REACTION PAPER

Reaction Paper: The Kite Runner

Girls and Boys by Alice Munro

Introduction

The short story, “Girls and Boys,” is written by Alice Munro. The story tells the role of a woman in a male dominant society. At the time in which the story was written, men and women were not considered as equal by the society. The women, especially the mothers had traditional roles of keeping up their house, while the men had their roles to earn for the family. The women were considered as a weaker being. This can be demonstrated through looking at the name of the narrator's brother, Laird. This name is a synonym for Lord. This is an important feature of the story as it shows that the men are the dominant part of the society while unwritten rules are forced on the women. The name of the narrator's brother depicts that the male child is far more important than a female child in the eyes of the parents. This clearly demonstrates the differences between the two sexes in the story.

Discussion

The story is told through the point of view of the narrator whose name is unknown. The story is seen through the eyes of a vibrant, free-spirited and young girl. The narrator tells the readers how highly she thinks of her father and how she loves helping him with the farm work. It is clear from the story that the narrator lives in a time when male dominance was prevailing. The narrator hates to do the 'female chores' like her mother and detest it when her mother force her to do the household chores. She prefers to be a powerful woman and fantasize about doing heroic things in her life (Munro, 1995). She tries hard to be different from the women of her society by working with her father, ...