The Theme Of Courage In Boys And Girls By Alice Munro

Courage is important because if you’re not courageous you will not explore new things, get new experiences. An example of courage happens in the first couple of pages when Jasper and Charlie go out to explore late at night into the forest. If they haven’t gone out there they would’ve never found the body

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.

Courage is when you are willing to do something above your comfort zone to show what you’re made of. In a novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor uses an example of a young girl named Cassie Logan , who is colored, that must stand up for her convictions despite many injustices against her and her family. Cassie proves her courage by protecting her little brother Little Man from getting in big trouble, facing her white enemy Lillian Jean Simms, and being helpful to T.J despite his actions against her family. Cassie made many choices that proved her sassiness and how outspoken she was. She loved her family and had deep respect for the land they lived on. During a time period when the word “equality” meant nothing to those who surrounded her, Cassie shows those who see her actions that she is willing to face the many consequences that lie before her with standing up for her beliefs.

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

Courage’s importance comes into play if choosing to live life to the fullest. “The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear.” A revealing and mysterious novel “Jasper Jones” by Craig Silvey has Jasper (14) appearing at Charlie Bucktin’s (13) home late one night. Feeling the exhilaration Charlie takes up Jaspers offer to follow him into the woods, nervous and excited they crept through the night. Charlie and Jasper discover something that never will leave their conscience.

"I learned that courage was not the absence fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear"- Nelson Mandela. In the book, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher, Sarah Brynes and Eric Calhoune had been friends for years. With them both being an outcast in their society, their bond is unbreakable. Sarah Byrnes has an abusive dad who she hides a big secret with. Sarah Byrnes being the strongest and most toughest person he has ever met, he has to uncover her secret that has her keeping quite in a hospital. In this book, many characters shows this courage. I'm going to be giving you three examples of how three different characters showed this courage.

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.

Outside forces do not have any long-lasting influence on how someone perceives themself. This is a notion that some individuals may choose to believe. However, through the events of one story, we come to realize that the prior statement is false. The nameless protagonist of Boys and Girls (1964) showed that as people, we can be created as somebody other than ourselves at our core because we fall back on the opinions of people whose views we regard too highly. Canadian author Alice Munro’s short story displays how an individual’s identity and realization of self is molded by the prominent role adversity plays throughout the course of their life because the contrasting values and ideologies of those around them conflict with their own moral compass.

Characters in literature often display intense courage when they face difficult or dangerous situations. Elizabeth Proctor showed much courage in the play The Crucible even after everything she has been thought.

The importance of courage is that it helps continue with our story or life. Courage gives us strength and bravery to keep moving on with our life. If we didn’t have courage we would be still and not want to move on with our life. In the book Peace like a River by Leif Enger, Ruben, the main character, has courage to move on and go find his brother. Ruben finds the courage to go to go find work, when Jeremiah got sick and couldn’t support the family. Ruben find the strength and brave to go up to the stand and testify of what he saw during the shooting. Last Ruben had the courage to go and find Davy in the Badlands.

At least a little courage is in everyone, along with courage comes personal integrity, shaped by our own acts and choices. One’s personal integrity comes out in situations that possess a complication that requires solving. Moreover, choosing the courageous and onerous paths in life leads to a personally profound, improved integrity allowing one to have a fuller life. Though some people already have personal integrity that helps them with decisions, all ages are capable of making courageous decisions that still shape integrity. Although the first scenario to come to one’s mind would be a youth with minor troubles, even our elders of higher ages still encounter decisions that require courage. The significance of a decision is irrelevant, whether

Sometimes her mom would make her help with cutting onions or peeling peaches and as soon as she was done she would run out the door when her mom’s back was turned. She viewed the chores inside the house was endless and depressing and would much rather work outside. She hears her mother stating that she can’t wait till the son, Laird gets bigger so he can do the chores outside and the girl can do the chorus inside with her. The mother states, “I just get my back turned and she runs off. It’s not like I had a girl in the family at all.” At this point the girl feels like she can’t trust her mother, she knows her mother loved her yet she feels like her mom is always plotting against her to keep her from working with her father. She didn’t expect her father to really listen to what her mother was saying, Laird, in her mind wouldn’t be able to do the job as well as she does. Looking at her father’s bloody apron she reminds that reader that the foxes were feed horse meat, other farmers whose horses will get old or injured would call her father and him and henry would go kill it and butchered it. However, if they already had a lot of meat they would keep them for a while. The winter she turned eleven they had two horses, Flora and Mack. It was this winter where she heard her mother go on more about her helping in the house. She states that she no longer feels safe because the people around her who thought the same way. She stated, “The word girl had formerly seemed to

The feeling of pride swelling up within her is because of that fact that her father acts as her primary role model for. In the society she lives in, girls often associate themselves with their mothers and take after them but such is not the case for the protagonist. She spends the vast majority of her time outside helping out her father with whatever work she is capable of doing. Her mother expresses her disgust for the work that her husband does as the protagonist states that her mother “[dislikes] the whole pelting operation”(100). This dislike can be attributed to the stereotype that women in this society are typically thought to have, as they do not associate themselves with such grueling and filthy work. While the mother finds the work to be off-putting the girl expresses polar opinions as she finds the smell of decaying fox carccases to be “reassuringly seasonal” (100). Her association with the smell paralleling the season of autumn emphasizes her innocence and naivete as she cannot differentiate between what society deems conventional and what is customary to her. Due to most of her time being spent outside and around men, her idiosyncratic behaviour is further reinforced. This initiates a positive feedback for the protagonist as the more she involves herself with her father and his work, the more that she yearns to be like her father. She envisions herself to be like him in the future, which would mean that she

her father tries to change who she is and force her into a gender role