Alice Munro's short story "Boys and Girls" tells the tale of a young girl's coming of age and her struggle to break free from the gender roles imposed upon her by society. The story follows the protagonist, known only as "the narrator," as she grows up on a fox farm in rural Canada in the 1940s and 1950s.
As a child, the narrator is heavily influenced by her older brother, Laird, who is allowed more freedom and autonomy than she is. She idolizes Laird and wants nothing more than to be like him, but she is constantly reminded that, as a girl, she is expected to adhere to certain gender roles. For example, she is not allowed to participate in the same activities as Laird and is instead expected to help her mother with domestic chores.
As the narrator grows older, she becomes increasingly aware of the limitations placed on her because of her gender. She resists these expectations and longs to break free from the constraints of femininity. This desire is exemplified in her relationship with her father, who represents the traditional gender roles of the time. The narrator's father is a fox farmer, a profession that is traditionally seen as masculine, and he expects his daughter to conform to traditional gender roles. However, the narrator rejects this expectation and instead pursues her own interests, such as reading and writing.
Despite her efforts to break free from gender roles, the narrator ultimately finds herself trapped by the expectations placed upon her. She is forced to abandon her dreams of becoming a writer and instead marries and has children, conforming to the traditional roles of wife and mother.
In "Boys and Girls," Munro explores the ways in which society imposes gender roles on individuals and the ways in which these roles can constrain and limit one's choices and opportunities. Through the narrator's struggle to break free from these roles, Munro highlights the importance of individuality and self-expression, regardless of one's gender.
Boys and Girls (short story)
Boys and Girls by Alice Munro My father was a fox farmer. Though not necessarily innocent of everything the narrator still remains innocent to some things. The narrator, her father, and Laird give each of the foxes a name. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man. My father was a fox farmer. In the book, Munro depicts horses as a symbol that represents freedom, power, and liberty of choices, which the narrator aspires to have.
Gender Roles In Munro's Boys And Girls By Alice Munro
When the narrator is reminiscing of the past, she recalls a time when she lured Laird up to the top of the barn. She looked out of place, with her bare lumpy legs, not touched by the sun, her apron still on and damp across the stomach from the supper dishes. Edmonton: University of Alberta. In this story we find that there are many different types of relationships between men and women. While Friesen makes his point more direct, writer Alice Munro conveys her message in a contained manner. Her father says she is just a girl. She is set in her views as to what a girl or woman should be and how they should act.
Boys And Girls By Alice Munro Summary Essay
She wants to let Flora feel that last moment of being free before she is killed. For several weeks before Christmas, my father worked after supper in the cellar of our house. She wants to assist her father, which is seen as a more masculine job. We could make out the tall frosted shapes of the windows now, gloomy and white. After we had sent to be we could still smell fox and still hear Henry's laugh, but these things reminders of the warm, safe, brightly lit downstairs world, seemed lost and diminished, floating on the stale cold air upstairs.
Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls”: Summary & Analysis
In Boys and Girls by Alice Munro, the protagonist is a young girl named Brenda. This creates a lot of tension between Flo, who resents her husband for abandoning them, and Brenda, who idolizes her father for leaving his family to work long hours at a factory. When Laird falls asleep, the narrator begins telling herself stories, which she continues to tell herself night after night. This shows the dominance of males in the society of the time. He would cough and cough until his narrow face turned scarlet, and his light blue, derisive eyes filled up with tears; then he took the lid off the stove, and, standing well back, shot out a great clot of phlegm — hss — straight into the heart of the flames. Now she's more concerned about what she looks like and instead of rescuing others, she's being rescued. I shot two rabid wolves who were menacing the schoolyard the teachers cowered terrified at my back.
