In Alice Munro's story "Boys and Girls," gender roles are explored and one of the ways the narrator finds her voice is through her stories. At night after she and her brother sing, she makes up stories in her mind where she is in nontraditional, masculine roles in which she is the hero. By creating these stories, the narrator is using her imagination to picture an alternate reality where she isn't limited to the role of a girl. She can be anything she wants to be in her stories. By the end of the story, unfortunately, reality has set in with her father's dismissive phrase, "She's only a girl." With this, she is forced to recognize that she will not be the character in her stories in real life. She will be only a girl.
How does "Boys and Girls" engage the reader's imagination?
This is an interesting question because it can be answered in two different ways. It...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
can be answered in regards to how the readers can imagine the characters within the story. It can also be answered in regards to how the readers imagine and/or remember their own lives in thinking about the context of the story. Let us discuss each in turn.
First, as readers, we can imagine many things in regards to the characters of this story and especially in regards to its eleven-year-old narrator. I would imagine that most readers would begin the story wondering greatly about what life on a fox-breeding farm could possibly be like; however, the narrator clears that up quickly. Most of our imagination about characters has to do with what will happen to our little-girl narrator when she becomes a grown-up. Our narrator is in the middle of the growing-up process, of course, and many changes occur in the story as a result. For example, during the story, her brother (Laird) becomes old enough to be able to beat her in a fight. It is around this point that we begin to share imagination with our narrator as she wonders if she will be a beautiful woman eventually. As readers, we wonder that, too. Further, we think more about that topic as our narrator tries to fix up her room into a room more befitting a lady (rather than a little girl).
Next, as readers, we imagine the differences between our own experience and the experiences of both our narrator and Laird. All of this, of course, is only conjecture on this eNotes educator’s account because I am unable to figure out exactly what you are imagining when you read the story. However, it would be fairly natural to compare our narrator’s ideas to our own (especially if the reader is female). Further, male readers may find it easier to identify with Laird and compare their experiences with his. No matter what gender reader one is, a reader will probably eventually compare the narrator’s experience of her nagging mother (constantly reprimanding her tomboy daughter) with one’s own experience with parents.
In conclusion, even the title of Boys and Girls is appropriate in that is what our imagination will dwell upon in the context of the story. Our imagination can think about the boys and girls growing up differently in the context of a fox-breeding farm, or our imagination can compare that experience to our own experience growing up as boys or girls.