The love of a good woman is a story in a book written by Munro. Love, sex, and gender are the themes that the narrator has tackled in the story. The narrator breaks down the story into three different parts that keep the reader in suspense. The first part is about three boys who find a dead body in a car inside a river found locally in their area, they fear breaking the story to the people, and one boy after going home and reading some comical books gets the courage to tell the mother about the dead body inside the car at the river.
The narrator talks about Enid who is a nurse and an immediate neighbor to the person found dead by the three boys. The tone used by the narrator is painful. Enid who does not impress her mother with her profession, which is dealing with death and caring for the bodies of dead people, lives a middle-class life, having in mind that she lives in a small town. She is depicted as a responsible and caring woman. She gets a responsibility to look after a woman married to one Mr. Quinn whose kidneys have failed and is dying as a result of being poisoned by the acid being discharged. However, she looks immoral because she finds herself getting attracted to Mr. Quinn which comes as a result of caring and being cared for. The bad dream about sex makes her feel guilty and makes her wonder if she is a good woman. This shows how society perceives love and sex.
Suspense is indicated in the second part. In the small town, bad things are seen to be happening especially when Enid discovers the one who murdered the man who was found by the three boys. This leaves Enid’s entire life in danger as the police and the ones in charge of the authorities have to be informed about the murderer and she is the only one who can inform them or else the murderer will never be revealed if she does not report. This shows how the government is irresponsible and those who are supposed to maintain peace break the rules. In this part, she decides not to reveal the truth about the murderer.
The love of Enid makes her risk her life by deciding to tell the man who killed the person to present himself to the police. She does not portray selfishness and does not take any advantage of the situation at hand. Also In this case Enid does not fear even though she is a woman and talking to a man who can easily harm her. This shows the difference in gender treatment. She at no cost fears gender imbalance. She loves her nation by trying to keep and maintain peace and an environment free from crime. To conclude, Enid reveals her good love in everything she does starting with her passion to care about dying people even though her mother was not comfortable with her doing that kind of work. Her love as a good woman is clearly shown by Munro in her novel. Enid can therefore qualify for the title “love of a good woman” for she truly is a good woman and shows love in everything she does. This shows the title has been used as a symbol, that woman’s love could make a difference in society.