn’t want to give up this idea. He really dreams of building a log cabin for his wife. The cabin symbolizes marriage in the story. When he doesn’t know what else to say to make her want the cabin, he recedes from the fixed notion of building a home for Norma Jean.
For Leroy, building a log cabin from a kit is a projecting of his obsession with building other useless things from kits, which in a way demonstrates his childhood.
The desire to build a log cabin symbolizes the importance of the idea of home for Leroy, but at the same time, it’s a fantasy and one more sign of his lack of maturity.
Mabel asks Leroy and Norma Jean to visit Shiloh. For her, living in a log cabin is a reality. Leroy grabs on to his dreams of building the cabin with the same touching prehensility he grabs on to his wife. Nothing changes his mind, even the straightforward words of Mabel and Norma Jean, who tell him that it is unpleasant living in a cabin and that new developments wouldn’t allow to build it, and the building itself is very expensive, and Norma Jean doesn’t like the idea in any case.
For Mabel, a log cabin is a negative image of home. It’s a place of difficult life, and she has no nostalgia for living in one.
Mabel tells Leroy and Norma Jean about a log cabin at Shiloh that existed there during the battle and has bullet holes in it. When Leroy and Norma Jean finally visit Shiloh, they drive past this log cabin, which is surrounded by tourists looking for bullet holes.
Leroy says that this is not the kind of cabin he wants to build for his wife. He thought of a cabin that would protect them from everything, that would be a solid home, and a place for safety and security.
The log cabin they say was there during the Civil War. This symbolizes the destruction of Leroy’s home life. Soon after they see the log cabin, Norma Jean tells him that she wants to leave him, depriving from all his dreams to build a cabin. That is when he realizes that building a log cabin is a stupid idea. He realizes that his marriage was as hollow as the space inside the cabin. He sees the symbolic link between his dreams of building a log cabin and his failed marriage. But unfortunately, this realization comes too late to save his marriage.
Mason mentions log cabins in the story so many times that it is possible to build the whole village of log cabins. While it’s clear throughout the whole story that Norma Jean doesn’t want to live in a log cabin, Leroy doesn’t want to give up this idea. He really dreams of building a log cabin for his wife. The cabin symbolizes marriage in the story.