Alice Munro Epiphany

In works of literature, a sudden realization of self-awareness, through an experience of crisis or struggle, often refers to an epiphany. In Alice Munro’s Dance of the happy shades, epiphanies emerge throughout each ending of the story. For the purpose of this paper, I will be examining the epiphanies that unfold in both Dance of the happy shades and Days of the Butterfly.
In Dance of the happy shades, the epiphany is aimed towards the mothers and daughters within the story. This is evident in the last few lines that state, “It is the dance of the Happy Shades that prevent us, it is that one communique from the other country where she lives“. While that other country could be meant literally, it is the insight to a country without stereotypes.
The country that is free of judgement, pity, and tolerance appears to be within the children of the school and Miss Marsalles. Ultimately, the mothers and daughters are touched and slightly changed from how they viewed the world before the party. As readers, we are touched as well.
However, In the next story, the epiphany is not as positive in transformations of an individual.
In Days of the Butterfly, the epiphany that occurs is within the main character, Helen. Near the end of the story, Helen is given a gift from the girl she has befriended, but
Use example with this quote “… they were no longer innocent objects to be touched, exchanged, accepted without danger. I didn’t want to take the case now but I could not think of how to get out of it, what lie to tell.” Helen realizes that by accepting the gift from Myra, she is accepting the friendship between the two of them. However, Helen is able to leave before having to accept what she is unable to “…Her offering perhaps already forgotten, prepared to be set apart for legendary uses, as she was even in the back porch at school.”
Throughout the story, there is another epiphany evident. Helen has an yet another realization that she may have been so worried about herself, and worried about others judging her, that she never once thought about Myra and how she felt. “This sound made Myra, her triumph and her bounty, and most of all her future in which she had found this place for me, turn shadowy, turn dark.” Helen comes to understand that all Myra wanted was to belong and to have a
friend
Conclusion- Overall, in each story, an epiphany emerges that bring the characters to learn a lot about themselves and others