Beyond any doubt, the story titled, The Office, written by an highly praised author, Alice Munro, is one of the finest works of literature that stirs the minds of the eager readers to the very core. A close analysis of this story can make one realize how the author digs into the issue of patriarchy and its influences on the females of the society by portraying the female protagonist (character) as an typical character. The manner in which the author presents the earnest attempt of the female character to break away from the overcoming influence of the expectations of the patriarchal (male) society is truly worthy. The author aims to highlight the utmost importance for equality and independence of females of the society. Thus, the fictional story works as a very effective social document that critiques the status quo of gender discrimination and subjugation that is meted out to the female folks of the society. Now, in terms of the setting used by the author, the contextual story can be distinguished into two parts. Toward the beginning of the narrative, the protagonist goes on to reveal to the readers about her personal dissatisfaction about the situation at her home. The narration is provided from the perspective of the female protagonist, thereby enhancing the insight of the readers into her psyche and perspective. The story portrays how the character feels limited by being reduced to play the roles of a housewife and a mother. It needs to be calculated in this
In addition, the author helps the reader understand the selfishness of the mother when the reader finds out she have stole the Persian Carpet “several months before” (230) the divorce and puts the blame on Ilya, the poor blind man. Furthermore, the visit of the children is supposed to signal a fresh start for the family. The mother even emphasizes she wants the girls to come “live with [them]” (229). Yet again, even if they meet in order to reunite, characterized by a situational irony, they see themselves separated because of her mother selfish decisions.
In the short story, the writer tells a woman’s depression which guides her to break the limits and restrictions over woman. The woman who has no name or identity symbolises all women’s suppressed position in patriarchal society. In the story, the woman describes the house and her rooms with the words; ancestral hall, old-fashioned chintz, barred windows, heavy-immovable bed. The descriptions depict the house as patriarchy’s realm. Also, the yellow wallpaper’s surrounding of her shows the woman in a trapped, confined and repressed position. Not only the yellow symbolise the weakness, but the paper also
The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.
In “Desiree’s Baby” and “The Story of an Hour” there are two distinguishable women who are dependent on and controlled by their husbands both physically and emotionally. In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard is restricted by the institution of marriage while, in “Desiree’s Baby” Desiree is confined to her husband because of her dependency on him.
In everyday life, a relation is always identified as trust and support. In this novel, a relation between a husband and a wife is shown in a different way. Min, one of the characters in the story, is shown losing her mental stability and is living with her two children. She did not have any contact with her husband in few years and neither did he try to contact
The women of the story are not treated with the respect, which reflects their social standings. The first image of the women that the reader gets is a typical housewife. They are imaged as “wearing faded house dresses and
Her unforeseen actions are due to the rest care tradition, which has progressively worsened her mental state and caused her to overlook her role as a caring wife in desperation to escape the imprisonment of the tradition. As witnessed from the two short stories, conflicts arise amidst families due to the events of old traditions, establishing a divide between family members that is difficult to overcome once constructed.
The narrator is totally crushed by the gender discrimination. She longed to be seen by her mother and her grandma. The narrator is heartbroken that her mother loved her brother more than her and failed to notice her. “When she went into Nonso’s room to say good night, she always came out laughing that laugh. Most times, you pressed your palms to your ears to keep the sound out, and kept your palms pressed to your ears, even when she came into your room to say Good night, darling, sleep well. She never left your room with that laugh” (190). Her agony can be easily seen by the way of her narrating. She does not get the affection that she deserves. She really needs the affection from her own mother, but she is not getting it. She compares the love which her mother shows to his brother and herself. This is gender discrimination can be seen with her grandmother too. She hated her grandma as she would always support her brother and find fault with her. Even though what the brother did, no matter what crime. Her mother and grandmother always supported her brother and never supported or showed interest towards
This highlights the realistic atmosphere prevailing as well as reflects the true meaning of relationship. The readers are exposed to the mother-son relationship. It can be seen that even if the narrator is a twenty-year old law student, he is still the little boy who needed his neck scrubbed from the point of view of the mother. Whatever good advice the son gives, it is not followed and instead he is given a lecture. This is a typical mother-son relationship which shows that no matter how much a child grows, he always remains a little kid for the mother. Moreover, the readers also notice the routine life of the narrator and his mother. The boy used to accompany his mother to work and help her which makes a four-hour job becomes two. There is solidarity, strong family bond and understanding between them because although he did not like his mother
him, therefore, she lives with her sister and his husband as a result. This shows the mother’s priorities
This essay will explore the function of the narrative which helps the readers to perceive the meaning of the narrative. It will do so in terms of the point of view, narrative voice as well as the structure of the narrative. Furthermore, the setting of the story will be another focus which exploits the generic convention which reflects the social anxiety behind the story at the time. I
The lack of control women have in a society mainly controlled by men is presented through the author’s effective use of anecdote. In the beginning, when the speaker introduces the audience to her relationship, in which her partner takes lead in day-to-day activities, the audience immediately get an insight into the lack of power women receive with the author’s use of anecdote. The speaker is quick to tell the readers about her“[h]olding the log / while he sawed it. Holding / the strings while he measured” (Atwood lines 1-3). Atwood employs anecdote as the speaker’s explanation of helping her partner out in everyday activities is presented to the reader in forms of an account of an event in the speaker’s life. This forms a greater insight for the reader, as the anecdote creates an understanding of the way the actions in day-to-day activities men and women take when together, women are appointed smaller tasks within a society, which is dominated by men, whereas men are the driving force and do the important parts of the activities. Furthermore, when the speaker describes herself sitting in
In the story the author portrays the protagonist differently from the other characters because she talks about the physical appearance of other characters and when it comes to the narrator we have no idea what she looks like but she is developed partially through her relationship with other characters, although we the readers do come the find out that the narrator is around the age of 15-17 years old and we can assume that she has a bad relationship with her parents because first of all she talks about them maybe once or twice in the whole story and second of all we know that they sent her to boarding school so that alone proves that her relationship with them is lacking. As readers we also know that she has trouble opening up in the story she say “To open your heart. You open your legs but can’t, or don’t dare anyone, to open your heart” (237). This is a prime example of how author characterizes the protagonist as broken and emotionally damaged. And as the story progress the author becomes more honest with us the readers and herself, she starts the reveal the pain she is in and how lonely she feels. The narrator gives us an example of how she feels after sex by saying “After sex, you curl up like a shrimp, something deep inside you ruined, slammed in a place that sickness at
“Boys and Girls” is a short story, by Alice Munro, which illustrates a tremendous growing period into womanhood, for a young girl living on a fox farm in Canada, post World War II. The young girl slowly comes to discover her ability to control her destiny and her influences on the world. The events that took place over the course of the story helped in many ways to shape her future. From these events one can map the Protagonist’s future. The events that were drawn within the story provided the Protagonist with a foundation to become an admirable woman.
The plot is simple and well organized, which describes the daily life activities on a rented farm from sunrise to dusk. The story remains coherent with no twists. It revolves around the heroine’s sentiment and emotion from being expectant to disappointed in the morning and resentful to acceptable in the evening. There is a flashback