Equality In Boys And Girls By Alice Munro

The object of examining gender roles is to answer the question why should women and men be equal and "Are there populations in which men and women are absolutely equal? Are there societies in which women dominate men?" (Gender 238) By understanding the culture in which this piece of literature is written, the gender roles and the rules of behavior for a woman, then the relationships between genders can be realized. The general myth about women and their gender role in the American society is that the mother works in the home and supports her man in every way. For each relationship, the people in that relationship must decide the particular roles that they will play. In the literary work "Girl", Kincaid shows clearly that the woman's role in this work was to serve the family and to work mainly in the house. The mother writing this story tells her daughter that "this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease" (Kincaid 489). In this marriage, it is understood that the wife is to do the laundry for the husband. Today's society does not always provide these clear roles since many women work a full time job and the house chores are a responsibility for both to handle. Though the woman is still mainly held responsible for the home. There should be a constant search for equality in gender roles. Kincaid explains how the man is working to bring home the money and the wife supports

In the novel girls/women are looked upon as if they are in a lower class than boys/men and they can never be equal. At the age of 5, girls are taught how to carry buckets of water on their heads and how to hold the bucket with both hands. In the novel only girls had their ears pierced and had to sit down for hours getting their hair braided. Girls/women were expected to remain in the home and doing domesticated chores such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, and sew clothes. Girls were given tasks such as shaking and sunning bed mats and sprinkle the street in front of their cottages. In the novel boys/men are expected to do manual labor such as work in coffee patches or banana stands picking coffee beans or cutting down weeds in the fields. When boys are under the age of 6, they are given chores such as feeding the animals, letting the animals out, running errands, gather firewood, water the burros, halter the burros, and pick coffee beans. At the age of 6, boys became an apprentice under their father and learned the role of their respective job. At the age of 14, boys were considered men and got machetes to work in the coffee

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.

In Alice Munro’s short story “Boys and Girls,” our narrator is a young farm girl on the verge of puberty who is learning what it means to be a “girl.” The story shows the differing gender roles of boys and girls – specifically that women are the weaker, more emotional sex – by showing how the adults of the story expect the children to grow into their respective roles as a girl and a boy, and how the children grow up and ultimately begin to fulfill these roles, making the transition from being “children” to being “young adults.”

When we are adolescents we see the world through our parents' eyes.  We struggle to define ourselves within their world, or to even break away from their world.  Often, the birth of our "self" is defined in a moment of truth or a moment of heightened self-awareness that is the culmination of a group of events or the result of a life crisis or struggle.  In literature we refer to this birth of "self" as an epiphany.  Alice Munro writes in "Boys and Girls" about her own battle to define herself.  She is torn between the "inside" world of her mother and the "outside" world of her father.  In the beginning her father's world prevails, but by the finale, her mother's world invades her

Throughout the story the protagonist is left nameless. This provides the reader with another question of identity. Without a name to attach to the character, we are left without an identity.

In Boys and Girls, the main character feels constantly restrained and restricted to what other people believe should be the way for things to be conducted, and in turn, how females should conduct themselves. In various ways, the girl attempts to free herself from these limitations that have been set by others, that creates her core identity, in order to pursue a version of herself that she believes truly represents her. Firstly, she often disobeys her mother so that she can have the opportunity to work for her father instead, “As soon as I was done, I ran out of the house, trying to get out of earshot before my mother thought of what she wanted me to do next” (p. 194). She exhibits behavior that indicates that she does not want any part of the draining, dreary housework that contains her inside a world that does not excite her - that is not “ritualistically important” to her. Secondly, at night she often dreams of other worlds - other situations that are not real and will never become reality, “...took place in a world that was recognizably mine, yet one that presented opportunities for courage, boldness, and self-sacrifice, as mine never did” (p. 191), because her dreams allow her the freedom during sleep to be the person she wants to be, and not who people need her to be. She can be brave, and be the hero, in contrast to how she goes about her day-to-day life - without enjoyment when she feels

Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of women simply because of their gender.

In Alice Munro’s short story “Boys and Girls”, the author explains the transition from being a tomboy girl to becoming a woman. The protagonist is

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.

It is important to teach children about gender roles since it is something that society holds in regards, but most of the time in literature it is done unequally. The portrayal of gender in literature is based off of the expectations of society and places bias on gender. Boys are portrayed as strong, adventurous, independent and capable and often play the roles of fighters, adventurers and rescuers. Girls are portrayed as sweet, naïve, dependent, sensitive and emotional and play roles such as caretakers, princesses and mothers. The roles of gender portrayed in literature are often a reflection of the views of society and do not offer objective insight. Even though it is important to teach children about gender roles, the fashion in which it is done in does not allow children to see beyond those expectations. If a young girl is constantly read stories about a woman’s role as a housewife, homemaker and mother, she will assume that’s what is expected of her and will not know society will allow her to be anything she wants to be.

“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 girl distrusts her mother and believes her to be out of touch, while helping her father in "his real work" (468). Surprisingly, the girl's desire to avoid the manifestation of her femininity in womanly tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, influences her into feeling that her mother is "plotting now to get [her] to stay in the house [. . ]. and keep [her] from working for [her] father" (469). The girl chooses to dismiss her mother, thereby dismissing her own future role as a housewife.

Society tries to place many rules upon an individual as to what is acceptable and what is not . One must decide for themselves whether to give in to these pressures and conform to society’s projected image, or rather to resist and maintain their own desired self image. In the story “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro, Munro suggests that this conflict is internal and external and a persons experiences in life will determine which of these forces will conquer. In terms of the unnamed protagonist’s experiences in the story, it becomes clear just how strong the pressure of society to conform really is, as it overcomes and replaces the girl’s self image.

After reading different articles and “Herland”, written in 1915 by Gilman, I have been thinking about this question that what would a world without man be like? On the contrary, what would a world without woman be look like? Gilman in her fairy novel, described three men landing in a country where there are only women are living there. A fairy land with cooperation , peace , wisdom and achievement. The characters in this book seem to have been chosen carefully. Terry is a man who believes a woman’s place in the world is in the house cooking and serving the man. Jeff themas who thinks that the woman are to be idolized and protected. And finally Van, who seems to be between the other two at the beginning but he changes his wive as the book goes on. These three men decided to discover a hidden land populated entirely by women. Women in Herland have been reproducing with the air, apparently, birthing babies without men, and they all are independent of sexual friendships. In Herland, women are fully successful in their socitey with their production , education, and health. They are strong and they can make changes when things aren’t working for them. Their religion is unifying and it’s based on unique values that bringing them all together in an exclusive community. Everyone has a place and a value. They built up their own society without any man, and Gilman was really successful to picture a feminism view in her readers’ mind. However,