Alice Munro

Margaret Atwood’s reflections on the short fiction of Alice Munro represent commentary from one Canadian literary great on another. Fittingly, Atwood provides any number of insightful reflections on Munro’s work, each of which could be the basis for further study. I would like to focus briefly on just two of these: sex and sexuality as they are represented in Munro’s works, and Atwood’s observation that in Munro’s works “a thing can be true, but not true, but true nonetheless.” Taken together,…

the colonials decide to march with the Britons up to Fort William Henry. As the French forces bore down on the Fort, the movie has Montcalm offer Munro surrender after intercepting General Webb’s letter saying there are no reinforcements. History has it that General Daniel Webb had already abandoned the Fort with no plans to come back to assist Munro. The French had the Brits surrender the Fort with promise of safe passage home (though in the movie they didn’t take away their weapons). The…

The short stories, “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, “An Ounce of Cure” by Alice Munro, and “Carnal Knowledge” by T. C. Boyle are all similar in the way that the protagonists in each story are stubborn. They do not see that the choices they make negatively impact them and those around them. In the story “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, the protagonist, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, Sarty for short, is caught between a character vs. character conflict between him and his father, Abner Snopes.…

a girl named Edie, who was staying with the Peebles family to help around the house and with the children. In the time that Edie stayed with this family she encountered three different women each with vastly different personalities. Mrs. Peebles, Alice, and Loretta are the women who are main characters in this story. Each woman had very distinct personalities, each with different wants driving their actions. Their differences in character seemed to become evident when they all conversed with…

Female coming of age stories are especially intriguing, considering that society often has a set of ideals about what is of value to women and what young women should experience. The Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro, introduces the story of a girl named Del growing into a woman. Del is a young girl who is primarily raised by her mother. Del explores her sexuality, her religious beliefs, her sense of self-empowerment, and the function of gender in society. Housekeeping, written by…

Hawkeye, is considered to be the most significant character in Last of the Mohicans. Though Chingachgook, a Native America, adopts Hawkeye, he has aught him how to familiarize himself with the land. For example, he knew that Magua was leading Cora, Alice, and Duncan in the wrong direction and consequently he lead them into a waterfall cave, then down a river to get them to their destination safely. Transition: Not all cowboys appear to be good guys; there is always some variety of misfits.…

The Same At Heart My comparison essay is on how “A&P” by John Updike and “How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro are both “coming of age” or “rite of passage” stories. These short stories talk about how two young adults experience a significant change in their lives based on a series of events. Although the two stories may seem different, they both show very clearly how something so small can change the direction of a person’s life; both the stories capture the innocence of life before the world…

creates a fake feeling of happiness which is frequently the cause for conflict with others. When faced with challenges, the character suffers and experiences personal growth. In the story ‘A lamp at noon’ by Sinclair Ross and ‘Boys and Girls’ by Alice Munro, both protagonists found similar and different ways to evolve as a character through identity and suffering and ultimately evolving throughout the story. First, this was evident through the theme of change in identity which was portrayed in…

We're all familiar with Nicholas Sparks and his heart warming, but predictable movies. After watching for no less than 20 minutes, we already know how it’s going to end. “How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro is quite the opposite. “How I Met My Husband” is not the average love story. This story provides a good example of both situational and dramatic irony. A scene we all know very well, is the scene where the boy and the girl meet. When Chris Waters saw Edie for the first time he said, “Well, I…

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…