Boys And Girls Munro

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In “Boys and Girls” Alice Munro does a marvelous job of portraying gender roles set in the 1960s. In the short story, our narrator conveys the theme that self-identity is inside of you, not based on preconceived notions of who you should be. Munro exudes this theme through the use of symbolism. By using symbolism within the characters and their relationships between one another Munro delivers the theme through subtleness and charisma. Accounts of symbolism derive in the beginning of the story. The narrator shares about her heroic stories that entail of horse riding, building rescues, and shootouts. Our protagonist explains how she made these stories up because it was what she wanted to see in her real life, for instance she stated, “These stories were about myself, when I had grown a little older; they took place in a world that was recognizably mine, yet one that presented opportunities for courage, boldness, and self-sacrifice, as mine never did,” (Munro). Her dreams symbolized her search for freedom and her wanting to be released from of the fact that she had to be a stereotypical woman. For example, the narrator tells herself stories of her…show more content…
The narrator’s grandmother constant reminders of what girls should not do or do not do symbolize society putting a padlock on women in a sexist environment. Her grandmother would tell her not to sit a certain way, not to be in people’s business, or not to slam doors because that was not what women did. The grandmother is old in age so she is the epitome of what society believes. Although, she does not want the narrator to deter from ladylike notions, the narrator blatantly disobeys her by saying; “I continued to slam the doors and sit as awkwardly as possible, thinking that by such measures I kept myself free,” (Munro). She does not want to be put in the bubble that she is supposed to be classified in and defies even the thought of
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