The story that I had presented for my oral presentation in Task 1 is ‘Boys and Girls’ is a by Alice Munro. This simple short story is about a young girl’s resistance to womanhood in a society infested with gender roles and stereotypes but have to accept the gender stereotyping in the end of the story. The story takes place in the 1940s on a fox farm outside of Jubilee, Ontario. The relevant theories of literary criticisms that can be applied to the ‘Boys and Girls’ short story are historical criticism and mostly feminism criticism.
The justification of choosing historical criticism to critique this short story is because this story is based on the setting of Boys and Girls which is at a fox farm outside of Jubilee, Ontario, Canada and the
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Phrabakar and K. Venkat Satish (2011) said that, “Alice Munro is a forthright feminist fiction writer who uses the short story form as a medium to portray the sad conditions of women living in the landscape of small town, Ontario, Canada where she has been brought up and her stories voice woman’s feeling towards society from feminist perspective”. So, ‘Boys and Girls’ short story highlighted the issue of feminism the most in which at that time, society did not consider men and women are at the same level. In this story, the narrator is unnamed while his little brother is named Laird which means ‘land owner’. The name symbolized how the male child was superior in the parent’s 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 women were viewed as second class citizens. Mothers had traditional roles, which usually left them in the house, while men also had their roles, outside of the …show more content…
This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011). Next, from the statement “wait till Laird gets a little bigger, then you’ll have a real help” (line 94, paragraph 12), it shows that, even though the narrator had done more work than her younger brother, she was still under appreciated and her helps seem unimportant for her father. On the other hand, Laird was able to go out and do the things that he enjoyed. When Flora, one of their horses, runs away Laird joined his father and be his assistant to re-capture the horse, while the narrator must stay at home. Munro also shows the dominance of males in the society of that time when Laird went home after succeed killed Flora, his mother told him to go change his shirt and wash the blood
There’s a very clear distinction between roles for women and roles for men. From the first two stanzas the narrator has “invented a game” which gets her father to “look up from his reading” and notice her (3,4). Prior to her dressing like a boy, he had not paid any attention to her and she feels that in order to get his attention she has to pretend to be a boy. The last stanza is where there is the clear message of the different roles for men and women. The woman narrating describes how by shedding her outfit she “returns invisible” as herself (27).
During the 19th century, women were overshadowed by the men of their household, therefore they had no sense of independence nor dominance. In Mary Freeman’s short story, “The Revolt of Mother,” the author presents Sarah Penn, a woman who takes a stand against her husband. In the beginning, the reader learns that Sarah is a hardworking mother and wife. She maintains the household work and meets her children needs. She is suddenly confused of her husband’s actions concerning their future.
Nicole Aldana FHS 215 Karrie Walters October 28, 2015 Site Report: Boys and Girls Club The human service organization I chose for this assignment was the Boys and Girls Club of Emerald Valley. While there were a number of equally amazing organizations on the list, it really came down to my personal experience with this institute. During my senior year of high school, I made it a goal to partake in as many community service opportunities as I could. Coming from a big city, there was no shortage of these and after a few months of searching it led me to the Boys and Girls Club and a few other non-profits.
Today girls are more privileged than back years ago. Several women still expect that they are treated the same as women were back at that time, which causes several women believe that boys are still the dominate sex. Explained by a woman named, Christina Hoff Sommers, as she wrote “The War Against Boys,” who argues that girls have been increasing ahead of boys, which has resulted in boys languishing academically and socially. However argues that this statement is untrue. Beginning to build her credibility, Sommers states a few of the accomplishments of women and also saying that countless women complain about being the less dominant sex.
Because even if in the society they were not equal to men and the pater decided about every aspect of their lives, under his power they were equal to the boys and if they behaved well in return the pater was respectful to them. This element would definitely hurt her argument, as it shows that girls were thankful to the equality given to them by the pater and the law.
The caribou hunter played his accordion as if for the last time when he heard the sound of engines in the air. The novel Kiss of the Fur Queen by Tomson Highway was published on September 1998. The story is set in Northern Manitoba and is about two Cree brothers named Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis’ experience attending a residential school and how this affects their identities throughout their lives. Residential schools in Canada began in the 1880s and continued on until the last residential school which closed in 1996 (Miller). The schools were controlled by the Protestant and Catholic church and supported by the government with the primary goal of assimilating aboriginals into Canadian society.
Common themes in these stories address the dominance of men towards women which affects the physical and emotional well-being of the female characters. The authors use symbolism, similes, metaphors and dramatic irony to exemplify patriarchal dominance and its suppressive treatment of women. In the early 1900s, patriarchal dominance reigned while women's roles were confined to raising children and taking care of their households and husbands. Men
Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” is set in the late 1800s – a time when women were considered inferior to men. Women had traditional roles as wives and mothers. In this 19th century patriarchal society, Chopin shows us Louise Mallard, the main character, who does not comply with the female gender norms of the Victorian period. When Louise learns about the death of her husband, her reaction and the reaction of her sister and the doctor tell us a great deal about gender stereotyping during this time. Louise Mallard is described to us as “firm” and “fair.
Not only did men see women as unintelligent, they also saw them as weak and compliant. What made this worse was that women of higher status would have a lot of free time since they had servants to do everything. They would spend their time strolling around or doing ‘feminine hobbies’; this affirmed mens’ notion that that women were idle and did not do much, so they treated them this way. To see how dire their situation was, one must must only have to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While fictitious, this story does show one bit of truth, the way women were being treated during this era.
It may skew her thinking and at times be subjective. The intended audience is someone who is studying literature and interested in how women are portrayed in novels in the 19th century. The organization of the article allows anyone to be capable of reading it.
The short story “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro is narrated by an unnamed young girl who talks about life on her family’s fox farm where she lives with her parents and younger brother. She undeniably prefers working outside with her father on the chores and tending to the foxes instead of working in the house with her mother. Throughout the story there are subtle and obvious indications of the differences in and expectations of boys and girls. Although the narrator clearly demonstrates her preference to the role of a boy, she finds herself conforming to society’s expectations of a girl. Notably, the roles of males vs. females was clearly defined and differentiated within this story using the narrator’s parents.
It is in one's power to decide whether or not to conform to society. Indeed both texts include many similarities and differences such as the stereotypical roles set on each gender, their search for individuality and their desired privileges. While approaching adulthood, many people encounter obstacles which lead their understanding to a fact that gender stereotypes do not only occur for women but, for men as well. The narrator in Boys and Girls discovers the societies’ views and expectations of her.
Jane Eyre, published in 1847, by focusing on its protagonist’s, Jane’s personality, dependency and self governance. The aim of this study is to look into Jane’s development and analyze her identity with the help of a theoretical framework drawn from psychoanalysis and developmental psychology, and within the context of the Victorian era. The novel focuses on Jane’s experiences and psychological growth from youth to adulthood. Psychoanalytic criticism adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret texts or writings.
Feminist literary criticism’s primary argument is that female characters have always been presented from a male’s viewpoint. According to Connell, in most literary works, female characters often play minor roles which emphasize their domestic roles, subservience and physical beauty while males are always the protagonists who are strong, heroic and dominant (qtd. in Woloshyn et al.150). This means that the women are perceived as weak and are supposed to be under the control of men. Gill and Sellers say that feminist literary criticism’s approach involves identifying with female characters in order to challenge any male centred outlook.
Women in this time were often treated as they were not as smart and could easily be overpowered by other women and most importantly men, as we can see in this story with both Stella-Rondo and Papa-Daddy talking down about