Response Journal for "Boys and Girls" by Alice Munro

Alice Munro's "Boys and Girls" tries to view a young girl's rite of passage into womanhood, through a limited feminist perspective. The narrator battles with conformity on a 1940's Canadian Fox Farm. As this time period was still centred on male dominance, her desire to become a powerful woman wastes away when she finally submits to the rules that society has imposed on her. The story is written in first person narration and is seen …

…ace in society is influenced by her family and setting. Her resistance is useless because she has no choice but to conform into a proper woman. She is forced to hide her yearning for individualism in order to be socially acceptable. Current literature uses the feminist approach to convey the views of oppressed women, but Munro's use of the limited amount of feminism allows the reader to make up their own opinion on the matter.