Oppression Of Gender Roles In Boys And Girls By Alice Munro

The short story written by Alice Munroe, “Boys and Girls”, identifies the different roles that society proffers on both women and men. The story evolves around a young girl who comes upon the struggles against her society beliefs of how a girl should be. When this story had taken place, women had typical traditional roles which started from within their household and never left its boundaries, while the responsibilities of men were occasionally outside the house, which led men to be more dominant, in the house and on hierarchical terms, while women were seen as rather the delicate and unworthy gender. In the story, the young girl is known as “ the narrator” she encounters similar situations, when she is tormented and judged by her community

The narrator accepts that girls are always meant to be girls, they will never be the other gender despite what they are willing to sacrifice. The narrator leans on her emotions and makes a rash decision of freeing the horse, this becomes a laying foundation of her transitional phase of understanding her true self. [I] nstead of shutting the gate, I opened it as wide as I could. I did not make any decision to do this, it was just what I did.”(Munroe 56) After the sudden events, the narrator goes home and contemplates over her new set of desires that come along the admirations of being a woman. [L] ately I had been trying to make my part of the room fancy, spreading the bed with old lace curtains, and fixing myself a dressing table with some leftovers of cretonne for a skirt.” (Munroe 57) At the end, after Flora has been caught and slaughtered, everyone has dinner, while at the dinner table Laird says [S] he could of shut the gate and she didn’t. She just opened it up and let Flora run out.” (Munroe 58) When the narrators father questions, to which she does not reply, but instead seemed as if her emotions were not in control. When overseeing the situation the father says [N]ever mind, she’s only a girl.” (Munroe 59) Throughout the plotline, the narrator did not once acknowledge that she was a “girl”, and in this situation she did not refute her father’s words; [I] didn’t protest that, even in my heart. Maybe it was true.” (Munroe