Wild Horses

of relationships in a world perceived as chaotic and unforgiving. "Boys and Girls" is no

different. This story isn't merely about a girl watching a horse die. This is about a girl

fast approaching her adolescence, and her inability to cope at first.

We never learn her name, but the girl in this story has her major conflict in her role in

the family and how she is supposed to act. The first clue that this is a problem occurs in

paragraph 22, where we learn that the grandmother has certain expectations for "girls".

These include not slamming doors and keeping knees together while sitting. The girl tries

to preserve her "freedom" by slamming doors and sitting awkwardly as often as possible.

This reasoning of girls acting in a certain fashion is emphasized in other places in the

story as well. In paragraph 10, she contrasts her parents and how they relate to her while

they work together. This demonstrates the vast differences in how the adults deal with the

More evidence of this is in paragraph 12, where the girl voices her surprise at seeing

. . .
She made a comment that sometimes it

doesn't even seem like there is a little girl in the family at all. He had been

expecting it, and wrote it off with the comment, "She's only a girl. In paragraph 20, this is

illustrated by the relationship of the two ill-fated horses. She couldn't have hers, but she could at least

give the horse a few hours free of gender stereotypes and the roles of conformity in her

place. She isn't sure she

wants that to happen. He knew

at some point he was going to have to deal with the girl's growing up. She even sets her brother up to get in trouble

knowing that she will get scolded as well, just so she won't have to worry about anyone

noticing her distress about watching the horse die. The female horse would startle easy, was violent, and would kick at anyone

who tried to get in her stall.

More examples of stereotypes in their family is in paragraph 16, where the mother is

discussing the way the girl is always helping the father instead of her. This shows how

uncomfortable the mother is with having a tomboy as a daughter. This story

was about a girl's conflict with the changes in her body and emotions, interpreted through

the horses' actions and the scenes between characters.

The point of view in this story might help the opposite sex to understand some traits

about women. Boys usually seem to have an easier transition

while girls, especially tomboys, fight and struggle to stay who they want to be, but

always eventually lose out to Mother Nature. She was proud that her father thought she was good enough to

deserve the title. Their adolescence may have been just as torturous as women perceive theirs to be.

Common topics in this essay:
Boys Girls, Mother Nature, Alice Munro, story paragraph, watching horse, watching horse die, symbolism story, slamming doors, paragraph 10, horse die,

Approximate Word count = 934
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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