Alice Munro’s “Boys And Girls” Essay, Research Paper

Alice Munro’s “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 a

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 not consider men and

women equal. The name symbolized how the male child was superior in the

parents eyes and in general. Along with that, the name also symbolizes the

difference between the sexes when this story took place.

The time when this story took place was a time when men and women were

not equal. Mothers had traditional roles, which usually left them in 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.

It was an off thing to see my mother down at the barn. She did not

often come out of the house unless it was to do something – hang out the wash or

dig potatoes in the garden. She looked out of place, with her bare lumpy legs,

not touched by the sun, her apron still on and damp across the stomach from the

supper dishes.1

The narrator had problems coming to terms with the role in life that she

was expected to lead. She wanted to work outside with her father doing the work

that she deemed important. The mother tried to get the narrator to work inside

doing work deemed appropriate for a lady, however it was not something she

enjoyed. “I hated the hot dark kitchen in the summer” (p. 530). The narrator

was not considered of any consequential help to her father, simply because she

was female.

“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 was still under 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. 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.

When the narrator is reminiscing of the past, she recalls a time when

she lured Laird up to the top of the barn. The whole purpose of this idea was

to get Laird in trouble. However, when her parents come and remove Laird from

danger, they are actually mad at her, instead of Laird. This shows how the

parents were more concerned with their son and that he could do no wrong. This

reflects society’s notion at the time, how men were always right.

My father came, my mother came, my father went up the ladder talking

very quietly and brought Laird down under his arm, at which my mother leaned

against the ladder and began to cry. They said to me, “Why weren’t you watching

him?” (p. 534)

The grandmother is the best example of how women were thought of at the

time. She is from a time when there were even stricter rules of conduct for

girls. The narrator’s parents are more lackadaisical than the grandmother and a

lot less out-spoken. She voices what was taught to her when she was a child.

At the time of the story, girls were expected to be dainty and quaint, while a

man was expected to be the rough and tumble one.

“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, however, did not keep her self free. Eventually, she began to

change and to become a stereotypical female. She began to conform to society’s

idea’s about women.

Near the end of the story, Laird starts to realize his sex-determined

superiority. He explains to his father and mother how Flora escaped from the

yard and also starts listening to his father almost exclusively.

“We shot old Flora,” he said, “and cut her up in fifty pieces.” “Well I don’t

want to hear about it,” my mother said. “And don’t come to my table like that.”

My father made him go and wash the blood off. (p. 536)

Laird washes the blood off only after his father tells him to do so. This shows

the dominance of males in the society of the time. Laird may field his mother’s

complains, but only does something about it once his father tells him to do so.

This shows how his father is the authority figure, that his mother secondary to

his father. Even the daughter thinks lowly of the mother in comparison to the

father. “It showed how little my mother knew about the way things really were”

(p. 531).

“Boys and Girls” takes place at a time where there is no such thing as

equality between the sexes. Men in this society are the dominant, authoritarian

heads of the house-hold whose work is done outside the home. Women are expected

to look after the men and their work is done in the home. The narrator in “Boys

and Girls” slowly becomes accustom with her role in society. The narrator and

her brother symbolize the roles of males and females in that society. The

narrator is forced into doing jobs that she doesn’t enjoy doing, namely that

associated with women’s work at the time. Laird is allowed to do what he

pleases. Laird is the lord, as a male he is deemed as the more important of the

two, simply because of his sex, while the narrator cast into her womanly role,

being of secondary importance.

Bibliography

1 Munro, Alice, “Boys and Girls,” Introduction to literature, eds. Gillian

Thomas et al, third ed. (Toronto: Hardcourt Brace, 1995), p. 528 All subsequent

references will be from this edition and will be cited in the text.