Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” is a short story about a girl named Delia who reminisces on her childhood. Delia is the youngest of three children, with two brothers. Her father was a strict man who worked as a welder, and her mother was a homemaker.
Delia remembers that her parents were very traditional and expected their children to follow gender roles. Boys were supposed to do outdoor activities and work on cars, while girls were supposed to stay inside and do domestic tasks. However, Delia always felt like she didn’t quite fit into either category. She loved playing outside and climbing trees, but she also loved doing housework and taking care of her brothers.
The protagonist of Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” is a young woman who fights against society’s standards for how a girl should behave only to discover herself trapped in the world. The narrative begins on a farm in the 1940s. A woman telling the first person perspective of her childhood is the narrator.
The girl’s father was a fox farmer, and he was a hardworking, quiet individual whom she respected greatly. Every winter, after killing the foxes he cultivated and selling their hides, his father killed them again. The girl appreciated this period because it was seasonal but her mother despised it since it was seasonal
The girl’s mother was a very different person. She believed in progress and saw the farm as a place that was holding her back. She thought that her children deserved better than what the farm could offer them. She wanted them to have an education and to be able to move up in the world.
The girl had two brothers, one older and one younger. The younger brother was killed when he was just a baby and this caused great sorrow for the family. The older brother went off to college and became a doctor. The girl was left behind on the farm with her parents. Even though she loved the animals and the life on the farm, she couldn’t help but feel that she was missing out on something. This feeling only intensified when she had to start working in the fox pens.
The girl’s mother pushed her to do better and to be more like a lady. She wanted her to learn how to cook and sew. The girl tried but she was never very good at these things. She was much more interested in the animals on the farm and in the world around her. She would often sneak off to read books or explore the woods. These activities were much more appealing to her than learning domestic skills.
One day, when the girl was about twelve years old, she came across a dead mouse in one of the traps. This mouse had given birth before it died and there were five baby mice next to it. The girl felt sorry for the babies and decided to take them home and care for them. She named them Boys and Girls and raised them in her room. The mice were her only friends and she loved them very much.
The girl’s mother found out about the mice and was horrified. She tore up the girl’s room looking for them, but she couldn’t find them. The girl had hidden them in a shoebox under her bed. Her mother was so angry that she punished the girl by not letting her go outside or have any friends over to visit.
Despite her mother’s efforts, the girl continued to care for the mice. She would sneak food to them when her mother wasn’t looking and she even managed to build them a little nest out of straw. Boys and Girls grew up to be healthy mice and the girl was very happy.
Eventually, the girl’s older brother came home for a visit. He was shocked to see that his sister had been keeping mice in her room. He told their mother and she was so angry that she kicked the girl out of the house. The girl had nowhere to go so she went back to the farm. The story ends with the girl married and living on her own farm. She has children of her own and she still remembers Boys and Girls fondly.
The heroine is about nine years old at the start. She shared a bedroom with her younger brother Laird. They would be scared and try to divert their attention by singing as they went to bed. The girl remained awake after Laird had gone asleep, telling herself stories. In these tales, she was a great hero, brave and bold. Everyone admired her for being heroic because of her bravery and daring actions in rescuing others. Her adventures usually involved riding or shooting; however, she couldn’t ride a horse or shoot a gun in real life.
One day when she was about eleven years old she was walking through the woods near her house when she found a dead body. She recognized it as the body of a girl who had gone missing from school. After that the girl stopped telling herself stories and stopped being such a hero.
The rest of the story follows the girl into adulthood. We see her as a university student, a young wife, and then as a mother. Throughout all these stages in her life, the main theme is her relationships with men. In particular, the story focuses on her relationships with her father and her husband.
The girl is constantly trying to figure out what it is that men want from her and how she can please them. As she gets older, she starts to realize that she doesn’t need to change herself to please men. She can be her own person and still be loved. In the end, the girl has come to accept herself for who she is.
The little girl took great pleasure in informing her father that she assisted with farm chores. Her primary responsibility was to water the foxes. Laird, however, would assist with a tiny watering can just so he could spill most of his water. The girl would also help her father when he raked up the long grass around the fox pens. He would then chop it and she would rake it away. After that, he’d pile up the grass on top of the pen to protect the foxes from the sun. The whole fox pen was well planned and constructed. Foxes were fed horsemeat, which may be obtained for a low price.
The horses were also used to pull the plow. Laird had been taught how to plow by his father and he passed that knowledge onto the girl. She was a very good plower. In fact, she was better than her father. He was very proud of her. The girl’s mother died when she was young and she never got to know her. Laird did his best to fill that role for both the girl and her brother.
One day, Laird brought home a new fox cub. The girl was excited to have a new friend. She named him George after the prince in her storybook. George was different than the other foxes in that he had been domesticated and he loved people. The girl would take George for walks around the farm. He would follow her everywhere. One day, she took him down to the river to play. While she was playing with George, a pack of wild dogs came running down the bank towards them.
The girl was terrified. She scooped up George and ran for her life. She ran all the way back to the farmhouse with the pack of dogs close behind her. She was so scared that she dropped George as she ran through the door. Her father came running out to see what was going on and saw the dog pack chasing his daughter. He grabbed a rifle and started shooting at the dogs.
