To compare the treatment of the theme of sexuality in Annie Proulx's “Brokeback Mountain” and Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls”, we will have to delve into the very intricate nuances of human relationships, societal norms, and also the consequences that follow when suppressing one's true identity. Both narratives offer immense insight into the complexities regarding sexuality, although through very different lenses and narrative strategies In the story of “Brokeback Mountain”, Proulx crafts a touching tale of forbidden love between two young men, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, in a very conservative and traditional setting in Wyoming. Wyoming, with its rugged mountainous landscapes, sets the backdrop for this story and gives it an incredible atmosphere …show more content…
Ennis and Jack’s struggles with reconciling their desires with societal norms represent the internal conflicts faced by many other individuals navigating their sexuality in a heteronormative society. Proloux's use of the setting of the natural landscape, in particular, the isolation of Brokeback Mountain, as a symbol for the protagonists refuge from societal judgment and the freedom they strive for in finding and embracing their true selves, albeit momentarily. On the other hand, “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro offers a far more subtle exploration of sexuality within the framework of familial dynamics and gender roles. The protagonist in this story is an unnamed young girl who grapples with societal expectations regarding femininity and the constraints imposed onto her by her farming family's traditional life. Munroe uses a reflective, retrospective narrative style by interweaving the protagonist's memories to underline the formative impact her childhood experiences has had on the development of her …show more content…
Both narratives highlight the pervasive influence of societal norms and expectations on individual identity, as well as the intense consequences of suppressing one's true desires. Furthermore, both prologue and narrative stories utilize the theme of sexuality as a lens through which to explore broader themes of isolation, conformity, and the quest for self-acceptance. In “Brokeback Mountain,” nature represents the force of desire, while society condemns love. In “Boys and Girls,” the farm symbolizes tradition and confinement, contrasting with the protagonist’s inner longings. Both stories touch on gender roles. Ennis and Jack defy expectations by loving each other, while the protagonist in “Boys and Girls” challenges the limitations placed on her as a girl. While “Brokeback Mountain” ends tragically, emphasizing the impossibility of fully fitting into societal
The rising feminine tide in this masculine short story reveals Boyle’s ability to convey insignificance, mounting interest turned aggression, and the emergence of female power through his protagonist narrator. Unravelling the male teenage mind as it pertains to females may never be an easy task, but Boyle’s intricate placement of narrative dialogue, or the lack thereof, aids the reader in a better understanding of the role the unlucky women in “Greasy Lake” play.
Munro, Alice ““Boys and Girls” Viewpoints 11. Ed, Amanda Joseph and Wendy Mathieu. Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.
From a young age girls are taught how to act in society and how society wants girls to act. In the three stories by Jamacia Kincaid, Alice Munro, and Joyce Carol Oates, we see how the mothers teach and reinforce the gender roles placed on women by society. The daughters in Annie John, “Boys and Girls,” and “Shopping” are all subjects of a greater force while growing up, and they try not to conform to gender roles and the ideals of women that the mothers have.
Ambition—the desire to achieve, will to succeed. Every character is defined by his dreams, his goals, and his passions. As individuals, we are confronted with social codes and implications that cause us to revolt and break free from the grasp of uniformity. Oftentimes dreams and ambitions clash with the unwritten laws of civilization. In Willa Cather’s short fiction “Paul’s Case” and Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls”, the protagonists challenge expectations and rebel against settings governed by uniformity and gender-specific roles. Paul rejects conformity and the uniformity of Cordelia Street, while the girl resists the gender roles placed upon her by her mother. Despite being placed in two very similar situations, both characters come to learn two exceptionally different lessons concerning social pressures and expectations in society. The girl concludes that society’s expectations concerning gender code and behaviors are undeniably reasonable, whereas Paul, until his death, resists the pressures placed upon him by his surrounding community.
In her story, Boys and Girls, Alice Munro depicts the hardships and successes of the rite of passage into adulthood through her portrayal of a young narrator and her brother. Through the narrator, the subject of the profound unfairness of sex-role stereotyping, and the effect this has on the rites of passage into adulthood is presented. The protagonist in Munro's story, unidentified by a name, goes through an extreme and radical initiation into adulthood, similar to that of her younger brother. Munro proposes that gender stereotyping, relationships, and a loss of innocence play an extreme, and often-controversial role in the growing and passing into adulthood for many young children. Initiation, or the rite of passage into adulthood, is, according to the theme of Munro’s story, both a mandatory and necessary experience.
In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” she tells a story about a young girl’s resistance to womanhood in a society infested with gender roles and stereotypes. The story takes place in the 1940s on a fox farm outside of Jubilee, Ontario, Canada. During this time, women were viewed as second class citizens, but the narrator was not going to accept this position without a fight.
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.
According to common conceptions of machismo, the ideology of masculinity is set upon the stereotypical ideals, which, America has towards the idea of manhood. In the short story, “Brokeback Mountain”, Proulx uses masculinity as the singular focal point within the text. This melancholy tale of two young cowboys, that emerges into a sexual and emotional connection that truly can’t exist. We often see cowboys as virile men saddling a horse or lone men gathering sheep in a valley, but they’re never been depicted as anything other than that. As we’re introduced to Ennis and Jack, they’re nowhere short of the of the common cowboy stereotype. Proulx makes that apparent when she states, “Ennis, high-arched nose and narrow face, was scruffy and a little cave-chested, balanced a small torso on long, caliper legs, possessed a muscular and supple body made for the horse and for fighting” (3). Indicating that young Ennis and Jack are just like any other cowboys. But when young Jack and Ennis meet on Brokeback Mountain, their sexuality doesn’t eliminate their masculinity. It rather confuses it and compromises their sexuality. No matter the acts that these two men may choose to consume their selves to act upon, their masculinity is evident throughout the text. Initially, instead of removing their masculinity, their sexual identity complicates their manhood. “I’m not no queer”, stated Ennis, which makes it evident that these men are aware of their masculinity (7). Aware of the complexity of their relationship Ennis says, “if you can't fix it you've got to stand it”, meaning that he knew the relationship between him and Jack was corrupt but he didn’t know how to stop it. The complicated situation between Ennis and Jack threatened societal norms by...
The short story, Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid, can very easily be related directly to the author’s own life. Kincaid had a close relationship with her mother until her three younger brothers were born. After the birth of her brothers, three major values of her mother became apparent to Kincaid. In turn, Kincaid used the three values of her mother to write the short story, Girl. Specifically, these values led to three themes being formed throughout the story. It appears in the short story that the mother was simply looking out for her daughter; however, in all reality, the mother is worried about so much more. Kincaid uses the themes of negativity towards female sexuality, social norms and stereotypes, and the significant
Alice Munro's "Boys and Girls" immerses us into the rural country-side of Jubilee, Ontario, Canada, and into the life of an eleven year-old tom-boy. The story unfolds how she struggles to become herself while growing up on her parents' farm. Her father raises silver foxes for the family's meager source of income as her mother cares for their home. Let us first look at the world she is enthralled with at the start of her narrative.
Munro uses a fox farm for the setting of Boys and Girls to bring out many of the social issues between genders. While her father worked outside doing all the labor work, her mother stayed inside cooking and cleaning, “it was an odd thing to see my mother down at the barn” (Munro 12). The girl was very resentful towards her mother, mostly because she did not agree with the stereotypical life that her mother led. Causing the girl to spend more time helping her father around the farm. The girl would help feed the foxes, “cut the long grass, and the lamb’s quarter and flowering money-musk” (Munro 10). Although when she turned eleven, things started to change causing the girl to not only observe gender differences between her mother and father but to experience it between her and her brother Laird when working around the farm. While Laird became more predominant with helping on the farm, the girl became less valuable to her father and was forced to help her mother around the house.
Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” is a story about a girl that struggles against society’s ideas of how a girl should be, only to find her trapped in the ways of the world.
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.”
In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls,” there is a time line in a young girl’s life when she leaves childhood and its freedoms behind to become a woman. The story depicts hardships in which the protagonist and her younger brother, Laird, experience in order to find their own rite of passage. The main character, who is nameless, faces difficulties and implications on her way to womanhood because of gender stereotyping. Initially, she tries to prevent her initiation into womanhood by resisting her parent’s efforts to make her more “lady-like”. The story ends with the girl socially positioned and accepted as a girl, which she accepts with some unease.
Many people think that boys in our culture today are brought up to define their identities through heroic individualism and competition, particularly through separation from home, friends, and family in an outdoors world of work and doing. Girls, on the other hand, are brought up to define their identities through connection, cooperation, self-sacrifice, domesticity, and community in an indoor world of love and caring. This view of different male and female roles can be seen throughout children’s literature. Treasure Island and The Secret Garden are two novels that are an excellent portrayal of the narrative pattern of “boy and girl” books.