Boys and Girls by Alice Munro

From the short stories that I have read from Alice Munro has to be Boys and Girls. We read it before in class, maybe around last year, but when I read it again over the summer it really sunk in and I enjoyed it quite a lot. For those of you who don't know, Boys and Girls tells a coming of age story from a young barn girl's perspective. 

·        She has a little brother name Laird, and it was evident to see that in story that he would be the one to help his father in the business when he was more grown up and able to.

·        The narrator on the other hand never liked to do ‘female’ work, like: cooking, cleaning and house work.  I feel like she always thought she had something to prove to her father, that even though she was a girl she could still ‘man up’ and do her duty in the family. 

It is a coming of age short story because she starts off having this idea of who she wants to be, which is like a boy. But as the story goes on there are signs where it is more clear as to who she is becoming…a girl. For example: When she thinks of stories at night. At first, she thought about being a hero and more courageous, but as she was getting older it went more about what she was wearing, how her hair looked, if she was attractive etc. 

So to me, it already had a very interesting and intriguing plot to it, but what really got me was the subplot that the story offered. The subplot was that in the story was the story of the two horses Flora and Mack. Where I believe the narrator sees herself in Flora, or can relate with her in a way. Considering how Flora used to run, and prance etc. Until the men in the truck caught up with her and shot her down. This can be related back to the narrator because she starts off wanting to be like a boy, not tucking her knees when she sat down, working with her father. Until society caught up with her and her dreams of being a boy came shattering down. 


My final thoughts is that this story made me realize that no matter how you start off in your life, society always plays a role in defining who you are. Maybe that’s not what we want, but it happens a lot. For example: Homosexuals. Up until recently they were always frowned upon and looked down on because of society.