THE OFFICE BY ALICE MUNRO ACTIVITY

QUESTIONS: Answer the following questions.

1. Describe the situation of the narrator at home? What solution did she think?
The narrator is just like any other housewife tending, taking care of the kids and her
husband along with a seemingly endless list of house chores that she needs to finish every
day. However, one thing that makes her different is the fact that she is stuck, between being
the traditional concept of a woman, being a mother and a wife, and her passion or
profession as an independent writer or what I like to call her sense of solitude and
individuality as a person.

The narrator did think of a solution though, and it is to solve her problem and be able to
fulfill the two roles to both be a housewife and a writer at the same time, that is in her own
words, “I think I ought to have an office.” She shares that she needs an office where she
can write, which is her way of expressing her independence and individuality within the
society she lives in.

2. How did the narrator describe a house between a man and a woman?
The narrator described a house very differently when it comes to being a man and a
woman. In the case of a man, with the idea of being the head and provider of the family, he
has the permission and authority to do anything, especially when it comes to working. A
man working “shutting his door” means he is not to be disturbed to focus and finish what he
is doing, and “everybody recognizes that his work exists” and respects his actions and
attitude in the house.

On the other hand, a traditional woman cannot do such things in her own accord like what a
man does because she is a “woman.” The narrator stated that “a mother shutting her door”
is “outrageous” compared to when a man does a similar thing; this is why “a house is not
the same for a woman” in terms of the two opposite gender. She even adds that “she is not
someone who walks into the house, to make out of it, and will walk out again. She is the
house; there is no separation possible.” This line depicts the important roles of women and
a mother in a home where if once absent or nonexistent greatly affects it and the family.

3. What does Mr. Malley compare the narrator’s writing?

Mr. Malley compares the narrator’s writing with his “hobbies,” one of which is making ship
models during his spare time and describing it as “a blessing for the nerves.” He sees a
woman writing not as her work or profession but just as a hobby to pass or kill time. Mr.
Malley, even if not said directly, expresses his belief that writing is not for a woman to do,
but to look for the kids and her husband as a common notion for women before.

4. What were the presents that Mr. Malley give? What did the narrator feel about it?
There were many gifts given by Mr. Malley, which includes a plant “wrapped lavishly in pink
and silver foil,” flowery teapot, wastebasket, and a foam rubber cushion for her chair.
Typically, people would feel happy and exhilarated when receiving gifts or presents, but it
was not the case for the narrator and the exact opposite of the words even saying, “she
hated house plants.” Though Mr. Malley’s intentions are for the “comfort” of his tenant, the
effect is not comfortable at all, making things between the both of them sour, leading to a
disaster of “another betrayal of trust.”

5. What did the narrator discover when she returned to the office late one evening?
 Forgetting a letter she intended to post in her office, the narrator returned to get it and
discovers a sneaky incident happening in her very office. The narrator says to herself, “I
saw from the street that the light was on in the room where I worked.” She saw Mr. Malley
bending over the card table reading her work, remarking to herself, “of course, he came in
at night and read what I had written.” Although caught in the action, Mr. Malley covers his
rude actions with an alibi of another gesture of “comfort” defending “he thought he would
just tidy things up” for his writer tenant and went out immediately. The narrator trembled
with “anger and gratification” for how he argued his defense of such atrocious action once
again.

6. What was the conflict or tension between the narrator and Mr. Malley?
Mr. Malley is portrayed by the author as a man having a “lack of faith, troubling humility, and
chronic mistrust,” which she proves true at the end from her own experience with him as her
landlord. These very attitudes of Mr. Malley lead to different misunderstandings and
disasters, not just the narrator, might as well the previous chiropractor tenant and the
people, which according to his story, “betrayed him and his trust,” which becomes doubtful
after witnessing his behaviors with the narrator.

Mr. Malley’s constant unwanted visits, advice, and stories cause irritation and anger
towards the narrator for her purpose of renting an office is for writing and not “knowing any
more human beings.” When the narrator is in her office, it is the only time where she can be
herself doing what she loves, writing, but this precious short time is taken up and disturbed
by her landlord. Mr. Malley also holds a grudge after his first visit to the office of the
narrator, expressing her own opinion of matters regarding the office. His intentional actions,
having false accusations towards the narrator are irrational, shallow, and immature for his
unreasonable petty revenge camouflaged as “humility.” In the end, the narrator cannot take
any more of Mr. Malley as a horrible landlord and person, driving her to leave the office and
might look for another one which is better some time in the future.

7. What does the story bring out about the harsh reality of female stereotyping that
exists in the society?
One of the problems women face and deal with before and until now is issues regarding the
gender roles in our society, of what women can and cannot do when compared to men.
Even if progress is done and made throughout the years, more needs to be changed and
accomplished to eradicate such, including the notion of a traditional woman. A woman
deprived of her capabilities and talents in helping herself and society to become even
better.

“The Office” by Alice Munro exemplifies that women can do many wonderful things when
given a chance and opportunity to have a voice and place in the society to showcase their
skills, and some are things that even men cannot do. A woman is more than a person inside
a house confined, for she deserves to have her own sense of independence, solitude, and
individuality with great efforts of a woman thriving amid criticism and judgment.

8. How is confinement of women shown in the story?

Many ssinstances show the confinement of women in the story within a marriage and the
society. In the first sentence, we can already assume that the narrator feels something is
wrong with her life, something is missing, yet can find a “solution,” and it is “to have an
office.” She can probably write in their house, it is big enough, but she wants to have her
own place where she can work and write away from the responsibilities of being a mother
and wife, nothing more. Her husband does not really care much and approves, “if she can
find one cheap enough,” the same goes with her kids.

On the first visit of Mr. Malley in the narrator’s office, he describes the place unfit for a lady
and comments, “it’d be different story if you was a man. A woman wants things a bit cosier.”
On various occasions, he also makes the narrator feel that writing or having an office as a
woman is not what a woman must do, but be on the house doing the domestic tasks of a
proper woman. The same case with the household of the Malley’s, all of the things seen
described inside their house, the “ship-models, plants, masculine ornaments and framed
photographs” points to Mr. Malley only, yet none of Mrs. Malley, his wife. The narrator even
describes her as having “the swaying passivity, the air of exhaustion and muted
apprehension, that speaks of a life spent in close attention on a man who is by turns
vigorous, crotchety and dependent.”

We can see that the two women are confined in the four corners of their households doing
what is expected of them by their family and society, which is a mother and a housewife,
nothing more. The narrator and Mrs. Malley are not free to be themselves and express their
own, especially Mrs. Malley, in a society of a patriarchal system that exists in many parts of
the world.