The story, “Boys and Girls”, by Alice Munro, has the ability to absorb the reader from the very start, not through only its remarkably gruesome yet gripping introduction but also from its enlightenment of how life was during the early 20th century. Ironically, Munro’s narrator and protagonist character is a little girl whom we are not provided the name of. However, this apparent lack of identity does not prevent us from discovering the young girl’s dynamic characteristics such as her endurable strength against the hardships and inequality in her own society. Thus, we are taken on a roller coaster ride of her obstinate views towards life; her rather contrasting views towards her own family members; and finally the significance of her hopes and dreams foreshadowing the melancholy acceptance of her inevitable fate.
Unlike other young girls, Munro’s protagonist had rather obstinate views towards life. Having grow up in a harsh environment of a slaughter farm, where the smell of death reeked in her own home; the young girl became accustomed with this atmosphere and even found it to be “ reassuringly seasonal”. She believed that the “work in the house was endless, dreary, and peculiarly depressing”, and on the other hand found the “work done out of doors, and in [her] father’s service was ritualistically important”. The girl in her youth had become familiarized with the dominating male gender surrounding her, thus she adopted “tomboyish” characteristics and beliefs leading to her detesting the female role. However, as the young child grew older and turned eleven she “no longer felt safe”, because “the word girl had formerly seemed to [her] innocent and unburdened, like the word child: now it appeared it was no such thing”. It began to dawn on her that “a girl was not, as [she] had supposed, simply what [she] was; it was what [she] had become…also it was a joke on [her]”. It was becoming clear that even her physical appearance was developing and that not even “all [her] strength” could beat her younger brother Laird in a fight anymore. Her grandmother also made a conscious effort to remind her that she was “a girl” by saying such things as, “ Girls don’t slam doors…. and girls keep their knees together when they sit down” to which she reacted in the complete opposite manner than was intended in order to “keep [herself] free”.
The Term Paper on The Novel Robinson Crusoe Reflects Daniel Defoes Young Adult Life And Religion
The novel Robinson Crusoe reflects Daniel Defoe's young adult life and religion. The novel Robinson Crusoe is the remarkable masterpiece of the English literature and a pioneer in the genre of adventurers novel. Daniel Defoe wrote his novel in his fifties. The full title of the novel is The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe. Daniel Defoe succeeded to put almost the whole ...
Alongside the girl’s ideas and beliefs towards the differences in gender she also felt extremely resentful towards her mother, whom had already submitted towards the stereotypical life of a woman. The domestic role she played was mainly inside the house and she was always to “ tired and to preoccupied”. The young girl had believed that her mother could not be “trusted”, although “she was kinder than [her] father, and more easily fooled, but you could not depend on her…” The mother became the “enemy” as she was “plotting now to get [her] to stay in the house more, although she knew [she] hated it (because she knew [she] hated it) and keep [her] from working with [her] father”. On the other hand the young girl attained a great deal of respect for her father, “who did not talk to [her] unless it was about the job [they] were doing…” However, the young girl felt a strong bond towards him and even considered him to be “tirelessly inventive” thus she helped him with the masculine chores outdoors, such as carrying the water, and helping whenever, “he cut the long grass, and the lambs quarter and the flowering the money-mask…”. She “worked willingly under his eyes, and with a feeling of pride”. We learn that she wanted to be like him, which is further proven when he called her his, “new hired man,” and she “raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure”. The young girl thus spent little or no time with her mother and became unfamiliar with the female role, which she herself would inevitably perform in the future. However, when spring finally came the young girl matured into a young lady, alongside this development in her character her contradictory ideas from her youth also began to change. Whereas before she was, “used to seeing death of animals as a necessity by which [she] lived,” she now began to feel a great deal ashamed and there was a, “new wariness, a sense of holding-off”, even in her attitude towards her father and his work.
The Essay on A Story Of My Dreams
A Story of My Dreams Since the dawn of time, all humankind has experienced dreams. Dreams are the one thing that we have in common with everyone. What do dreams really mean? Are they mirrors of our days, tunnels into pauses of the unconscious, or no more than the chance results of biological changes in the brain? No one knows the complete answer yet, but dream researchers are learning more and ...
With keeping in mind the change in feelings towards her own family members, the girl’s dreams and the stories she told herself are also an important source of information about her character. They foreshadowed the eventual outcome of her life and the change she underwent to finally giving into society at that time. Initially the stories and dreams were about “when [she] had grown a little older; they took place in a world that was recognizably [hers], yet that presented opportunities for courage, boldness and self sacrifice, as [hers] never did”. In her dreams she was the one who, “rescued people from the bombed building…” Her true heroic attitude was shown through her even riding a “fine horse spiritedly down the main street Jubilee….” Even though she had only “been on a horse twice…”. In these dreams the girl had hopes for the future and considered herself the in control of her on fate. However, this optimistic attitude changed as “mysterious alterations” took place in the new stories that she began to tell herself. Although the “story might start off in the old way, with spectacular danger, a fire or wild animals, and for a while [she] might rescue people; then things would change around and instead someone would be rescuing [her].” By the end of her story she would no longer be the heroine but the victim whom needed to be rescued by “a boy from [her] class at school, or even Mr. Campbell…” This reveals that even subconsciously the girl’s views about herself were changing and becoming more and more like that of a “girl”.
The Essay on A White Heron Story Young Author
The Heroine in A White Heron A White Heron was a beautiful story of the battles within a little girl in her formative years in life. The story has a deeper meaning though, expressed in the involvement of much symbolic representation. The author, Sarah Orne Jewett, paints a vivid and descriptive image of the young heroine and her surroundings in the story. I will try to primarily focus on the ...
At the end of this story we witnessed the young girls determination and strength prevail as she began to think for herself and even attempted to set her own spirit free. A symbol of the young girls courage to resist pressures from society resembled that of Flora’s, a mare who had managed to escaped from the stable, and was “running free in the barnyard…” When the girl’s father instructed her to “Go shut the Gate!” She merely “opened it as wide” as she could. She had never disobeyed him before and could not understand why she had done it, as she knew that, “Flora would not really get away”. The inevitable fate of the young girl was just like that of Flora’s. One could even say that Flora was the young girls spirit and when they “cut her up in fifty pieces”; they did the same to the heart and soul of the young girl. At the end of the day she was, “only a girl”.
