Questions Below--please choose one and do blog by Wednesday evening.
LINK TO SONG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQtc9msoLjg
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
Blog Questions--choose one:
1. Why does the narrator admire the father? what does he represent? Think about the difference between spaces--inside and outside.
2. How does the narrator attempt to inscribe herself in the male domain?
What does she think about; what does she do?
3. How are the foxes and the horse Flora symbolic of something important for the narrator?
3. Analyze the mother's role in the story and the narrator's attitude toward the mother.
4. Why does the narrator let Flora escape? How does the narrator change at the end of the story?
Is this a positive or negative ending?
5. What part of the song "Danny Boy" above is relevant to the story?--as it is a song the narrator sings as she
is falling asleep.
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ReplyDeleteTo me this story is simply about a young girl who lives as a Tomboy and as she grows older eventually and quite naturally accepts that she is a girl. She prefers working with her father, hates the kitchen duties, and is convinced that her mother is up to something. She expresses her thoughts about the mother as "...mother, I felt, was not to be trusted. She was kinder than my father and more easily fooled, but you could not depend on her, and the real reasons for the things she said and did were not to be known." What that something was had to do with what she overheard the mother say “And I can use her in the house,” “It’s not like I had a girl in the family at all.” She, the narrator, suspected that the mother was interfering with the life she wanted to live. By her fathers side, working outdoors, lifting and heaving of sorts, because to her being a girl was just a word. It wasn’t a definition. As she gets a little older the standards of others (namely her mother and grandmother) begin to crowd and force her to a place where she wouldn’t be happy- the kitchen. The narrator use of the horse Flora was a symbolic representation of her own spirit. She writes, "Flora was given to fits of violent alarm, veering at cars and even at other horses, but we loved her speed and high stepping, her general air of gallantry and abandon." When she allowed the horse to escape, I thought that it was in that moment that she internally began the transition. Allowing the horse to escape was in a way giving into the natural need to grow out of her tomboyish way of life. She even notes that her fantasy’s had changed in that she was now the one being rescued instead of heroine. In the end she claimed that ”I didn’t protest that, even in my heart. Maybe it was true.” I think that answering the question of whether this is a positive or negative thing is beyond the scope of the reading. Growing up through the stages of life happens. Only time can tell if the whole experience was worth it.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful thought that Flora represents her spirit Cecil. I also like the way you use the text to explain that connection. I get what you mean about the ending being unknown--I am wondering whether you as a reader experienced it as a positive or negative ending.
DeleteQUESTION 4.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story we see how the narrator is trying to imitate her father through his work and his manly ways of dealing with farm animals. The narrator is described as a young prepubescent girl who is very energetic and willing to work around the clock. As we read into the short story we realize that she really does not like her mother in fact she calls her mother her enemy. As the story progresses her grandmother seems to be the same as her mother too, constantly telling her to act like a woman and change her habits. From these occurrences we see that she really needs to change her ways and that she doesn’t want to be like her mother, dull and tired. She finds her mother and what she does really boring and repetitive. When the horse scenario takes place with the male horse Mack she quietly watches him get slaughtered by her dad. When its Floras turn to get slaughtered she purposely leaves the gate open for her to get away. She leaves the gate open because she felt sympathy for the horse and did not want to see it get slaughtered like Mack. Mack symbolizes the manliness dying from the narrator and Flora symbolizes the women in her finally coming out. For the narrator this was probably the time of puberty and it was this occasion that finally made her realize that it is about time to really think like a woman. Even at the end of the story we see how her father says “She’s only a girl”. She accepts the fact that she is a girl and that her emotions can never be compared to that of a man which are stronger and less sensitive. She must now follow the footsteps of her mother and I’m pretty sure it must have been hard for her at first but she found her true self so it is a positive ending.
Oceanlab--you are the first to comment on the importance of the horses being male and female--love your reading of Mack dying and a part of the narrator's manliness dying! I also admire your attention to emotions--the contrast between hers and her father's in the end...
DeleteIn Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls”, the narrator expresses her feelings towards her mother. She feels her mother is plotting against her. “She was always plotting. She was plotting now to get me to stay in the house more, although she knew I hated it (because she knew I hated it) and keep me from working for my father.” The narrator’s mother was a stay at home mom; mostly working in the kitchen making jelly and jam and preserves, pickles and chili sauce. The narrator didn’t like being the kitchen. She wanted to be out and be with her father. She was very much a tomboy. The mother wouldn’t talk to her if she was too tired or preoccupied, if she was cheery she would talk about her past memories. Her mother also didn’t like the whole pelting operation but the narrator did. The narrator dislike that her mother would talk about her to others. “I went and sat on a feed bag in the corner of the barn, not wanting to appear when this conversation was going on.” The mother would go on saying as if she didn’t have a girl. She loved her mother but didn’t like her mother messing with her life. She wanted to make choices for herself, she wanted to be independent and not do the typically stay at home woman stuff. The horse Flora was the representation of the narrator. The horse was strong fast and etc. like her but at the same time it was her realization that the horse was being kept to do its job and didn’t have a choice or freedom. She realized that it was like her and sees her mother trying to the same with her. She gave the horse freedom to do whatever because she probably didn’t want to be like her mother. She wants to make her own choices. Even when her father said “She’s only a girl”, she realizes she’s not that tough she still has a soft part of her and that she’s growing up and she still is finding herself.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth--good analysis of Flora as representation of narrator and setting horse free as acting out of her own desire--and you are right that the story is complicated in defining the girl's ambiguous search for herself.
DeleteIn Boys and Girls by Alice Munro, we have a girl who has trouble finding her identity. In the beginning of the story, we see that she is a girl that likes to emulate her father but, gets scrutinized by her mother and her grandmother because she doesn’t seem to measure up to their standards on how a girl should act. The mother makes a comment saying “… I can use her more in the house.” She would rather have her at the home doing house work then to be doing labor work with her father. Then we have her grandmother who says that, “girls keep their knees together when they sit down.” Although she continues to do what pleases her, she seems to have the feeling that she doesn’t fit in. As the story goes on, she starts a transformation process that she doesn’t seem to fully understand. She begins to take notice in the changes in herself. She focuses on self-image when she stands in front of the mirror while wondering if she would be pretty when she grows up. But we also notice that she starts to do minor house work like keeping her side of the room clean. Her dreams are even different when she starts imagining herself being rescued, like a damsel in distress. But the biggest change is when she, for the first time, disobeys her father by letting Flora free. Freeing Flora symbolizes her need to be independent. Instead of helping her father like she is accustomed to, she sides with Flora and becomes emotional with the idea of them hurting her. There is a major change in her at the end of the story when she realizes that maybe all she is, is a girl who has her own ideas, her own expectations and she’s content with that.
ReplyDeleteAmanda--good the way you notice the narrator's changes, her gradual move towards the mirror and doing things to room. And especially thoughtful to note that setting Flora free is her (first?) act against her father!
DeleteThe narrator's mother and father represent two completely different concepts. Her father represents what she wants to do, where she feels more comfortable and how she envisions herself in the future. Her mother represents what she is supposed to be in society. She represents a glass ceiling in a way, and she finds that incessantly depressing. She is trapped between doing what she wants to do, and what she is supposed to do as dictated by societal norms. The narrator has an unpleasant view towards her mother. She has very little trust in her mother and believes she is always plotting against her. She seems to be view her mother as an antagonist. She mentions, "...she would do this simply out of perversity, and to try her power". This is when she explains that her mother would keep her from working with her father. She definitely seems to represent something she wants to run away from, something that she doesn't want to be. That being said, I don't believe the narrator views the mother in a completely negative light. In a way, I would view it as a mixture of resentment and pity. I would also attribute some of her negative views towards her mother to the narrator's age in the story. She is a child and sometimes children don't understand why their parent's do the things they do. The narrator, in a sort of retrospective way, explains, "It did not occur to me that she could be lonely, or jealous. No grown-up could be; they we too fortunate." Which pretty much admit that she did not completely understand her mother, or her struggles. At times she undermined all the work her mother did in the kitchen and around the house for the family, and only paid attention to what her dad would do. The mother is somewhat misunderstood by the narrator, and represents something she does not want to be which all leads her to not trust her mother and view her in an antagonistic way. I don't believe that is warranted and I somewhat feel pity towards the mother because maybe by keeping her in the house, and making her work with her, she is trying to protect her from doing something she might not be particularly good at. At the end of the story, she does end up getting hurt because "she's only a girl".
ReplyDeleteJulio--"glass ceiling" is a good way of capturing the mother's role, what she represents. Thank you for pointing out the subtlety of the narrator's attitude towards her mother--esp her recognition (looking back on her your) that she failed to grasp the possibility that her mother felt lonely or jealous.
DeleteI believe the narrator lets flora escape because she can no longer bare the thought of the torture this animal is about to endure. The narrator got accustomed to Flora being there. She completely forgot what her fate was. The narrator was so consumed with pleasing her father and that was all she wanted to do. It was like she felt she had to prove herself that she was as good at doing the work as any man. I think letting Flora escape was symbolic for the narrator becoming free. Not trying so much to be a son to her father. But getting in touch with her inner girl. "Instesad of shutting the gate, I opened it as wide as I could. I did not make any decision to do this; it was just what I did. Flora never slowed down; she galloped straight past me." I think this was the narrators own escape. I believe this is something any woman or girl would do. And to me it meant she was growing up. The ending to me seems positive because it shows the narrator standing up. Instead of always pleasing her father and trying to prove herself.
ReplyDeleteJulie--very interesting reading of the ending--you seem to see the narrator as embracing both the idea of freedom and the idea of being a girl in the end--conversation to be continued
DeleteWhy does the narrator let Flora escape? How does the narrator change at the end of the story?
ReplyDeleteIs this a positive or negative ending?
The Narrator lets Flora escape because she was able to relate with the horse, Flora to be a female horse was too wild, violent, fast and untamable, basically not so lady-like. I think the narrator saw herself the same way that she was able to see Flora and when the time came to kill this horse which she identified herself with she wanted to just set it free, the same way she wanted to be set free from all gender roles and stereotypes. She wanted to run free, no restrictions, no rules, just to be herself. I feel as though in the end the character just gives up and accepts the fact that she won't be able to change something that has been viewed as normal for so long and decides to accept what society considered to be the role of a female, so to me it was more of a negative ending.
Franchesca--good details connecting the narrator and the horse--wild, violent, fast, untameable--fine analysis of her feelings and desire for freedom--we'll probe that ending in class but it definitely, as you suggest, goes against all the narrator has been fighting for!
DeleteAlice Munro's "Boys and Girls" shows clearly the fluidity of gender. The narrator (who is nameless for possibly enigmatic, yet essential reasons) is a young "girl" - I will stay away from any definite ontological assertions - who identifies personally more with her father than with her mother. Throughout the story, "she" attempts to join herself to the "male domain" by simply acting the opposite of a girl. The narrator's attempts at being not-a-girl are shown when "[her] grandmother came to stay with [them] for a few weeks and [the narrator] heard other things. "Girls don't slam doors like that." "Girls keep their knees together when they sit down." And worse still, when ["she"] asked some questions, "That's none of girls’ business." [the narrator] continued to slam the doors and sit as awkwardly as possible, thinking that by such measures ["she"] kept ["her"]self free" (5). In this way, the narrator tried to distance "her"self from womanliness, into manliness, even if the attempts were trivial.
ReplyDeleteJoseph--not sure if her attempts are trivial or perhaps doomed! would like to talk more about the fluidity (and perhaps rigidity) of gender--love your observation that she is nameless and your suggestion that this is important...conversation to be continued.
DeleteQuestion 3- How are the foxes and the horse Flora symbolic of something important for the narrator?
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the story it was confusing at first to understand what all these animals had to do with the story and why they were put in it. but after reading it a second time, in my opinion I think that because Flora the horse is female it symbolizes the character of the story. Because the character always wanted to help her father but couldn't she thought about helping Flora and helping her escape for a brief moment maybe because that's how she felt. The character didn't want to see Flora get shot so she disobeyed her father and didn't do what she was told. the foxes symbolize that she wasn't able to help her father with anything that was male related. But with the horse because she was female it was a sign for the character to set herself free and not take orders for once. The foxes play a role of males being dominant and the horse plays a role in female being dominant.
Yelena--thank you for focusing on Flora and her relationship to the narrator and the way she is (for a moment anyway) setting herself free by setting Flora free--we need to discuss her recognition that ultimately she cannot free her however! I too am intrigued by the foxes and look forward to class's ideas about them.
DeleteIn the story Boys and Girls by Alice Munro. The narrator admires her father because of of his dominant role within their family. The father is the breadwinner of their household. The mother is homemaker. Her mother depends on her father to provide for their family. while her father goes out into the forest to hunt foxes, her mother is confined to the house. completing chores and tending to the children. The males in her family are superior to the women in her household. Her mother constantly tells her she can "only do but so much because your a girl". When her mother tells her brother to wash his hands before sitting at the table he ignores her. Not in till his father demands him does he wash his hands. The father represents masculinity and independence. As a man he is the authoritative figure in their household. He answers to no one not even his own wife. He can provide for himself while the mother is rendered helpless due to her gender role.
ReplyDeleteJunisa--you identify the contrasting gender roles effectively--try to quote more extensively from the text in making your claims!
DeleteAnalyze the mother's role in the story and the narrator's attitude toward the mother.
ReplyDeleteThe mother's role in the story is the typical housewife, she didn't pay much mind to her daughter because her daughter was what you call "rough around the edges". The narrator's attitude toward the mother was definitely resentment because she did not see herself behaving like her mother, which was being delicate amongst other things. The grandmother says "Girls don't slam doors like that.", and of course she did not listen and just kept behaving the way she felt was right because she did not care in how society views her. She rejected any idea of being like her mother possibly because she wanted to prove top her father she can do "manly" things.
Yaritza--good focus on narrator's desire to be "manly"--and the pressure she experiences from mother/grandmother--we need to probe her feelings a little more. Why does she resent the womanly tasks and identity so much?
DeleteI think that it’s a negative ending. I felt sad about that both man had to kill Flora. The girl truly believed that she will survive and tried to help her as much she could, and rescued that her father or mother will find out about it. I think when a girl opened the gate for the horse instead of closing it is because she understood the way she feels. The girl was lacking of freedom, and it relates to the gender role. The same way she was feeling about the horse that it needs freedom. The very last phrase of the father that really proved that females were treated differently was said in the last paragraph “ He spoke with resignation, even good humor the words which absolved and dismissed me for good. ”she’s only a girl,”” the word “only” in his phrase it seems like female means very little to him. However I was expecting in the end of the story that a girl will be punished however it turned out that her father just made fun of her.
ReplyDeleteKhrystyna--I like the way you connect the freedom of the horse with taht of the girl and I'm glad you focused on the father's last words--let's discuss more fully wnat it means when the narrator says he "absolved and dismissed her for good."
Deletein the short story, “Boys and Girls,” has a very interesting detail written into it. The narrator’s brother is named Laird, which was carefully chosen by the author. Laird is a synonym for lord (Websters/Dictionary), which plays a important role in a story where a young girl has society’s unwritten rules forced upon her. At the time of the story, society did not consider men and women equal. The name symbolized how the male child was superior in the parent’s eyes and in general. Along with that, the name also symbolizes the difference between the sexes when this story took place. The time when this story took place was a time when men and women were not equal. Mothers had traditional roles, which usually left them in the house, while men also had their roles, outside of the house. this is very similar to triffles mainly based on the roles women had an the way the were looked at by men
ReplyDeleteRomerson--yes--good connection to Trifles--do we have any clue as to the time of this story? Good research on boy's name and its significance. Try to quote from the story directly in supporting your points.
DeleteIn the short story Boys and Girls by Alice Munro, the narrator is a confused pre-teen who is just trying to find a place where she feels the most comfortable in. Not many would think that she is a confused pre-teen because all throughout the story she continuously mentions how much she enjoys working with her father outside, but I think she is confused. I think she is confused because as he story evolves her opinion changes about where she belongs. Just like in any home the mother always wants the daughter to help them in the kitchen and spend more time in the house rather than outside of the house. Unlike many other stories the mother is not the main focus in this one but yet she has a very strong impact on her daughter’s life and helping her see who she truly is and help bring that out of her. I feel like in this story the mothers role was like many passed stories we read where the mother is doing house duties such as cooking, cleaning, ironing etc. I may be viewing the mother differently than others but I think she has a major part in this story because she is the one that throughout the story is trying to guide her daughter to the “right path” like doing home duties instead of outdoor duties. In my opinion I feel like the narrator has a love hate relationship towards her mother rather than for her father. For instance the narrator states, “[M]y mother, who, if she was feeling cheerful, would tell me all sorts of things – the name of a dog she had had when she was a little girl “(p 43). I think this shows the affection/ connection she had with her mother because it sounds like she enjoyed to hear about her mother’s passed where on the other hand it was not the same with her father. Next, the narrator says, “My mother, I felt, was not to be trusted. She was kinder than my father and more easily fooled, but you could not depend on her—“(p 44). I think this shows an expression of the dislike she has towards her mother but it is also confusion all together.
ReplyDeleteSharina--very interesting to zero in on the narrator's conflict and confusion and you are right to help surface the mother's role and more complicated feelings on the part of the daughter...to be discussed more today!
Delete“Boys and Girls” story is about a girl that is fighting against gender roles. At the beginning of the story the narrator had a good relationship with the man in her family, maybe it is because she look them as equal, but as time go she found out through other people’s commentaries that “girls” are suppose to act different .Even that at the beginning she refuse to act like she was suppose to act, because she saw herself as a powerful and independent girl in her dreams and in her father’s job. And she also lost respect for her mother’s subservient position when she helps her in the kitchen, like rejecting the woman role and want something better for her. At the end when the narrator’s father wanted to kill Flora, a beautiful, violent, fast female horse. She stands up against male domination helping Flora to escape, even when her father told her to stop it. The main character sees in Flora her own desires of freedom and dreams, and when she let the horse escape, something in her interior go away like her rebellion against gender roles. The main character who’s name is unknown - maybe trying to symbolize the lack of identity of the girl-let her brother to be superior like it was suppose to be. She accepts that she is just a girl trying to find a place in a men world but also trying became herself.
ReplyDeleteGaby--I especially like your reading of the freeing of Flora as a stance against male domination--isn't this ironic that this act places her in the feminine position--according to the men (father and son)!
Delete3)
ReplyDeleteIn the story “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro, the mother’s role in the story is to represent the way women behave, their responsibilities, proper mannerism, and the different tasks that involve being a housewife/women. The narrator‘s view housework as monotone, tedious, and never ending. For example “It seemed to me that work in the house was endless, dreary, and peculiarly depressing.” (Munro) The narrator detested doing housework, the horror of being trap in the kitchen peeling or sorting. However, she longed for the outdoors work along her fathers’ side it made her feel free, courageous, helpful, important and valuable. She viewed her mother as the enemy “It seemed to me she would do this simply out of perversity, and to try her power”(Munro) as if her mother was trying to make her life miserable and prevent her from enjoyable activities such as working side by side with her father. The narrator’s attitude towards the mother is of a hate, resentment and fear. The narrators’ fear towards her mother because she knows eventually she would have to assume household chores and the chores would become entirely part of her everyday routine. “I just get my back turned and she runs off. It’s not like I had a girl in the family at all”. The resentment towards her mother for allowing more time outdoors and for thinking of her as fragile, sensitive, and as weak. Ultimately, I feel as if the mother’s role it’s connected to the narrator’s attitude towards the mother. It is the mother’s role to showcase women’s values, feelings, and position on life that causes the narrators’ negative attitude toward the mother. It is because the narrator knows she is expected to become like her mother and leave being the outdoors as if the kitchen doors slowly close on her.
Izabella--thank you for focusing so precisely on the mother's identity and role--I especially like your comment that the mother's role is connected to the narrator's attitude--we see this playing out in the story as the narrator seeks to escape and as you say so eloquently at the end, the kitchen doors are closing on her!
DeleteThrough the characters of the story “Boys and Girls,” by Alice Munroe, the author characterizes gender coding and the balance of masculinity and femininity. The narrator clearly sees her father as hardworking and a role model and prefers to be in his company than of her mothers. She is motivated to become like him, who is the primary source of inspiration in the stories she tells herself before going to bed. In the beginning, the narrator identifies herself as “one of the boys.” She chooses to work outdoors beside her father in a male dominated environment, rather than helping her mother in the kitchen, indoors. She perceives working in the kitchen as a waste of time and feels ill towards her mother for trying to control her freedom. It is when the narrator gets older, that she is able to identify the attributes that distinguish both genders such as her brother having more physical strength than she does. She also realizes how she did not put much meaning into what it meant to be a girl until she was pushed by the boundaries of gender coding. She comes to the understanding that, “The word girl had formerly seemed to me innocent and unburdened like the word child; now it appeared that it was no such thing. A girl was not, as I had supposed, simply what I was; it was what I had to become. It was a definition, always touched with emphasis, with reproach and disappointment. Also it was a joke on me.” She attempts to remain in the male domain by testing gender codes. She speaks of things she is not supposed to and refrains from proper mannerisms, all of which are forced upon the female gender. She finds beauty in the foxes and admires their faces, “They were beautiful for their delicate legs and heavy, aristocratic tails and the bright fur sprinkled on dark down their back-which gave them their name-but especially for their faces, drawn exquisitely sharp in pure hostility, and their golden eyes.” It is symbolic that the foxes are portrayed as aggressive, brave, hostile, sharp, ruling and territorial animals; all attributes that associate with masculinity. It is opposite of what a horse is symbolic of; gentle, free spirited creatures. The narrator struggles to find a balance between her masculinity and femininity as she begins to agree with her mother and have a dislike for her father’s pelting operation. She also gains a sense to protect her brother and worries for his emotional being, which is very matriarch of her. When she frees the horse, Flora, she is symbolically giving into her femininity and accepts the change to occur.
ReplyDeleteJulie--very thoughtful analysis of the struggle/tension between masculinity/femininity--I'm especially struck (as you are) by the beauty of her description of the foxes and look forward to discussing the way she sees them--haven't quite figured out their role in the story--you are certainly right about their masculine hostility but they are also "desiccate". . .and they are imprisoned! I wonder what that means!
DeleteThe narrator in “Boys and Girls” was a tenacious young girl, who stuck to her passion regardless of the suggested gender roles. Considered a “tomboy” perhaps, she enjoyed accompanying her father in his manly farm labor, which created a disconnection and despise towards her mother. Near the ending of the story, the narrator sympathized with a female horse, Flora, as the animal’s death was creeping closer. Flora’s predictable plight made the girl uneasy and disgraced. For example, she mentioned on page 48, “I did not have any great feelings of horror and opposition...yet I felt a little ashamed, and there was new wariness, a sense of holding-off, in my attitude to my father and his work.” This quote implies that the girl was now growing into her womanly instincts of caring and protecting. As a result, she became more hesitant of partaking in her father’s farm duties. When the day arrived for Flora to be killed, the horse boldly dashed across a long L-shaped field near the house. Instead of closing the gate to quickly end Flora’s escape, the girl opened it as wide as possible. This courageous effort portrayed the narrator’s transformation from a resilient kid to a heroic young lady. By assisting in Flora’s emancipation, the girl released her own free spirit of burdensome gender roles. When the narrator’s brother, Laird, revealed that the girl had contributed to the horse’s escape, she began to cry. The father then responded, “She’s only a girl.” For the first time in the story, the girl embraced this fact instead of fighting it. The ending is positive because it shows the narrator’s progression from “tomboy” to a mature young lady.
ReplyDeleteBrianna--I admire the way you trace the narrator's evolution and you support your ideas with strong examples. The ending of the story leaves me with a question about her acceptance of her gender role--we can discuss this today--I feel as though it's a little ambiguous as to whether she thinks it's good or bad or just inevitable!
ReplyDeleteAlice Munro gives us a theme, the bedroom her brother laird and herself share. Before going to sleep she comforts herself with covers and begins telling herself stories, "when I had grown a little older; they took place in a world that was recognizably mine, yet one that presented opportunities for courage, boldness, and self-sacrifice, as mine never did." The example above is one of the stories she dreams about and imagines herself as a hero. Around the 1900's woman where stereotyped and looked at as somebody who ought to stay home and take care of home while the man brings the meat home. In the text we are told that the mother often never came out the house unless she had to do something- hang out the wash or dig potatoes in the garden. The mother was described as looking out of place, her apron would usually be around her, her hair tied up in an handkerchief which she never had time to do it properly and it would stay tied the whole day. On the other hand while the mother had been doing house work, our main character would be given jobs in the kitchen to do such as peeling peaches that had to be soaked in hot water and cutting up onions . When cutting up onions, her eye begins tearing and as soon as she is done, she runs out the house so her mother does not tell her anymore to do. The narrator had love for her mother except she felt her mother was someone she couldn't trust. Although her mother loves her, she felt like her mother was an enemy for always trying to get her to stay in the house knowing she hated it. It had kept her away from working with her father which was something she truly enjoyed doing. Gender stereo types had a lot of impact on woman in the 1900's (specifically the 1940's). Girls shouldn't be looked at as keeping their knees together while the men did the masculine things around the house. Woman should not be given an identity because they create it themselves. Our environment is what shapes us and molds us to become gender stereotypical. We come to this world create self-identity, therefore we shall except one another for whom we are and what we want to do.
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ReplyDeleteI've heard before that we become that which we meet with the most resistance. I find this to be true and recognize the fruition of this principle in Alice Munro's ''Boys and Girls''. In this story, the narrator has a clear distaste for her mother and her mothers ''ways''. She says, ''My mother, I felt, was not to be trusted...you could not depend on her, and the real reason for the things she said and did were not to be known''. Ironically, by the end of the story, through her own actions, the narrator portrays the same characteristic of veiling the reasons for her actions. When her father asks her why she let Flora go she does not answer. Instead, she waits ''to be sent from the table, still not looking up''. In our previous readings, we've identified and discussed the theme of women exerting their power through silence. Though the narrator may not be aware of the power contained in silence, she certainly has seen it before in her mother. Now, she herself is choosing silence. The role of the mother in this story is to reflect the very thing that the narrator fights so hard to distance herself from. She ultimately begins to find herself molding into this unwanted shape, and this is seemingly inevitable whether it be due to environmental circumstances or a natural progression of biology amd essence. It would be comforting to know that the narrator develops her silence into the power that women naturally possess, but it is possible that this silence evolves into the loneliness or jealously that she realizes her mother might have felt. Speaking about how her mother was plotting to keep her in the house more, she says, ''It seemed to me she would do this simply out of perversity, and to try her power. It did not occur to me that she could be lonely, or jealous. No grown-up could be''. We can gather then, that perhaps, through reflection, the narrator realizes the vulnerability in her mothers objections and turns her own silence into power.
ReplyDeleteIn "Boys And Girls," by Alice Munro, the narrator is not pleased with her mother's identity. The narrator's mother hardly comes outside, if she does, according to the narrator it is solely to hang washed clothes on a like or dig potatoes in the garden. Her mother always resided in the kitchen, a place which the narrator never liked to visit because it was "hot and dark." We know that Cecile's mother never had time to talk with her daughter because she was always preoccupied with chores. Cecile hated house work with her mother for it was boring, a waste of time, dreary, endless and depressing. Because Cecile hated being in the kitchen, she thought it was the only reason her mother would ask for her to be there in the house. Cecile's mothers role sounds miserable. Never having time to do your hair as a woman might make one feel less desirable. Cecile thought her mother was out to get her, plotting against her, and was not to be trusted. I can relate to Cecile because as a child, if I didn't like to do a particular chore and someone tells be to do it, I would think they told me to do so only because I hated doing that particular chore. It is almost as Cecile is exaggerating but this is truly how she is feeling towards her mother. I think the narrator has come to know that her mother was raised to do household duties and wants the same for her daughter because it is the only thing she can teach her. It just so happens that Cecile hates what her mother does and see's her as a boring person she would never want to become. +DrVan
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