Literatura Contemporánea Inglesa II

Trabajo Práctico Nº 8: “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro

Nombre: Mariana Planas

DNI: 28.228.277

Fecha: 29/11/20

Calificación: 10 (ten)

Consignas:
Work on the following questions on Feminism in Alice Munro’s short story.
Please remember to provide quotations from the text to justify your answers,
provide bibliography used and go over your answers to correct any posible
spelling or gramatical errors.

1. Click on the following link to read and annotate the story using
Hypothes.is:
https://via.hypothes.is/http://www.giuliotortello.it/shortstories/boys_and_girls.pdf
Pinpoint and analyse all instances in which you can identify the
depiction of gender roles, such as references to male and female traits.
( 2 points)

2. This is usually thought of as a coming-of-age story, a story of a girl

coming into womanhood. What is the narrator supposed to encounter
when entering womanhood? Analyse how her gender affects her
present and future roles in society. ( 4 points)

The story took place in a time in which men and women were not equal.
Women did not have the same opportunities as men. Men were the
bread winners and women stayed at home. I believe the narrator wanted
something different for her life. She refused to lead a “feminine” life and
she wanted to work like her father did. As she came into womanhood,
she realized she had her own ideas and that, even though she was a
woman, she wanted to take a meaningful role in life. she didn´t want to
 be left out because she was a girl. She began to change and defy
everything a woman should do.

How is the substory of the horses analogous to the main story? (4

points)
I believe the substory of the horses has to do with the narrator’s feelings
at the time. Mack was an indifferent horse but Flora was the opposite.
When the narrator is a little girl, she identified with Mack. She felt
hopeless and did not have a way to adulthood. However, as she grew
up, she felt stronger and powerful like Flora. The mare represented the
narrator´s desire to be free and do something meaningful with her life.
.