Ladies and Gentlemen Alice Munro Boys and Girls Discussion

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Ladies and Gentlemen:

It’s time to set up our Discussion Board on Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls”.

I’d like you to post answers to any two of the story’s guide questions—

The idea of your post is to offer remarks backed up by well-chosen, concisely-quoted evidence from Munro’s story. Your post should be at least 4-5 sentences each (not counting your quotes from the story). They can be longer if you feel inspired. They should be in full-sentence form and you should proofread them carefully.

Guide Questions on “Boys and Girls” (Alice Munro)

1: It’s obvious from the start that this story is told by a ‘first-person narrator’—that is, someone who refers to her/himself as “I”. However, what are the first specific signs in the story that show the narrator’s gender?

 

2: Though the story is called “Boys and Girls”, there is a lot about foxes in the first few pages. Find at least three specific details in the passages about the foxes that connect with the story’s main concern with the roles of males and females in our society. (Warning: Munro is a careful and subtle writer; some of these details can look very small at first.)
a)

b)

c)

3: The narrator’s father and mother both work hard. So does the narrator, it seems, when she helps each one. However, she is very definite about which parent she prefers to work with. Which parent is that—and why does she prefer working with that parent?

 

 

4: The narrator mentions a remark of her father’s that makes her feel wonderful—what is it? She also mentions several things her mother says that she finds irritating or insulting. What are those remarks?

 

 

5: In paragraph 17, the narrator seems almost to be apologizing for her criticism of her mother—while making more criticisms. What is the truth about her mother—as the narrator has gradually come to realize in later life?

 

6: The second half of the story is about horses, not foxes. What is the exact connecting or transition point, where the narrator joins the two halves of the story?

 

7: The narrator carefully describes the horse “Flora’s” personality. Not coincidentally, it is this horse that she will try to save later—not Mac. Are there any similarities between the girl and the horse, when you look closely? (For example, compare the last words of paragraph 20 with the first lines of paragraph 21.)

 

 

8: The narrator admits that, at a certain point, she began to have doubts about her father’s work—which until then had always seemed fascinating and wonderful. How exactly does she express her new mistrust or dislike of his work?

 

 

9: The incident of Flora’s temporary escape will lead to big changes in the narrator’s life—as she herself seems to realize. However, according to her, changes have already begun. What are three or four of the differences she has been noticing, in what might be called her ‘private life’?
a)

b)

c)

10: The narrator says that the words “She’s only a girl” (her father’s last words in the story, in more ways than one) “dismissed me for good” (para. 64). What is so terrible, so cruel about these words?

 

 

11: “Maybe it was true”—the narrator’s own last words in the story—might sound