Society has specific norms to follow for a reason, and people follow them to avoid punishment and conflict. Men and women challenge these rules on a daily basis, which can have a positive or negative outcome depending on the situation. Everyone embarks on their own journey to find themselves, and search for their place in the world. On going struggles between wealth and poverty, and equality linking men and women are present everyday. In the short stories “Boys and Girls” and “Rocking Horse” main character’s usual assumptions about wealth and the search to the acceptance of self identity is challenged by the way society thinks.
“Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro is set in a time period when men and women were not considered equal. The main character telling the…show more content… She’s an eleven year old girl, who strives to rebel against the standards of being a young woman. She takes great pride in helping her father with the outdoor chores, while avoiding the holdhouse chores her mother expects her to be involved in. “My father did not talk to me unless it was about the job we were doing...Nevertheless I worked willingly under his eyes, and with a feeling of pride” shows how she looks up to her father. Traditional female roles is something she doesn’t want to partake in. In her eyes, Mother’s house work was “endless” and fathers work outside was “ritualistically important”. In some ways she sees her mother as an enemy, someone she resents, and believes that she’s trying to take away her personal pursuits. Not only does she mother nag her, but also her grandmother. The main character often tries to avoid her grandmother because she is not ladylike enough to gain her approval. In a