Day of the Butterfly

Alice Munro
 Author’s Bio
• Manro: A Canadian Writer
• A voracious reader from her childhood
• Had read Emily Bronte
• Charles Dickens
• Tennyson’s Poetry
• I read everything we happened to have in the
house, and the books that came into our house
all came in by accident. So my reading was just
here and there, and all over
 Narration & Characters
• First person narrator
A girl named Hellen Recounts the memory of
her school days.
• Munro conveys a girl’s sufferings from a
classmate’s perspective.
Other Characters:
• Myra Sylla (An outcast at school)
• Jimmy Sylla (An outcast & brother of Myra)
• Miss Darling (Teacher at the school)
 Themes
• Isolation
 Myra’s Isolation is out of sense of duty
 Jimmy’s Isolation is out of fear of wetting himself
• Commitment ( Myra’s commitment to her brother)
• Poverty (The root cause: everything else
associated)
• Poverty is a curse
• As flies to the wanton boys, are we to the gods.
They kill us for their own sport. Shakespeare
 Cont…
• Connection (Social Ties: Society vs Man)
• Munro captured society’s attitude to the people it
marginalizes.
• Class represents society
• Myra represents a poverty driven man
• Bullying (Effects on personality development)
• “Let’s be nice to Myra”
• Betrayal (connection between Myra & Helen)
• Myra’s reluctance to walk with them
 Cont…
• Patience, Benevolence and Humanity
• Miss Darling’s episode
• Social appearance, status and popularity.
• Helen’s reluctance to walk with Myra.
• Helen’s connection with Myra is a source of
popularity, because Myra gives her attention
• Fear of being discovered for receiving gift from
an outcast.