Character Anaylsis of the Narrator in "Boys and Girls&q
Character Anaylsis of the Narrator in "Boys and Girls"
The story, “Boys and Girls”, by Alice Munro, has the ability to absorb the reader from the very start, not through only its remarkably gruesome yet gripping introduction but also from its enlightenment of how life was during the early 20th century. Ironically, Munro’s narrator and protagonist character is a little girl whom we are not provided the name of. However, this apparent lack of identity does not prevent us from discovering the young girl’s dynamic characteristics such as her endurable strength against the hardships and inequality in her own society. Thus, we are taken on a roller coaster ride of her obstinate views towards life; her rather contrasting views towards her own family members; and finally the significance of her hopes and dreams foreshadowing the melancholy acceptance of her inevitable fate.
Unlike other young girls, Munro’s protagonist had rather obstinate views towards life. Having grow up in a harsh environment of a slaughter farm, where the smell of death reeked in her own home; the young girl became accustomed with this atmosphere and even found it to be “ reassuringly seasonal”. She believed that the “work in the house was endless, dreary, and peculiarly depressing”, and on the other hand found the “work done out of doors, and in [her] father’s service was ritualistically important”. The girl in her youth had become familiarized with the dominating male gender surrounding her, thus she adopted “tomboyish” characteristics and beliefs leading to her detesting the female role. However, as the young child grew older and turned eleven she “no longer felt safe”, because “the word girl had formerly seemed to [her] innocent and unburdened, like the word child: now it appeared it was no such thing”. It began to dawn on her that “a girl was not, as [she] had supposed, simply what [she] was; it was what [she] had become…also it was a joke on [her]”. It was becoming clear that even her physical appearance was developing and that not even “all [her] strength” could beat her younger brother Laird in a fight anymore. Her grandmother also made a conscious effort to remind her that she was “a girl” by saying such things as, “ Girls don’t slam doors…. and girls keep their knees together when they sit down” to which she reacted in the complete opposite manner than was intended in...