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Axis By Alice Munro Analysis

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Life can change in an instant. It is impossible to know what the future has in store. In Axis by Alice Munro and Anything Helps by Jess Walter, the two main characters, Grace and Bit, are faced with crisis after there lives begin to change. In both stories judgment from society boxes in the main characters, the loss of friends and family support contributes to the characters’ miseries, and the characters are not able to cope as outcasts. Judgment from society is a major contributor in mental stabilization. It is easy to listen to other’s opinions if you are not mentally strong. In Axis, Grace lets judgment from her boyfriend get to her. She is strong about remaining a virgin with her boyfriend, Royce, until he has dinner with her family: “In the lane he tried putting his arm around Grace, but the embrace was awkward, …show more content…

This leave Grace in a bad situation because she ends up ruining her life based on a decision triggered by society’s pressures. In Anything Helps, the protagonist, Bit, is met by boys in the baseball caps who roll down their windows just to yell and violently throw spare change at him at an intersection. “Get a job, you stinking drunk” (Walter 295). They immediately assume that because he is homeless that he also is a drunk. This is a prime example of how judgment from society boxes in Bit. They have no background of his story and automatically assume that he is lazy and has never tried to get a job. This attitude most likely originated from the boys’ parents. They show no regard for Bit’s well-being or feelings. The immediately dehumanize him. Later, a wealthier man in a Mercedes drives by and decides to play a game with Bit. He asks him a series of personal questions. It seems as though the man is being friendly with the homeless man, but we quickly realize that he is messing with Bit. He offers Bit twenty

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