Notorious for her short fictional works, Alice Munro is greatly respected for her thrilling stories. Runaway, a collection of brief yet compelling stories, variously illustrates two recurring themes revolving around young women. Munro maintains that love is often entangled with infinite struggle and the dangers of betrayal; moreover, throughout this collection, Munro is persistent with emphasizing to the reader that fleeing from the struggles of one’s life is not a solution, and that the pursuit of adventure comes with an unpleasant price. Hence, Munro is able to successfully develop these two themes through her use of thorough apologies, intelligent diction, and tone. The collection begins with the title story, “Runaway.” Carla, a young
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It centers around a young woman named Juliet, a Classics student who had happened to have a strange encounter with a man on a train. She remains rigid and unfriendly towards this man, believing that he speaks to her with romantic intentions; yet, he is persistent in speaking with her and confirms his purely friendly intentions by offering to “chum around,” (Munro 55). However, Juliet goes to the observation car instead, avoiding him. But her indifference had transformed when the train had come to an abrupt stop. She finds out the train had run over him. The very man who had been so considerate towards her had taken his own life (Munro 62). Juliet proceeds to suffer from immense guilt and believes it was her mistake. Munro describes her guilt with effective diction, “people would think her exceptionally crude and heartless, were she ever to speak of it,” (63). It is obvious here that Juliet feels great remorse and responsibility for the man’s death. Therefore, Munro is able to again pronounce that running away is not an answer. As Juliet had attempted to flee from the man selfishly, she was forced to pay the price of experiencing perpetual …show more content…
Juliet is an atheist, and it haunts her daughter Penelope to an enormous degree. “Juliet exacts a price for her godless existence in ‘Silence,’” (McGovern). Penelope is hardly present in Juliet’s life anymore, prioritizing her spirituality and only communicating with her mother by card, which were “the sort of card you send to an acquaintance whose tastes you cannot guess,” (Munro 132). Furthermore, their relationship grows continually more distant as time passes; Penelope’s letters become less frequent and she avoids calling her mother altogether. Penelope detaches herself completely from Juliet, and Juliet acknowledges that she could not do better than to detach herself in turn (Munro 155). “She keeps on hoping for a word from Penelope, but not in any strenuous way. She hopes as people who know better hope for undeserved blessings, spontaneous remissions, things of that sort,” Munro explains Juliet’s loss with a nostalgic tone (157). Hence, Munro maintains the theme that one should not run from their struggles. Juliet had decided to escape the inherent responsibilities she had as a mother and was unsupportive of her child and her choice of worship. As a consequence, she ultimately feels empty and can only yearn for consolation for how things might have turned out
It centers around a young woman named Juliet, a Classics student who had happened to have a strange encounter with a man on a train. She remains rigid and unfriendly towards this man, believing that he speaks to her with romantic intentions; yet, he is persistent in speaking with her and confirms his purely friendly intentions by offering to “chum around,” (Munro 55). However, Juliet goes to the observation car instead, avoiding him. But her indifference had transformed when the train had come to an abrupt stop. She finds out the train had run over him. The very man who had been so considerate towards her had taken his own life (Munro 62). Juliet proceeds to suffer from immense guilt and believes it was her mistake. Munro describes her guilt with effective diction, “people would think her exceptionally crude and heartless, were she ever to speak of it,” (63). It is obvious here that Juliet feels great remorse and responsibility for the man’s death. Therefore, Munro is able to again pronounce that running away is not an answer. As Juliet had attempted to flee from the man selfishly, she was forced to pay the price of experiencing perpetual …show more content…
Juliet is an atheist, and it haunts her daughter Penelope to an enormous degree. “Juliet exacts a price for her godless existence in ‘Silence,’” (McGovern). Penelope is hardly present in Juliet’s life anymore, prioritizing her spirituality and only communicating with her mother by card, which were “the sort of card you send to an acquaintance whose tastes you cannot guess,” (Munro 132). Furthermore, their relationship grows continually more distant as time passes; Penelope’s letters become less frequent and she avoids calling her mother altogether. Penelope detaches herself completely from Juliet, and Juliet acknowledges that she could not do better than to detach herself in turn (Munro 155). “She keeps on hoping for a word from Penelope, but not in any strenuous way. She hopes as people who know better hope for undeserved blessings, spontaneous remissions, things of that sort,” Munro explains Juliet’s loss with a nostalgic tone (157). Hence, Munro maintains the theme that one should not run from their struggles. Juliet had decided to escape the inherent responsibilities she had as a mother and was unsupportive of her child and her choice of worship. As a consequence, she ultimately feels empty and can only yearn for consolation for how things might have turned out