All The Years Of Her Life Analysis

“You will thank me when you are older.” Every child that has grown up in western civilization has heard this phrase millions of times. What does it mean though? Many would say that it means that kids are naive and cannot comprehend the situation, or what is best. It implies that it takes years of experience and learning for one to evolve and change as a person. In the two stories “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro and “ All the Years of Her Life” by Marley Callaghan, the protagonist from each go through major changes and evolve into different people through their individual journeys. In each story the protagonist changed to meet the expectations of their parents, but the pathway each took was different. In “ All the years of her life” the protagonist, …show more content…
At the end of the story Alfred realized this and it led him to evolve. He, “knew all the years of her life by the way her hand trembled as she raised the cup to her lips” (Callaghan,5). This was significant as it showed that Alfred realized that his mother was upset about the way he had been behaving. And as a result of this, Alfred evolved to understand that he needed to grow up. This realization pushed Alfred to grow out of his youth and evolve into an adult because that’s what his mother expected. Therefore Alfred’s evolution was one that helped him meet his parental expectations. This is similar to the evolution of the main character from “Boys and girls”. In this story the protagonist begins as a tomboy that participates in many different activities that are seen as male exclusive, such as hunting. Society stereotypes females as being inferior to boys. The tomboy did not associate herself with this stereotype until the end of the story. She evolved into this stereotype and accepted her role in society just as her mother wanted. Her mother always tried to keep her in the house and keep her from helping her father. “She was always plotting. Plotting now to get me to stay in the house more” (Munro,50). This line demonstrates that the protagonist’s mother really wanted the tomboy to change and be a stereotypical girl. Therefore when the protagonist evolved to fit this stereotype, it was …show more content…
But the pathway taken for each was different. Alfred evolved by seeing how his actions were impacting his mother. But the tomboy evolved because society thinking that she should act like a stereotype. Therefore each protagonist had unrelated issues for evolving. But should children really be worried about pleasing their parents? How can ones parents possibly know what is best? Parents grew up in a different generation from their parents and faced different challenges and pressures. Because this is the case parents could not possibly understand the what their child is going through, and what is best for them. So maybe children will not be “thanking their parents when they are