Comparison Of A Rose For Emily And Boys And Girls, By Alice Munro

Two Different Worlds

The stories selected for comparison are “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro. After reading both stories, one gets a notion that in the past men and women did not have equal rights even in this part of the world which is considered to be one of the most developed countries in terms of practicing human rights. The first story tells us the condition of a lonely woman who from her very young age has been obsessed for a true relationship especially after her father dies. Being an isolated woman in that era was considered to be unusual therefore, her neighbours and all other people observing her day-to-day life thought her to be crazy at times. The second story tells us the feelings of a

According to Faulkner, dominance was prevailing from the older generation that treated males in the society with superiority and then comes the younger generation that follows rules and regulations for order. The author of this story shows a power struggle between these two generations because Emily refuses to pay taxes because as she thinks she belongs to a noble family which was not the case in reality. As reviewed by Binder (2012) that reader finds descriptions of decay in the slow degrading of the town, Emily’s inherited home, and even in the aging Emily herself. Similarly, according to Munro, a power struggle also goes on in her story where a young girl fights for her rights to be gained in a farmer’s family in the time when rights for women did not exist. Accordingly, Goldman (1990) explains that while the separation between inside and outside may be arbitrary, these divisions are upheld by the virtually intractable force of opinion and tradition. In terms of gaining an identity, the author of the story shows a young girl’s resistance to womanhood in a society infested with gender roles and stereotypes as the story takes place in a time when women were viewed as second class citizens, but the narrator was not going to accept this position without a

According to Faulkner, we are given an example of extreme isolation in the form of Emily which is both physical and emotional. He shows us the process by which human beings become isolated by their families, by their community, by tradition, by law, by the past, and by their own actions and choices. In effect, this story takes a stand against such isolation, and against all those who isolate others. As reviewed by Melczarek (2009) that Faulkner presents complexity: a composite or collective narrative voice that may or may not span generations. The narrator picks up a female character such as Emily to show that in that time women were more isolated then men when it comes to be fully participating in the society. Similarly according to Munro, the young girl shares her isolation by reading nightly stories secretly and thinking about being more independent and powerful in terms of becoming a more integrated person in the society. As mentioned by Goldman (1990) yet the behaviours and roles ascribed to each sex on the basis of this biological distinction are not natural. Munro wants us to see how women struggled to come out of the isolation they were part of in those times. The girl in the story shared a room with her brother, and at night after he fell asleep she would stay up and tell herself stories. In these stories she