Theme Of Red Dress By Alice Munro - 1664 Words

In the short story â€Å"Red Dress-1946†, Alice Munro suggests that a person can have fears of standing out and embarrassment due to society’s expectations. This can pressure one to conform with the majority, and ignore foresights of their future when making life-altering choices. The narrator is led to believe by her mother and her peers that the only way of living a happy life is to find a good husband. This idea is changed when she meets a girl named Mary Fortune who challenges the typical idea of ordinary, but her fear of being different ultimately leads her back to trying to fit into society’s expectations. This blinds her from the foresight that she is following the same path as her mother, and her life could result similar to her†¦show more content†¦By being pressured to fit in, she resorts to self-harm which displays the negative impact of society’s expectations for women to look a certain way. In addition, the hardships of being a woman in 1946 were displayed as the female teacher helplessly â€Å"begged [the boys]† to behave and often â€Å"burst into tears†. Women were considered less superior compared to men, thus they were more vulnerable to the opinions and actions of others because they had more difficulty defending themselves. Eventually, the narrator has no choice but to go to the school dance with the foresight of humiliation. At the school dance, â€Å"a Paul Jones† dance symbolises society and the road the narrator is taking in life where the girls are in the inner circle, the boys are in the outer circle and they end up with whoever is in front of them. The girls barely have a choice with who they end up with, similar to how the narrator does not have an opinion or choice, she is simply desperately waiting for anyone who picks her because she does not want to stand out which leads to embarrassment. The narrator is acutely aware of the â€Å"world’s opinion†. When she r ealized she was one of the few girls left without any boys claiming her, she felt as if â€Å"everybody knew it†. The pressure to conform makes her overly critical of herself, and although she might feel embarrassed and feel like everyone is focusing on her,Show MoreRelatedFeminist Criticism In Alice Munros Axis1087 Words   |  5 Pagesor short story, relating to the present sexism. Ruled by the mental and social prisons of society, the protagonists of Alice Munro’s â€Å"Axis† are the embodiment of the struggles faced by women seeking refuge from the dominant patriarchy during the 1900’s. Although this short story is usually perceived as a thriller, it clearly exhibits a very prominent feminist standpoint. This theme is exposed through the power relationships of the characters in the book, the structuring of masculinity and femininityRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Alice Munro s How I Met My Husband 1783 Words   |  8 PagesLiterary Analysis – Edie and Alice Munro’s Life Alice Munro’s short story, â€Å"How I Met My Husband† has a narrator that is one of a kind and a true reflection of the author’s lifestyle. The symbolic meaning of Edie’s role in the story can be directly related to the life Alice Munro was living and striving for herself. Edie is a 15-year-old girl who strives for marriage and affection from men, has been raised in a country/rural setting, and does poorly in obtaining a higher education due to many reasonsRead MoreComing of Age in Alice Munro’s Boys and Girls Essay1086 Words   |  5 PagesIn Alice Munro’s â€Å"Boys and Girls,† there is a time line in a young girl’s life when she leaves childhood and its freedoms behind to become a woman. The story depicts hardships in which the protagonist and her younger brother, Laird, experience in order to find their own rite of passage. The main character, who is nameless, faces difficulties and implications on her way to womanhood be cause of gender stereotyping. Initially, she tries to prevent her initiation into womanhood by resisting her parent’s