Alice Munro Essay

In Alice Munro’s short story, “Boys and Girls”, gender roles are observed through the symbolic reoccurrence of being either inside or outside of the fences that barricade the farm. Munro creates this gender divide by specifying being trapped inside the barricade of the fences as female, and being outside the confines of the fences as male. For the girl in the story the fences symbolize the captivity she feels from antiquated gender roles forced upon her, and can also be seen through the roles…

When one's happiness is compromised by giving up the pursuit of a better prospect not to risk hurting the people we love. Alice Munro's "Boys and Girls," the narration of the story are done by an eleven year old girl who leaves childhood behind therefore realizing that to be a "girl" is to eventually be a woman. Thus, becoming a "girl" on her way to womanhood is a time filled with difficulties for the young protagonist because she senses that women are considered socially inferior by men. The…

Sally is the main character in Alice Munro’s story “Deep Holes”. From the outside it should seem as though Sally is happy, but is she really? She should be, she has a new baby, two healthy young boys and her husband just published his first solo article. Munro doesn’t outright address weather Sally is happy or not. It’s almost up to the reader to decide for themselves. Her happiness really seems to stem from her husband’s approval and her need for emotional connection. She dreams of remote…

guide us through our entire lives. However, throughout human history these entities have been portrayed in vastly different spectacles. From the age-old tale “Faxelange” by Marquis de Sade, to the much more recent short story “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro, the body is depicted in a profound and distinctive way. These stories show a trend in how society has viewed genders over the past few hundred years, as well as the evolution in the role that each gender “should” embrace. Thus, males and…

guide. Alice Munro Summer Reading and Analysis Prompts Theme Munro’s writing often focuses on the lives and experiences of ordinary people. However, this does not mean that her themes are simple or lack complexity. When delivering your IOC it is essential that you can thoroughly relate the passage to the theme of the text. When analysing theme you should consider the following: ● What was Munro’s purpose in writing the story? ● What deep ideas or issues about human nature does Munro explore…

The protagonist in Alice Munro’s short story ‘Boys and Girls’ is about a young girl whose life is characterized by gender roles set by the society during the 20th century. Munro specifically does not give the protagonist a name within the story to indicate that she is an individual without identity or any power of her own, whereas her brother, a boy, is given the name Laird (The Gender Conflict in Munro’s “Boys and Girls”). Discrimination is further emphasized when the protagonist’s father…

and Girls,” Alice Munro successfully used innocence, conflict, and acceptance to reveal the main character’s struggles from adolescence to the realization she was no longer a child. In the beginning of the story, the main character, who is not named, innocently watches her dad and his hired hand prepare the pelt of foxes. During this time the hired hand jokes with the main character, and she explains that her mom does not approve of the jokes and “the whole pelting operation” (Munro). Another…

alone in the light” – Helen Keller. As we can comprehend from this quote, having a friend can be better than being alone. Everyone has a desire to have a friend and obtain that sense of belonging. The story, “The Day of the Butterfly” written by Alice Munro, tells the story of two 6th grade girls, Helen and Myra, who both have a desire to belong and have a friend. In the story, Myra is an immigrant who does not come from a very wealthy background. Thus, she is looked down on by her peers and…

from a different perspective can be interesting to readers. Stepping into someone else’s shoes and looking at a story through their eyes can develop a reader’s connection with the narrator. The short story, “Boys and Girls,” which is written by Alice Munro, is told in first-person retrospective narration. The narrator does not formally introduce who they are in the story, which makes it the reader’s responsibility to learn who the narrator is. The secondary characters’ perspective and thoughts…

imbalanced society with dominance and repression. However, these rules are often broken when individuals try to express themselves. These rules are made by society as whole; they are not in tune with every individual. In Boys and Girls, the author, Alice Munro, uses gender equality, indifference and gender role reversal in the characters of Mack, Flora and the foxes, to develop the idea that the process of creating gendered roles and guidelines is not natural and only serves to establish…