| Boys And Girls Essay, Research Paper
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. Alice Munro’s
creation of an unnamed and therefore undignified, female protagonist proposes that the
narrator is without identity or the prospect of power. Unlike the narrator, the young
brother Laird is named ? a name that means “lord” ? and implies that he, by virtue of his
gender alone, is invested with identity and is to become a master. This stereotyping in
names alone seems to suggest that gender does play an important role in the initiation of
young children into adults. Growing up, the narrator loves to help her father outside with
the foxes, rather than to aid her mother with “dreary and peculiarly depressing” work done
in the kitchen (425). In this escape from her predestined duties, the narrator looks upon
her mother’s assigned tasks to be “endless,” while she views the work of her father as
“ritualistically important” (425). This view illustrates her happy childhood, filled with
dreams and fantasy. Her contrast between the work of her father and the chores of her
mother, illustrate an arising struggle between what the narrator is expected to do and what
she wants to do. Work done by her father is viewed as being real, while that done by her
mother was considered boring. Conflicting views of what was fun and what was expected
lead the narrator to her initiation into adulthood. Unrealistically, the narrator believes
that she would be of use to her father more and more as she got older. However, as she
grows older, the difference between boys and girls becomes more clear and conflicting to
her. Her first experience with this was when a salesman stopped by one day. In the midst
of working for her father, she was introduced as her father’s “new hired hand,” but the
salesman, instead of smiling benevolently, remarks ” I thought it was only a girl” (425).
Being at the ‘tomboy’ stage, and implying, by the use of ’stage’ that the condition is a
temporary one that all right-thinking, demurring girls will outgrow, the narrator is once
again confronted with the conflict of gender stereotypes. She shows no intention of
putting away childish androgyny, but rather, shows an increased desire and ability to do a
man’s job ? a tendency that disturbs her mother. It is at this time, that the mother, good
intentionally shackles her daughter to her correct place in the world to prepare her for
stereotypes later on in life. However, after talking with her mother, the narrator realises
that she has to become a girl; “A girl was not, as I had supposed, simply what I was; it
was what I had to become” (427). Here, the narrator realises that there is no escape from
the pre-determined duties that go along with the passage of a child into being a girl and a
girl into a woman. Knowing that she is expected to become a girl and conform to
society’s beliefs and norms, she expresses her desire to rebel against what is expected. As
with initiation, it is unknown what is lying ahead, but it is known that one must conform to
the expected nomenclature, or face societal ridicule. As for example, when the narrator’s
grandmother is visiting, she explains the do’s and don’ts of being a girl, “Girls keep their
knees together when they sit down ” (427). However, the narrator expresses her resistance
by continue to do things against the norm, “thinking that by such measures [she] kept
[herself] free” (427). Now exposed to what she must become, the narrator’s freedom is
killed. In many ways, this loss of innocence and freedom can be compared to the horse
that her father raised. In making an effort to aid in the escape of Flora, the narrator shows
her resistance to what she knows she now must become, and that ultimately her resistance
is futile. This rebellion against her father’s orders to cage the horse illustrates the narrator’s
last final attempt at avoiding her stereotype. In consciously making the decision to set the
horse free, the narrator goes against her set stereotype. Because of this conscious act, she
loses her innocence in her father?s eyes; however, this doesn?t matter as she is ?only a girl?
(432). Unlike her sister however, Laird, is seeking to becoming initiated, and is given the
chance when he is allowed to go and recapture the horse which the narrator let loose. This
contrasts the willingness of the narrator to conform to society’s beliefs and her own. In
each their own, both Laird and the narrator are accepted into their new niche with their
rite of passage. Laird’s passage was symbolised by the horse blood on his arm, blood from
doing a man’s job. Similarly, the narrator’s passage was complete when her father found
out she purposely let the horse loose, but didn’t get mad because “She’s only a girl” (432).
The narrator doesn’t protest this, “even in her heart. Maybe it was true” (432). “Boys and
Girls” by Alice Munro highlights and emphasises the theme of initiation. The story depicts
initiation as a rite of passage according to gender stereotypes and a loss of innocence.
Conformity plays a vital role in determining the outcome of the narrator’s passage into
adulthood. Throughout the story, the narrator is confronted with conflicting thoughts and
ideas regarding her initiation into adulthood. Ultimately, she wishes to work with her
father, and stay a ‘tomboy,’ but through a conflict with her mother and grandmother, she
comes to realise that she is expected, like the women before her, to adopt the gender
stereotype which comes with her growing and passing into adult hood. Similarly, her
younger brother, Laird, is also initiated, but into man-hood, something he yearns for. In
conclusion, Munro’s story illustrates the struggles between the dreams and reality of the
rite of passage and initiation, based on gender stereotypes society has placed on men and
women.
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