In reference to the Canadian writer, Alice Munro's story Boys and Girls; there are undoubting roles that

ideal women should not be in. During the early and middle 1900s, men and women had specific assignments in society. Women were accountable for child care, and primarily household tasks; like cooking and cleaning. Men did the work that required physical power, which resulted in providing income for their families. The story takes place on a fox farm in Canada, at a time where women were considered less than men. The nameless, female, major character faces difficulties on her journey in transition from a young girl to a woman, because of gender stereotypes of an ideal woman. The young girl in the story is in a battle, with identifying what it means to be a Female. The girl is unaffected by what most of the women in society were. Like Munros previous work Oranges and Apples, she explores a comparable subject, of a girl who rejects to follow with the role anticipated by society. The narrator demonstrates that her mother is urging her husband to let the girl work around the household. However she hated the hot dark kitchen in summer, the green blinds and the flypapers, the same old oilcloth table and wavy mirror and bumpy linoleum (Page 256), she described the job as never-ending. She preferred the more masculine job; working with her father feeding foxes and carrying water, when he cut the long grass, and the lamb's quarter.. (Page 255). By being alongside her father for countless periods of time, she is exposed to numerous stereotypes of women. When a feed salesman approached, and was introduced to the girl he responded with Could of fooled me.I thought it was only a girl (Page 255). Men were not the only people who were hypnotized with these stereotypes, women were also. When the girls grandmother was over, she spoke of things such as Girls don't slam doors like that. Girls keep their knees together when they sit down..That's none of girls business."(Page 257). After hearing this being said, she says she will continue to be rebellious by not doing any of this, she was unaffected by what other females were doing. Munro is known for her common themes in her work dilemmas of a girl coming of age and coming to terms

with her family (Wikipedia-Alice Munro). This theme is revealed in this story, as the girl is having a hard time adjusting to what a supreme female must be. Munro gives personalities, traits, and hints directed towards the reader to propose the dissimilarity of gender. Firstly, the element that the young girl is without a name is noteworthy. Being nameless symbolizes someone is without an individuality. Munro chose to have her main character nameless to highlight that women had no identity, except for a wife or a mother; that is what the young girl is destined to become. The girl labelled her mother with qualities of a slave or servant: her bare lumpy legs not touched by the sun, her apron still on and damp across the stomach (Page 255). Correspondingly, Munro presents the narrator as extremely resourceful and visionary. As Andrea Walker proclaimed in her article Things you may not know about Alice Munro, the author would frequently tell herself stories growing up. Munro would make pleasant finales to stories, whose endings she couldnt cope with. For example, The Little Mermaid was a story she used. During Boys and Girls the girl would also tell herself stories at night about courage, boldness, and self-sacrifice (Page 254). The narrator would rescue people from bombed buildings, ride and shoot in these stories (Page 254). Accumulating these stories, displayed that the girl had no way to express true feelings. Females needed to hide their thoughts and dreams. As Douglas Glover said in the article The Mind of Alice Munro: The author uses the device of imaginative reconstruction to insert pictures (fictions within fiction) in the readers mind As the story develops, and time goes on, an obvious alteration in the main characters behaviour transpires. During the stories, that the girl would tell herself something different was happening, mysterious alterations took place (Page 261). Now, during her stories, someone would be rescuing her. She said It might be a boy from our class at school, or even Mr. Campbell, our teacher, who tickled girls under the arms (Page 261). Growing up in Ontario, Munro understood that women were only supposed to be reading on Sundays, and the rest of the time they could knit (Walker

Things you may not know about Alice Munro). That was the rule, which was initiated in her community; it is known she experienced several occurrences of gender stereotyping during her childhood. Munro was only allowed to read once a week; so she displayed the girl as hiding, while telling stories. The article is reaching an end point, and Munro is showing that the girl is beginning to accept the labels of an ideal women. Furthermore, reaching the end of the story, the girls younger brother announces She could of shut the gate and she didnt. She just opened it up and flora ran out (Page 262). After confirming the fact, some tears came down the girl face; showing softness, which many females were known for. Shes only a girl, Munro saved this for one of the last points in her story, to show her father is letting go of his daughter, maybe giving her brother more opportunity. The girl didnt protest after the statement, only saying Maybe it was true. Like Munros previous work in the 1974 story How I met my husband she displays the theme of how people must accept reality. In the story, the main character waits for letters for another man. When they dont come, she marries the mailman, telling him she was waiting for him. She realized the other man was not in love with her; she accepted this and moved on. It seems the young girl in Boys and Girls had done the same thing. One of the final scenes in the story, when she let the horse go free, was very symbolic. Munro chooses to have the horse scene, close to the time where the girl accepted her role as a woman, because it was losing freedom, and what it was accustomed to enjoying. The freedom of being a man in a womans body was gone; she turned into the typical women. Boys and Girls was a superb story by Munro, a classic example of her signature writing. The young female protagonist faced many obstacles on her road to becoming a woman. Although, resistant to becoming an ideal female, in the end the stereotype became reality. Munro didnt necessarily present resolutions to the problem of gender stereotypes, she rather informed readers to give a second thought of the world we live in, and to become well aware of this problem. Munro gave information, and that fact many individuals struggle with discovering themselves.

"Women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear. On this International Women's Day, let us rededicate ourselves to making that a reality. Kofi Annan

References / Work Used Things you may not know about Alice Munro (Andrea Walker) http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/festival/2008/10/things-you-may.html The Dark Side of Alice Munro (Alexandra Alder) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704888404574546713103854266.html Wikipedia Alice Munro The Mind of Alice Munro (Douglas Glover) http://notesandqueries.ca/the-mind-of-alice-munro/ Oranges and Apples Alice Munro How I met my Husband Alice Munro