Alice Munro Conflict

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Recommended: Literary criticism of boys and girls by alice munro

An internal conflict found within a story is purposely done by the author to show an awakening, discovery or change in consciousness. This is done to prove a maturity growth experienced by the character. Munro portrays the protagonist as a girl who has become lost in the day to day struggle that is her life. She experiences the ending to one of the only things she’s ever known and experiences both serious and life changing repercussions. Munro does this by using literary elements such as; the title, diction, tone, style and structure. In ‘An Ounce of Cure’ Alice Munro uses literary elements such as; the title, diction, tone, style and structure, to demonstrate the growth of the protagonist after she experiences a harmful event.

The protagonist experiences a horrible event, a heartbreak, Munro demonstrates her growth from this event from the beginning of the story; the title. The title of this short story relates to the quotation, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The quote signifies that it is best to stop a problem from occurring before it happens, to save yourself from the hassle and suffering of fixing it once it is already a problem. The quote has been modified to fit the events in the story, therefore, the immediate impression by the reader is that an ounce is referring to the liquor the girl in the story consumed; as she believes it will be her cure to get over her ex-boyfriend, Martin Collingwood.

Therefore, the title of the story assumes great significance because it …show more content…

In ‘An Ounce of Cure’ by Alice Munro, the use of an internal conflict is done to show an awakening, discovery or change in consciousness. Munro uses this internal conflict to demonstrate a maturity growth and awakening found within the protagonist after a horrible heartbreak occurs to her. The author does this with the use of the title, diction, tone, style and structure of the story. Through these elements, the maturity growth after this horrible event is made

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