Alice Munro's short story, " Boys and Girls ", is about a young girl living on a fox farm in Canada, post World War II. Over the course of two years in the story, the unnamed narrator who is the young girl has society's unwritten rules pressed upon her. At the time of the story, society did not consider men and women equal. The girl, becomes an admirable woman because of the life she led when she was young as a free spirit, but letting go of that freedom does not pass without pain . The main aspects of the story are the injustice done to women, often by and to themselves; the ambitions of a confused girl becoming a true woman, and the resemblance between the protagonist and the horse. .
I believe, at the time of the story, sexism has a great effect on society, men are dominant figures, while women are repulsed in society. The female has her daily household duties which is cleaning, cooking and washing. The male has his duties outside the house and is the dominant figure in the house.
The injustice of women is the main characteristic of Munro's story. The girl hates helping her mother and doing work that was appropriate for a young woman: " I hated the hot dark kitchen in the summer "(157). She wants to help her father outside doing work she thinks is important. Her father considers her help very beneficial until his son grows old enough to give him a hand. As a child the Protagonist views her father as God-like because he has control and organization over the lives and deaths of the foxes. He becomes her hero. In her future relationship with her father, she comes to see that he is simply a business man, and she makes a great effort to form an intense relationship with him. She understands he is simply human and is no longer fearful of him. Her relationship with her mother during her childhood is confusing as she feels her mother is self-absorbed and almost dull at times. She once announced, "My mother was not to be trusted.
