Alice Munro is a critically acclaimed Canadian author who is recognized by her unique style of writing. Readers have been so drawn to her self-aware manner of narration that she is celebrated as one of the most thoughtful modern writers of the short story in Canada (Blodgett). Munro was born in southern Ontario, which is where most of her short stories are based. When describing her interpersonal style of storytelling, Munro said, “The stories are not autobiographical, but they’re personal in that way. I seem to know only the things that I’ve learned. Probably some things through observation, but what I feel I know surely is personal” ("Go Ask Alice"). According to Munro, her inspiration typically came from experiences in her own life, the …show more content…
It follows the story of an elderly couple, Grant and Fiona. Throughout the course of the story, Grant and Fiona transform from smitten college students to an elderly couple with flashbacks of experiences they endured between then and now. Grant and Fiona’s marriage goes through different stages, nevertheless remaining intact. Munro brilliantly weaves love, time, betrayal, aging, and psychological disorientation into the prominent theme of change while depicting the journey of an ageless …show more content…
Both are attracted by the opposites in one another. For example, Fiona is drawn to Grant’s small town phrases and got amusement from repeating them. Grant is so captivated by Fiona that “he never wanted to be away from her” (Munro). Fiona is an electric mixture of paradoxes— direct and vague as well as sweet and sarcastic. Grant thinks “She had the spark of life” (Munro). Their marriage begins with an informal proposal by Fiona when she shouts, “Do you think it would be fun—do you think it would be fun if we got married?” (Munro). Grant agrees to this arrangement emphatically, but the zest their marriage is founded on slowly fades with time (Wei and Tang,
“Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Munro is a story involving two girls and their short lasting friendship. In their sixth grade class, Myra does not socialize. She spends most of her time taking care and watching her little brother Jimmy. For the first time in years one of her classmates, Helen, feels slightly bad for her and makes an effort to connect with her. Right after their meeting, Myra is sick with leukemia and she becomes the most talked about person among her peers. They visit her in the hospital bringing gifts and kind words. Helen also brings a gift for her but feels that everything her classmates have given Myra are “guilt-tinged offerings”. They have similarities and differences. Myra and Helen are both are poor and
In Alice Munro short story “Boys and Girls” is about a young girl confused in life about herself maturing into a young women that takes place on a fox farm in Jubilee, Ontario, Canada with her parents and her younger brother. The character of the young girl that is not specified by a name in the story is struggling with the roles that are expected by her peers of a young women in the 1940’s. This young girl has been helping her father on the fox farm for many years in which brought so much of a joy in her life. As she gets older, as well and as her younger brother Laird grows older, she is starting to realize that her younger brother will be soon be taking over the roles and responsibility of taking care of the animals. Then her mother and grandmother points out the anticipations of her to start acting more like how a young women of her age should present themselves and this has great emotional effects on her, and at the end of the story she shows a final act of disobedience against her father, but it only shows the thing she resist the most, her maturing into a young women and becoming her own person.
William Faulkner’s novella “The Bear” from his collection of works, Go Down Moses, is a symbolic exploration of the relationship between man and nature in the eyes of a young boy. The heart of the issue, the warped idea of the ownership of land, is revealed thought the clash of man and nature in a wild chase that ends only in blood and death. The prey is nature itself, represented by a bear, while the hunters are men, full of greed and destructive possessiveness, pursuing that which they do not understand. Ike’s idea of the bear, presented in section 1 of the novella, expresses the idea of symbolism in relation to the bear and to the hunters and what the battle between the two represents.
Margaret Laurence was a Canadian novelist born in Manitoba. She liked to travel and she based some of her works on the places she visited. Five of her books are based on a town called Manawaka, though it is fiction, it is based on her birthplace. The story The Mask of the Bear by Margaret Laurence, portrays a young girl that lives in an unhealthy environment, this is shown through the themes of entrapment and loneliness, through certain aspects of Vanessa’s writing by using her mind and body to escape, and furthermore, the story also combines the symbolism of wearing a mask. The theme of entrapment and loneliness displays how Vanessa lives in an unhealthy home. Through Vanessa’s writing, it is revealed that she uses her mind and body to
E.K. Johnston draws information from Shakespeare’s, “The Winter’s Tale,” to write her book, “Exit, Pursued by a Bear.” For example, E.K. Johnston bases her story’s conflict on Shakespeare’s work. The conflict in her story is how a girl struggles to obtain control of her life after being violated (Johnston 58); whereas, Shakespeare’s story conflict is about a woman was falsely accused of having an affair and suffered injustices (2.1). Johnston’s story is very similar to Shakespeare’s, because both have a girl or woman struggle because of other’s actions. Hermione in “Exit, Pursued by a Bear,” struggles to manage of her life after she was sexually violated, and Hermione in “The Winter’s Tale,” was in prison because her husband thought she was
Equality between men and women is not always accepted in society. In the previous era, men were seen as the person who had the rights to rule over others and who could work outside the home. But the woman was seen only as a woman from home, she had the responsibility of taking care of the children, doing all household chores and her opinion was never considered. In Alice Munro story “Boys and Girls “, the narrator of the story is a girl who lives on a fox farm with her parents and a younger brother but her character is seen between the conflict with society and her desires because the difference of role that plays each genre.
The text uses main character, Clare, to demonstrate how an individual's abandonment of their own race in pursuit of better life ultimately leaves them feeling lost in society. Clare represents this pursual of a better life, by passing in order to marry into
In E.K Johnston’s Exit, Pursued by a Bear, Hermione Winters was sexually assaulted at a cheerleading camp party. This is a huge problem for Hermione because it affects her entire life and she has many problems to deal with as a result. She overcomes this event by getting help and support. The help and support she gets is mostly from her best friend and her parents. Her mother supported her decisions and helped her through the entire event. Her mother is educated and knows where to go to get help. Not only does she overcome this event but she also overcomes her negative feelings and thoughts. Parents who want to educate their kids on sexual assault and rape should read E.K Johnston’s Exit, Pursued by a Bear because it informs parents on their role before and after a traumatic event through education and unconditional love.
Love exists in the short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” by Alice Munro and in the short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver. in Munro’s short story the plot is that of a mentally ill wife, Fiona, who falls in love with another patient while her husband still tries to hang on to their old love. Her husband eventually wants to have an affair with the wife of the man his wife is having an affair with. Their love changed because of their circumstances due to ill health. Carver’s story discusses the different definitions of love due to the type and quality of relationships; everyone has a different definition. Love also exists all over the world within different environments and cultures. The concept of love depends upon the environment in which it inhabits. Love is dependent on the life of the people in love and it also depends on their current environment. Nature and nurture are also huge factors into the development and process of love. What nature and nurture mean is whether it is due to how the person lives and acts along with their personality compared to whether it’s all in their genetics beforehand. Love is more on the nurture side instead of the nature side of human experience.
The climax in the both the story(Munro, 2013) and the film (Egoyan, et al., 2006) is when Grant comes back to Meadowlake after the thirty days and finds Fiona has forgotten all about him and has taken up with Aubrey. Fiona cares for Aubrey as a child but
Harvey Fierson once said,“never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accepts no one’s definition of your life, but define it yourself.” Throughout life many people struggle to find who they are or the person they want the world to see. One can say this dilemma stems from the human need of belongingness, as demonstrated in Maslow 's hierarchy of needs. “Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Munro depicts this idea through the relationship, that is formed between the main characters Helen and Myra. Helen can be viewed as a dynamic and round character because her personality shifted a lot throughout the story. The reader was also allowed to see her battle with “self” from the beginning to end of the narrative. Myra on the other hand, would be a foil or static character. This is due to the fact that Myra remained constant and she was the reason behind Helen’s actions and thoughts. However for this analysis we will focus solely on Helen and how her character was affected and evolved. She was a very weak-minded, submissive, and scared individual, who later exhibit qualities of bravery. At the end we can see how she began to step into who she was as an individual. Now we will look at how Helen was affected mentally, socially and emotionally.
A very interesting movie On Golden Pond. Not only learning as you get older there are a lot of changes as well when exploring your adolescent’s years. Confusing, anxiety, anger, and a lot more feelings that occur throughout the journey to late adulthood. The movie was mainly on the characters Billy, Chelsea, Ethel, and Norman who were viewed dealing with biological, cognitive, sociological experiences while dealing with obstacles of family struggles.
Tobias Wolff is a writer known for his memoirs and realistic short stories. “Hunters in the Snow” is a story about three friends, Tub, Frank, and Kenny, who go hunting in the snow. Wolff writes about humanity through the friendship of the three friends and the events they go through.
After the Civil War, the American Southerners had a strong trauma that could not be forgotten. Considering that William Faulkner was also one of these Southerners, approaching to his texts through a psychoanalytic lens would be a meaningful work. In fact, Faulkner is one of the rare writers who faced Southern racial ‘taboo’: the miscegenation. In addition, a Southern Renaissance that what Faulkner does with the South through his novels are very similar with what Freud did with the European civilization after the World War I in his work about ‘psychoanalytic mourning’ (Lee 229). Actually, Faulkner went through the World War I just like Freud did and he is one of the “Lost Generations”: a group of writers who were strongly affected by the inhumanity of war. Thus, this essay will focus on analyzing Faulkner’s “The Bear” in psychoanalytical view.
was how Alice Walker grew up. She has written stories about her life, and stories that have had