Introduction
“Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro is a story of growing up and embracing one’s gender identity in a crisis and unresolved identity issues. The narrative unfolds in a setting that heavily emphasizes patriarchal norms, and the lifestyle of the heroes is deeply rooted in gender inequality. The story’s time and space play a significant role in establishing the conditions and struggles of life for the unnamed heroine. The 11-year-old girl faces societal pressure to become a woman under the accepted norms and discovers the formation of gender roles through her own experience. The narrative, focusing on the hardships of a girl child living through the coming of age, reveals how historical and cultural contexts form gender roles and societal norms and how they influence young minds.
Gender Conflict
The story’s central theme is the conflict between genders in a time and space where this kind of conflict is unacceptable due to the strict gender roles accepted in society. Munro delicately studies the difference between sex and gender, focusing on the artificial nature of the latter and the internal and external conflicts it generates. While sex is a biological term and does not depend on the cultural context, gender is a societal construct that can be bent and re-evaluated over time. Not necessarily bound to a specific biological sex at all times, gender describes cultural expectations of femininity and masculinity (Lips 7). Nevertheless, “Boys and Girls” reveals how imperfect these established roles are and how much hinges on the passive acceptance of the forced societal position.
The spatial division between males and females is a significant component of gender inequality associated with their societal roles. In the context of Munro’s story, the women are assigned the roles of housemaids, limiting their living space to the confines of the house. For example, when the heroine describes the vision of her mother at the barn, she expresses surprise bordering on disgust. The girl says about her mother, “She did not often come out of the house unless it was to do something – hang out the wash or dig potatoes in the garden” (Munro 88). This line sheds light on the everyday duties of a regular woman, a mother, and a wife, which the heroine refuses to accept, preferring to work under her father’s command.
Munro’s heroine continually challenges gender norms throughout the story, mainly by getting into conflicts with other women around her. The girl’s grandmother is dissatisfied with her behavior, though she refuses to explain the reasons to the heroine, suggesting passive acceptance of the gender roles as they are. When the girl’s mother confronts her husband near the barn, demanding that he relinquish his right to the daughter’s labor, she accuses her mother of animosity.
The girl refers to the work in the house as “dreary and depressing,” while work done in her father’s service is “ritualistically important” (Munro 88). The author deliberately dedicates a whole paragraph to the detailed description of an almost uncanny presence of the girl’s mother outside her common space inside the house. Unwavering in her naive rebellion against society and her family, the narrator establishes the story’s central gender conflict between gender roles and the desire to go against them.
The main thing the heroine learns about the difference between boys and girls is that, within the cultural and societal norms of her time and place, boys and men have more personal freedom. She expresses herself through disobedience, as evident by the line, “I continued to slam the doors and sit as awkwardly as possible, thinking that by such measures I kept myself free” (Munro 90). In the patriarchal society of post-war rural America, traditional family structure and societal norms are shown to be too strong for an eleven-year-old girl to overcome. That is why, in the end, the heroine finally gives up on her struggle when confronted with the presumed anger of her father, the primary male figure in her family.
Conclusion
“Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro is a coming-of-age story that focuses heavily on the personal experience of the rebellious youth when confronting gender role expectations for the first time. The narrative raises the problem of gender inequality in a traditional American society through space and job segregation, passive acceptance of established roles and norms, and the personal exploration of one’s gender identity. While the heroine tries to go against societal expectations by repeatedly challenging them in search of personal freedom that only the opposite gender can grant, she ultimately accepts her femininity.
Works Cited
Lips, Hilary M. Sex and Gender: An Introduction. 7th ed., Waveland Press, 2020.
Munro, Alice. “Boys and Girls.” Dance of the Happy Shades, edited by Alice Munro, Vintage Books, 1998, pp. 85–95.