The Struggle In Boys And Girls, By Alice Munro

Parents think their lives are hard, compared to the lives of their children. Their children simply do not have to do any work. What parents do not understand is the hardship that children go through, due to being powerless. Their struggles are clearly exhibited in “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, and “Boys and Girls,” by Alice Munro. Both authors show the troubles children face growing up, through being young; conflicted with themselves and others; and having no option due to their parents’ authority. Overall demonstrating how coming of age is difficult for children, due to the lack of their power.
Children being young causes growing up to be difficult for them, as their age effectively makes them powerless, limiting their decisions. Firstly, …show more content…
In fact, Rachel from “Eleven” wishes she was not a child. She reveals that she is eleven, though she would rather be one hundred and two because she wants to be far away from her day (Cisneros 3). Rachel’s conflict with herself expresses that she does not want to be a child. Her current predicament shows how children must bear a lot growing up, internally, as they do not always get what they would like, since they do not the have the capability to cater their own needs. Also, the protagonist of “Boys and Girls” struggles with her mother to stay outside with her father. The protagonist reveals, “[s]he [her mother] was plotting now to get me to stay in the house more […] and keep me from working for my father” (Munro 5). During childhood, the protagonist has to endure fighting gender norms. This depicting that since children, such as the protagonist, cannot live on their own, because of not having the ability to, they must face issues that are undesirable. Conclusively, Rachel and the protagonist of “Boys and Girls” wonderfully show how the problems children face, because of not having the competence to face them, makes childhood tough for them. Their competence to not face their problems is primarily due to living under the roofs of their parents, as they must obey to their …show more content…
Both “Eleven,” and “Boys and Girls,” demonstrate since children have no power, they are limited on what they can do, which definitely makes their lives awful. The age of children, their problems, and their dependency on their parents is why their lives during youth are hard to bear. All this due to being inferior to adults. Throughout centuries, children have been deemed as weak. Are they actually weak? Or are they placed in a situation where they are raised as