Boys and Girls

A detailed Summary of Boys and Girls

Boys and Girls is a short story written by the Canadian short story writer, Alice Munro in 1968. The story is about a young girl who struggles against society's ideas of how a girl should be, only to find her trapped in the ways of the world. The story takes place on a farm. The narrator is a woman who is telling in the first point of view of when she was a young girl. Her father was a fox farmer, he was hardworking and she had a great deal of respect for him. She enjoyed working with him. The narrator had problems coming to terms with the role in life that she was expected to lead. By using the first person point of view combined with characterization, the author is able to depict the hardships and successes of passage into adulthood through her portrayal of a young narrator. She was also able to examine the different roles that society has defined for boys and girls.

Alice Munro's short story, "Boys and Girls," has a very interesting detail written into it. The narrator's brother is named Laird, which was carefully chosen by the author. Laird is a synonym for lord, which plays an important role in a story where a young girl has society's unwritten rules forced upon her. At the time of the story, society did

The time when this story took place was a time when men and women were not considered equivalent. Mothers had traditional roles, which means that they're jobs were strictly around the house, while men also had their roles, outside of the house. The male was the dominant figure in the house, while the woman had to be subservient:

"Could of fooled me," said the salesman. "I thought it was only a girl"(p. 529). Even though the narrator could do more work than her younger brother, she still wasn't appreciated. "Wait till Laird gets a little bigger, then you'll have a real help" (p. 530). Laird, on the other hand, was able to go out and do the things that he enjoyed. For example when Flora, the family's horse, runs away Laird is invited to join the father and his assistant to re-capture the horse, while the narrator must stay at home.

Girls don't slam doors like that." "Girls keep their knees together when they sit down." And worse still, when I asked some questions, "That's none of girls' business." I continued to slam the doors and sit as awkwardly as possible, thinking that by such measures I kept myself free. (p. 532)

The narrator had problems coming to terms with the role that she was expected to lead in life. While the girl loved the work outside she hated to do the 'woman's work' inside. She disliked her mother for making her do it, and believed that her mother only made her do it because she didn't like it. She didn't like anything about this work. "I hated the hot dark kitchen in the summer" (p. 530). She felt that working in the kitchen was endless, depressing and unimportant compared to the work she did for her father. She would do a chore for her mother and then run off before she could tell her to do anything else. She had a very low opinion about her mother. She felt that the only thing her mother talked about were things that were unimportant to her. She thought that her mother was undependable, easily fooled, conniving and ignorant about the way things really were. She wanted to work outside

Some common words found in the essay are:
Boys Girls, Alice Munro, boys girls, Alice Munro's, short story, father tells, father mother, narrator coming terms, coming terms role, narrator coming, expected lead, society narrator, home narrator, coming terms, society's ideas,

Approximate Word count = 1386
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels