The Exploration of the Girl’s Initiation in Femininity in Boys and Girls

Abstract

Boys and Girls is a short story written by the Canadian writer, Alice Munro. In her short stories, lists of female fi gures are created to refl ect women’s common dilemmas and mindsets in the 20th century. In this story, Munro takes the perspective of a girl, whose gender consciousness is just awakened. The plot is about how a girl develops from a tomboy to a girl fi tted into social expectations. This paper aims at analyzing what phases the girl goes through to construct her femininity or gender role, meanwhile three potential reasons behind them will be analyzed, they are the influence by osmosis of her parents, peer pressure from her brother, and fi nally social pressures. In the end, the girl’s initiation in femininity will be emphasized.