Only a Girl in Boys and Girls by Alice Munro Essay -- Boys and Girls A

Only a Girl in Boys and Girls Alice Munros in brief invention, Boys and Girls, explores the different qualitys of men and women in society through a young girls discovery of what it means to be a girl. A wet examination of the elements of a short story as they are utilise in Boys and Girls helps us to understand the meaning of the story. The story is set in the 1940s, on a fox give rise outside of Jubilee, a rural area only twenty miles away from the county jail. The farm is a daub that reflects the ingenuity of the cashiers father. The pens for the foxes are arranged in neat rows, inside a high guard fence like a medieval townsfolk. The pens each contain a kennel, a wooden ramp, and dishes attached to the conducting wire fence. The fox farm is the fathers do primary(prenominal), a place of hard work and creativity, in which the narrator feels at home. The house itself is the mothers domain, but it is a place that the narrator shuns, as she shuns many elements of the femi nine world. The contrast between the girls concept of the farm and of the house demonstrates the conflict she experiences between her chosen position as her fathers supporter and her position in society as a girl. The point of beguile of the story is first person. The narrator is a young girl in the process of growing up, who is, at the end of the story, only eleven age old. She is a nave narrator, being so young, and is unreliable in her bewitch of the people around her, especially her understanding of her mothers motives. By writing the story in this way, Munro gives us a look at womens role in society through the eyes of a girl who is near finding out the effect that societys expectations have on her. The narrator is the main character of the story. As the protagonist, she is a ... ... as a girl, her role in society is different from her fathers and brothers. Although limitations are placed on her, she is free to observe her own heart. This, to her, is the meaning of being only a girl. In conclusion, the elements of this short story work together very well to demonstrate the piece of the story. The narrators conflict between filling a masculine role and judge a feminine one, the contrast between her mother and her father, and the setting that is divided between the mothers domain and fathers domain all build the effect of the floor well. This story gives a fresh look at the question of womens role in society through the eyes of a young girl. lam ConsultedMunro, Alice. Boys and Girls. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 6th ed. New York Norton, 1995. 465-75.