Gallery

English

For each short story

ESSAY

Explore

Runaway

Exploring the big ideas (themes) from the author

Social and historical context of women

Alice Monro

Feminist

Short story form as a median

Lived experience of sad condition in this rural society

Informs her adulthood

⁠

Set in rural Canada

Authenticity - where she was born, where she grew up

Influences

Role of women in a rural Canadian society

Rural societies live

Village mentality

Scarcity

Closed

Everyone knows everyone

Close mentality

Everyone knows everyone business

Big Ideas

The role of women

Social classes (greater or less autonomy, individuality and role)

Munro’s writing

Stories that are episodic

Emotional development of girls and women

Movement from future-present-past-beyond

Reveals the barriers to women’s autonomy (self-governing) and individuality

Munro is a writer “on the side of women”

Draws from personal experiences - circumstances - inner life (internal dialogue)

Revelation of the character

Several levels of depth

Repeated (Trilogy)

The stories have movement - a combination of past, present, future

Narrative

Memory

Internal dialogue

Feminism

Feminism is a revolutionary ideology. It is a “doctrine or movement that advocates equal rights for women” (Collins Dictionary).

Whereas, literature mirrors life as it is. In other words, literature is a versatile medium for the promotion of women’s rights in the 21st century.

Canadian Gothic

Evolved from romanticism (Nature, rebellion, heroism, emotion, ruins and relics of the past etc.)

Gothic writing relates to the darker side of the human experience which encompasses ideas as insanity, fear, cruelty and the unknown.

Canadian gothic “fear of the unknown” and survival

Relating to ones ability to “survive”

Element of supernatural

Staying alive is one of the more common elements for Canadian gothic, with characters working through struggles or events that may challenge one’s ability to “survive”.

Cruelty - psychological impact

Inner experiences

“if you looked into her soul, it would be black and blue with bruises”

Uses physical environment as a mean to communicate her story

Runaway

returning because it is better that the fear of unknown

Munro’s Short Stories

Each one stands on its own

Repeated motifs

survival, combined with concealed ambitions and passions of protagonists, that threaten these female characters in a physical and metaphorical sense

How are wives portrayed throughout all history

Archetypes

The damsel in distress

Romance - the lover and the villain

Wise women

No wrong answer, when you can substantiate what you mean for the text

Its narrated - omniscient

Conflict is often revealed through irony and nuances in the language

Familiar patterns include:

Female protagonists

Undercurrents of alienation and dissatisfaction

Fear

Need to survive, find identity

Choices - often to runaway

The power to hurt and be hurt

A moment of revelation

Values and Ideas present in the text

A range of explicit and implied values and ideas are explored in Munro’s text through:

Settings

Characterization

Imagery

Actions, behavior and values that are endorsed, questioned or challenged

The point of view we are invited to share or sympathize with as a reader

Gaps and silences in the text

Further themes include:

Effect on society’s values on the individual

Family life and the make up of it

Communication

Alienation and entrapment

Reflection, time and memory

Love

Illness, carers and caring

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