Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Marriage

Alice Munro is a Canadian short story writer and Nobel Prize Winner. In her article “What is Real”, Alice Munro discusses the difficulty many of her readers seem to have in telling fact from fiction as she writes about her own fictional works. Her readers, she recounts, often ask her if she writes about real people, or real events, apparently unable to comprehend “the difference between autobiography and fiction” (Munro). However, by the end of her article on the subject, “What Is Real?” Munro admits that the imagination is one she herself often blurs. “Yes,” she writes, “I use bits of what is real, in the sense of being really there and really happening, in the world, as most people see it, and I transform it into something […] in my story” (Munro). In other words, Munro sees her work as a kind of fiction because she uses both reality and fact. This makes her work honest but yet not real at the

The theme of the story is under some circumstances people can be blind to the truth. Character Edie determines the style of the story by talking about the circumstances of her life as a fifteen year old girl and as an older woman. She retells the stories of those that she has known, and the man that she believed she loved deeply. Sometimes the things we want to happen may not be the things that life has for us. We need to be open to all the opportunities in life that are different from what we believe.

In this essay I will be comparing the two short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin, is centered around a woman by the name Louise Mallard and her reaction after being informed of her husbands “death”, On the other hand “The Yellow Wallpaper” Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is about Jane, A young, newly married mother who at the time is undergoing care because of her depression. Although both essays have their similarities and differences I will be focusing mainly on the themes of Freedom, Isolation and Oppression. I will also be focusing on how the themes appear within both short stories and do a compare and contrast about the way the themes appear in the two short stories.

Nevertheless, the protagonist showed satisfaction, she described how even the smell was parsimony to the orange and pine - "I found it reassuringly seasonal, like the smell of oranges and pine needles" (Munro 2). However, she is forced to work with her mother in the kitchen, just because she was a woman and had to learn and make the woman work inside the house, "I hated the hot dark kitchen in summer "(Munro 14), that is what she meant when she had to do something she did not enjoy. The woman as opposed to the man had a restriction of what work could be performed and was suitable for her, just as in story, she could not realize her desires because even if she helped her father even so her help was nothing compared to the help from his brother who was a

The story, “Runaway”, written by Alice Munro, suggests how human beings try to escape from their problems when they cannot manage them. The story tells how a girl in a bad marriage who unable to deal with it runs from the situation but later came back, refuses a chance of escape from her abusive husband. Even the goat Flora who cannot be fully tamed as an animal runs away and Carla is described as a girl who wants the attention from her husband that she does not get and runs away from him. Carla’s nature is like the goat Flora because they both escape from their situations. Munro shows parallels between Flora and Carla, which argues that Flora’s behavior mirrors Carla’s relationship with Clark.

Firstly, Munro displays society’s weak and stereotypical view of women through the protagonist’s mother. The mother acts exactly as society expects girls to, staying inside the house, cooking and cleaning. For example, the mother “did not often come out of the house unless it was to do something – hang out the wash or dig potatoes in the garden.” (43) indicating that her sole purpose was to be inside the home. However, although women are expected to be weak and silenced, the protagonist opposes herself to society’s expectations. While most girls are expected to help their mother in the kitchen and stay inside, the protagonist prefers to “help my father when he cut the long grass, and the lamb’s quarter and flowering money-musk, that grew between the pens. He cut with the scythe and I raked into piles.” (43) Due to the protagonist preferring to work outside with her father it makes her mother feel as though, “It’s not like I (she) had a girl in the family at all.” (44) which is evidence that the protagonist defies gender conventions by participating in male-oriented tasks. Munro expresses the protagonist’s unconventionality through the use of symbolism in Flora the horse. Flora is viewed as, “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.” (44) Whereas, the other horse Mack, is described at “slow and easy to handle” (44) The inclusion of the comparison amongst Mack and Flora is to show the reader that Flora’s wild and brave personality is not common and is seen as unconventional which represents the protagonist and her separation from the norm.

"All of it is clear to a person who has understanding and right to those who have acquired knowledge." (Proverbs 8:6-9)

There was a time when society did not consider men and women as equal. Men were considered as the superior human being and the dominant figures of authority in the house while the woman had to be a subservient. Alice Munro uses some interesting details in “Boys and Girls” to hold the readers captive. She takes us on a journey in an era where the male child was deemed more important than the female child. “Boys and Girls is a story about a girl’s struggle in accepting the role society has forced upon her in such a vivid manner that it draws the reader to want to know what happens next. In “Telling Tails,” by Tim O’Brien, he illustrates what a good story should be by using story examples. O’Brien believes that “Boys and Girls” is good story because the author uses a well-imagined plot, striking and dramatic elements, and the ability to reach deep into the heart of readers.

“How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro is a short story about Edie, a fifteenth year old girl, who works at Dr. Peebles and Mrs.Peebles house taking care of their children, cleaning the house, preparing the vegetables and occasionally baking desserts. One day they heard a plane pass by, and they ran into the yard to look. Their neighbor Loretta Bird mentioned that the plane was close to hitting their house and began to talk about the plane. She also specified that the pilot received permission to use the fairgrounds and give residents rides to see the neighborhood from above. The next day when Edie finished her tasks early, she sometimes would look at Mrs. Peebles’ clothes and even tried on a dress and put makeup on. She headed to the kitchen to drink ginger ale and gets startled by a man, named Chris Watters, standing outside the door. He mentions he 's the pilot of the plane and asks if he can obtain some water from the pump. He complimented and thanked her and left to the pump. After she rushed to take off the dress and wash her face before Mrs. Peebles arrived to the house. Mrs. Peebles commenced to ask questions about the man, but Edie contemplated on becoming fired if the man revealed how she dressed. After the Dr. and Mrs. Peebles departed to the theater, Edie ensured the children were sleeping then headed outside. She desired to talk to Chris to make sure he wouldn 't say anything about her dressed up. He assured he wouldn 't reveal anything and offered her a

In the story Red Dress 1946 by Alice Munro Individuality and Conformity is discussed. Some examples of this is during the story is “there was a carnival atmosphere of brutality in the room at such times, scaring weak and suspect people like me”. The reason this is important to the text and idea of the essay is because we often feel left out when we are ourselves. In life, we want to fit in we are made to want this just like the main character in the story she wants a “dress like my friend Lonnie had.” Is it implied that she is in a poor finance situation, as many were at that time.

Alice Munro is one of the most honored writers of Canada. She started writing short stories of the same themes due to her lack of time to write longer ones and because she had to take care of three children. Her famous short story of Wild Swan comes from The Beggar Maid: Stories of Rose and Flo that was published in 1982. Rose’s trip to Toronto allows her to explore an aspect of her sexuality that she had been longing to, but the result is very different from what she expects. This is shown through her desire to acquire superficial material in order to look attractive to man’s eyes, through her step-mother warnings that she rejects, through her experience with a “minister” in the train and her transformation at the end.

Early in their lives, two young sisters, Ruth and Lucille, experience loss and abandonment from the men in the family. Their grandfather had died in a train derailment into Lake Fingerbone before they were born, and their father leaves them while they are very young. Then their mother commits suicide, but not before dropping the girls off on their grandmother’s porch. Moreover, then, “she sailed in Bernice’s Ford from the top of a cliff named Whiskey Rock into the blackest depth of the lake (23), again into Lake Fingerbone. After only a few months their grandmother dies leaving the girls to the remainder of the family, a collection of eccentric females. The girls deal with all of this by relying on each other. Soon, their great Aunt’s,

When writing a narrative, authors may be consistent with certain components in their composition. Authors seem to carry out corresponding elements of fiction or themes throughout their works and this can be revealed through analyzing them. The elements of fiction are plot, setting, character, symbol, and point of view. These factors aid in constructing the overall theme of a story. In the short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm”, both written by Kate Chopin, it is axiomatic that Chopin deliberately constructs similarities and differences in her stories’ elements of fiction and themes, which sets the stage for the narratives overall tone.

ven though the article is a difficult read and hard to comprehend at some points, the article is a valuable resource because the article is supported by a mountain of evidence, organized and Lynn Blin understand Alice Munro’s writing style. Lynn Blin understands the way Alice Munro’s writing style works with the underlying dark or “naughty” concepts of “Friend of My Youth”. The article does not only analyze the story itself but the writing techniques and the deeper meanings, or as the writer, Lynn Blin says the different narratives. Throughout the article itself, she goes into detail about the different narrators and how each narrator sees how the world works and the situations that the characters face. Blin mainly focuses on the words

In Alice Munro’s short story “Differently,” the main character Georgia recounts memories of Maya and their fallout when she visits her friend’s widowed husband many years later. Upon her visit, her mind is flooded with memories of friendship, infidelity, and broken trust which inevitably disconnected her from Maya and Ben (Georgia’s husband). Throughout the text, the author highlights the main character’s inability to filter through many details as she describes the end of various relationships following Maya’s betrayal. The author’s thorough description of settings, characters, and events emphasizes Georgia’s difficulty in focusing on what details of her life are important, as most of them seem important to her.