Summary Of 'Boys And Girls And The Birth Mark' By Alice Munro

In the short stories, Boys and Girls by, Alice Munro and The Birth Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne, each author has shown similarities of two young women who seem to change their appearance or personality to conform to the desires of strong male figures in their lives.
Topic Sentence:
Both stories represent this by Georgiana’s eventual willingness to change her appearance and ultimately remove her birthmark that her husband found unattractive even after her lifetime of valuing it as a part of who she was in The Birth Mark, as well as in Boys and Girls, the main character’s goal of seeking attention and extreme need to be accepted by her father as a more strong and masculine child although she still showed personality traits of being weak and immature.
A. Support
1. “Georgiana said he, has it never occurred to you that the

mark upon your cheek might be removed?” “No, indeed,” said she, smiling; but, perceiving the seriousness of his manner, she blushed deeply. “To tell you the truth, it has been so often called a charm, that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so”(Hawthorne 291).
2. In the birthmark Georgiana states that she never considered removing the birthmark and had never thought of it until her husband mentioned it.
B. Support
1. "If there be the remotest possibility of it," continued Georgiana, "let the attempt be made, at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and digust---life is a burden which I would fling down with joy. Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life! You have deep science. All the world bears witness of it. You have achieved great wonders. Cannot you remove this little, little mark, which I cover with the tips of two small fingers? Is this beyond your power, for the sake of your own peace, and to save your poor wife from madness?"(Hawthorne 293).
2. She went from never considering it to almost begging him to remove it himself. Just to conform to his wishes and make her more desirable to him.
C. Support
1. "My poor Aylmer," she repeated, with a more than human tenderness, "you have aimed loftily, you have done nobly. Do not repent that, with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!"(Hawthorne 301).
2.

As the consequences for her changing who she was she died from it.
A. Support
1. “One time a feed salesman came down into the pens to talk to him and my father said, "Like to have you meet my new hired man." I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure. "Could of fooled me," said the salesman. "I thought it was only a girl"(Munro 141).
2. It represents her desire to be what her father wants her to be and the secret satisfaction she gets by making him proud. This quote shows how her father recognizes her hard work around the farm and that she is competent enough as a strong and boyish figure for him to express his pride in her to others.
B. Support
1. “My legs were a little shaky and I jumped gratefully down into the hay. “Now you’ve seen how they shoot a horse,” I said in a congratulatory way, as if I had seen it many times before”(Munro 144). “Instead 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”(Munro 146).
2. It shows weakness in the personality that she's trying to build as a tough and masculine child, someone that her father wants and

needs.
C. Support
1. “But this did not happen. For some time nobody said anything, then Laird said matter-of-factly, “She’s crying.” “Never mind,” my father said. He spoke with resignation, even good humour, the words which absolved and dismissed me for good. “She’s only a girl,” he said. I didn’t protest that, even in my heart. Maybe it was true”(Munro 147).
2. That as hard as she tried to conform to her father's needs and the self satisfaction she received from being a strong and productive worker on the farm, in the end she still ended up being a disappointment to him. He accuses her of being who she is, a girl, as if it’s an insult. So she was never really able to be exactly what he desired her to be.