In "Boys and Girls" by Alice Munro, the narrator as a woman who is telling the first person point of view of when she was a girl. The girl's father was a fox farmer. Every the father killed the foxes that he raised and sold their pelts. The narrator had a little brother, named Laird.
The girl took great pride in the fact that she helped her father with the chores on the farm. The mother tried to get the daughter to work inside doing work deemed appropriate for a lady, however it was not something she enjoyed. Even though the narrator could do more work that her younger brother, she was still under appreciated. One winter when she was eleven years old they had two horses, Mack and Flora. Mack was an old workhorse slow and easy to handle. Flora was a sorrel mare who was violent and reckless. Narrator's dad decided to kill Mack so he could feed his foxes. The girl felt very uneasy about the death of the horse. Two weeks after it was time for Flora to be killed. The girl tried to save the horse, Flora, by letting her run free, Laird called his father and the hired man who were going to chase the horse. The girl thought that she would be in trouble for letting the horse out.
During dinner, when Laird told everyone what horse run because of the girl, father only replied, "Never mind, she's only a girl."
Response
All "Boys and Girls" story by Alice Munro is about stereotyping sex-role in society. At the time of the story it was normal to think that men and women are not equal. All things which woman was expected to do was household work. Boys and girls were growing up in different conditions. It was normal for girls to play with dolls and help mother. Boys were usually helping their fathers. It is amazing how society can affect on our life.
The narrator was very happy in her childhood. She even helped her father to look after foxes. However, as she grows older, the difference between boys and girls becomes more clear and conflicting to her. Her grandma always told her how to behave, what young girl should and what not. It was stressful for her, I think.
Knowing that she is expected to become a girl and conform to society's beliefs and norms, she expresses her desire to rebel against what is expected. But strong influent of parent and grandma made the most important affect to her life.
In my opinion there is the same situation now in our world. Girls are expected to behave more polite, to play with dolls, read books. Boys in the contrary do all work which is connected with power.
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