Munro, Alice

In the following essay, Nischik discusses autobiographical elements of the short story “Boys and Girls,” noting the frequency with which Munro’s adolescent characters are confronted with strict gender norms that divide them into “different species, ‘boys and girls.’” He observes that the story’s young female protagonist, a victim of these repressive ideals, is nevertheless able to develop a complex relationship to gender, which hints at the open nature of Munro’s later work.

Alice Munro's short story "Boys and Girls" aligns capitalism with patriarchy; the story's narrator and her brother are systemically produced into their respective adult gendered roles. The controlling of space -- the farm, the fox pens, and the domestic enclosure of women -- by the narrator's father is necessary to the support of capitalist production. The narrator's initial alignment with the masculine world is eroded until she is forced into the less real feminine sphere.