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  • Essay / Hardships in Boys and Girls by Alice Munro - 1113

    In her story, Boys and Girls, Alice Munro depicts the difficulties and successes of the rite of passage to adulthood through her portrait of a young narrator and her brother. Through the narrator, the subject of the deep injustice of gender stereotypes and the effect this has on rites of passage into adulthood is presented. The protagonist of Munro's story, unidentified by name, goes through an extreme and radical initiation into adulthood, similar to that of her younger brother. Munro proposes that gender stereotypes, relationships, and loss of innocence play an extreme and often controversial role in the growth and adulthood of many young children. Initiation, or the rite of passage into adulthood, is, according to the theme of Munro's story, both an obligatory and necessary experience. Alice Munro's creation of a nameless and therefore unworthy female protagonist proposes that the narrator is without identity or perspective of power. Unlike the narrator, the younger brother Laird is named – a name meaning “lord” – and implies that he, by virtue of his gender alone, is invested with an identity and must become a master. These stereotypes in the names alone seem to suggest that gender does indeed play an important role in young children's initiation into adulthood. Growing up, the narrator enjoys helping her father outside with the foxes, rather than helping her mother with the "dreary and particularly depressing" work done in the kitchen (425). In this escape from her predestined duties, the narrator views her mother's assigned tasks as "endless," while she views her father's work as "ritually important" (425). This view illustrates his happy childhood, filled with dreams and fantasy. Her contrast between her father's work and her mother's chores illustrates an emerging struggle between what the narrator is supposed to do and what she wants to do. The work done by his father is considered real, while the work done by his mother is considered boring. Conflicting views of what was fun and what was expected lead the narrator to her initiation into adulthood. Unrealistically, the narrator believes that she would be more and more useful to her father as she grew older. However, as she grows older, the difference between boys and girls becomes more clear and conflicting for her...