“Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro (Journal)
“Boys and Girls” is an interesting story and it was an easy short story to read and understand how the narrator was feeling, because I can almost relate it to my own life. This short story is about a young girl’s struggle to adulthood in a society with gender roles and stereotypes. The story took place in the 1940s on a fox farm outside of Jubilee, Ontario, Canada. During this time, women were viewed as second class citizens, but the narrator was not going to accept this position without a fight. Munro’s creation of an unnamed character symbolized the narrator’s lack of identity, compared to her younger brother, who was given the name Laird, which is a synonym for “Lord”. These names were given by Munro
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They find themselves in a continuous struggle for identification of their identity, trying to locate themselves with the world. Sometimes, when those efforts are not crowned with success they try to break away. It is quite often that the birth of the "self" in the person intervenes in the very moment of revealing the truth, or the moment, when the individual 's self-awareness reaches the climax, and eventually culminates the events, and all the actions, which were aimed at fighting with life. This delivery of self can be definitely classified as an epiphany. There is no wonder in the fact that Alice Munro writes about her own struggle in "Boys and Girls"; she tells how her own battle for self-definition had looked like (Bloom …show more content…
Also the narrator is not the only one coming to terms with their identity. Her little brother Laird is developing a desire to do the masculine things around the house. The narrator overhears her mother talking to her father, saying, “Wait till Laird gets bigger you will have some real help.” This represents the family’s characteristic expectations of Laird to follow in his father’s footsteps. “The girl” obviously sensed their higher expectations for Laird and her jealousy began to show. She once made Laird climb the ladder to the top beam, believing that he would get in trouble. But, when her parents arrived it was the narrator that was in trouble, her parents yelling, “Why weren’t you watching him.” This shows the double standard between genders in their family and in the general public. She shared a room with her brother, and at night after he fell asleep, she would stay up and tell her stories. In these stories she would imagine herself as a hero, she was brave and spirited and everyone admired her. These stories represented the woman that she wanted to become; powerful and independent, which was the complete opposite of the stereotypical “girl”, which her family wanted her to become. Another example of the protagonist’s struggle for her identity is her identification with one of the family’s horses, Flora. The father fed his foxes with horse-meat. Therefore, the family would sometimes get healthy
Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.
Munro uses a fox farm for the setting of Boys and Girls to bring out many of the social issues between genders. While her father worked outside doing all the labor work, her mother stayed inside cooking and cleaning, “it was an odd thing to see my mother down at the barn” (Munro 12). The girl was very resentful towards her mother, mostly because she did not agree with the stereotypical life that her mother led. Causing the girl to spend more time helping her father around the farm. The girl would help feed the foxes, “cut the long grass, and the lamb’s quarter and flowering money-musk” (Munro 10). Although when she turned eleven, things started to change causing the girl to not only observe gender differences between her mother and father but to experience it between her and her brother Laird when working around the farm. While Laird became more predominant with helping on the farm, the girl became less valuable to her father and was forced to help her mother around the house.
Identity is how we define ourselves, how we see ourselves within our communities and it is what we portray to others. In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë the eloquent use of language allows for the true portrayal of the identities of all the characters in the story. Emily uses anecdotes and metaphors to portray her characters in all their glory. Wuthering Heights is about the consecutive search for one’s true identity by two primary characters. This essay will specifically focus on Catherine and Heathcliff’s search for their identities. Heathcliff and Catherine both vary in social status as the book progresses, each of their respective sexes play a large role in their identities and the choices they make also influence their final identities; these three main factors are what create the identity problem for both Catherine and Heathcliff.
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
In order to get the title she wants, Muir deceives the family by passing as an innocent young girl when in reality she is a grown woman using them for her benefit, thus her role as the protagonist can be questioned by some. She is a smart and manipulating woman capable of making the men in the family fall down to her will. Her intentions are for the two young brothers in the family, Gerald, who...
... story as it shows the grandmother and her family’s lives have no importance until their encounter with the Misfit. Furthermore, O’Connor develops both her main characters, the grandmother and the Misfit, primarily through the structure of her disarrayed and segmented storyline with the intention of exposing her theme to her audience.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
Acceptance of who we are plays a large part in the overall theme of “rite of passage” in the story. The young girl is opposed to the thought of working for her mother at the beginning, but eventually comes to a realization that it is her pre-determined fate to fit the mould of the gender stereotype. Through the girl’s hardships, she accepts the fact that her younger brother, Laird, is now the man that his father needs for help, and she takes her place in womanhood. The story embodies gender identity and stereotypes, as a young child moves into adulthood. The fact that our rite of passage is unavoidable proves that we must all go through our own journeys to find our own true identity.
In the story, “Boys and Girls”, the narrator is not the only one coming to terms with their identity.
Even though the girl thought that she would be in trouble for letting the horse out she did not regret it, even though she wasn’t sure why she had done it. After everyone arrived back home they had dinner. Laird was excited and showed off the blood that he had on his arm from the horse. During dinner Laird told everyone how she had let the horse out of the gate. She began crying and her father said, “Never mind, she’s only a girl.” Finally she didn’t protest it and thought that maybe it was true.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
The folk tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” has numerous variations and interpretations depending on what recorded version is being read or analyzed. “Little Red Cap,” by the Grimm Brothers, and “The Grandmother,” as collected by Achille Millien, are different in numerous ways: the depth of the narrative structure, characters involved, length – yet, the moral lesson is largely unchanged between the two versions. One of the more glaring differences between the two versions is the way that the narrator and the actions of the characters are used to describe the young girl, female, and the wolf, male. Being either female or male are matters of biological makeup. The characteristics of femininity and masculinity that are associated with being female or male, however, are socially and culturally defined. How do these different descriptions inform gender construction, and more specifically, how do gender constructions help to naturalize stereotypes within the collective conscience of society?
Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning and also the basis of education. Curiosity had killed the cat indeed, however the cat died nobly. Lives of Girls and Women is a novel written by Nobel Prize Literature winner, Alice Munro. This novel is about a young girl, Del Jordan, who lives on Flats Road, Ontario. The novel is divided into eight chapters; and each chapter refers to a new, unique event in Del's life. As an overall analysis of the book reveals that Del Jordan's intriguing curiosity has helped her throughout her life, and enabled her to gain further knowledge The character is often seen in scenarios where her attention is captivated, and through the process of learning she acquires information in order to her answers her questions about particular subjects. There are many examples in the book that discuss Del’s life, and how she managed to gain information, as well as learn different methods of learning along the way.
...develops in. In Little Red Riding Hood, the grandmother, mother, and child all demonstrate the stereotypical woman in an ancient society where men are superior to women. The wolf and the male character that rescues the female validate the stereotypical male in that time period as the males become clever, brave, and strong throughout the entire story. These gender tactics appear in almost any work of literature to convey the message that the popular belief of genders can either be continued by the submission of individuals to society or altered by the recognition that these labels do not have to exist.
Many people think that boys in our culture today are brought up to define their identities through heroic individualism and competition, particularly through separation from home, friends, and family in an outdoors world of work and doing. Girls, on the other hand, are brought up to define their identities through connection, cooperation, self-sacrifice, domesticity, and community in an indoor world of love and caring. This view of different male and female roles can be seen throughout children’s literature. Treasure Island and The Secret Garden are two novels that are an excellent portrayal of the narrative pattern of “boy and girl” books.