"[S]he's only a girl" (par. 65). This is what the young girl in "Boys and Girls" heard at the end of the story from her father. It was at this point in which she was finally dismissed by her father and the male society, and accepted by her mother and the female society. Alice Munro's short story "Boys and Girls" is a story about initiation. During the story the protagonist, the young girl, struggled to deal with her place in society. Having been a tom-boy of sorts the girl started to come to the realization that there is no place for her in the male dominated world in which her father works. At the same time she was trying not to realize that her place in the world is with her mother in the safety and comfort of the home. The story examined and showed the girls' transition from childhood into a young adulthood.
             Throughout the story there were many examples of the girls' immaturity, which helped display her place in the world. One example of her immaturity is at the beginning of the story when she and Laird would lay in their beds afraid of the dark. She would tell Laird that there were bats and skeletons in the corner of their room, and that escaped convicts were hiding in the room behind the curtains. However she explained that there were rules to keep them safe. When the light was on in the room they were safe as long as they did not leave the edge of the worn carpet in their room. When the light was off however, they were only safe when they were on their beds. In order to get them through this fear she and Laird would sing songs to one another. This display of immaturity first shows her ignorance and her place as a child, and secondly it showed the naivety of her younger brother as well as the control she had over him.
             Also throughout the story there were many examples of how she perceived herself, which in turn created a more masculine behavior from her in o...