Boys and Girls - Alice Munro - 191 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

Boys and Girls by Alice Munro

Alice Munro’s Boys and Girls was published initially as an individual story in a magazine in 1964 and was later included in Munro’s 1968 collection, Dance of the Happy Shades.



Image - Alice Munro. Dance of the Happy Shades. And Other Stories. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, [1973]. First edition. Signed by the author on the title page.


In 'Boys and Girls', the narrator is a girl child growing and coming to terms with being an adult woman. She is shown to struggle with her identity in a very male dominated world of fox farming, agricultural environment and finding a place in a world dominated by men.


The protagonist prefers to work outdoors with her father, but tradition and expectations of the time and era force her to adopt social habits of women being indoors or kitchen bound and grow into a woman like her mother. This sharp patriarchal view of women is the highlight of the story.


But the narrator's desires and personality is the lovely essence of this story which was ahead of its time and hence makes us think about these empty and backward norms. She is an outdoorsy, free and independent woman or she dreams of becoming one. The girl is confronted with the expectations and boundaries that have been placed on her throughout the story. She tries to fight them, and Flora, a horse, provides her with some encouragement and inspiration.


Themes


Inequality between the sexes

The narrator’s brother Laird is portrayed here as one who is pampered and the preferred child. But just within themselves, we see Laird as dependent on his sister when he was afraid of the dark. She would narrate stories or sing to him. Out of the imagination of her adventurous mind, she would conjure up versions of herself where she was a hero, saving others, riding or shooting.

Inspite of her active mind and personality, the family fails to recognise that and the favouritism towards Laird and draconian expectations from her is shown here.


Patriarchal society

The response of the family towards the girl, the attitudes of the farming and agriculture community towards home management and expectations to a growing girl child in the story all point at the deep rooted patriarchal attitude prevalent at the time.


Nature used as a symbol as well as a character

The story is set in a farm in the 1940’s and the primary occupation shown here is fox farming. The narrator loves the work at the farm. In contrast, she hated the hot dark kitchen and saw the work as endless, depressing and drab as compared to the work with the foxes. Nature set her free and also is a symbol here for freedom from one’s own perceptions of society and roles of a male and female in a household.

Elizabeth's Child - L M Montgomery- 128 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

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Elizabeth's Child - from the collection of stories 1902 - 03

The story had many similarities to Anne of Green Gables. Both stories have a girl child coming from a distant land. And brightening up the home on her arrival.

Worth Sheldon is the only niece of the Ingelow family who are a bunch of spinsters and a brother all unmarried and tending a home they all live together at the sweet little village Grange. (recall Marilla and Mathew Cuthbert ?) Worth lives out in the west with her parents Elizabeth and James. Elizabeth is the only sister of the Ingelows who married against the wishes of the family , especially the eldest brother Paul.

Thus amidst a history of family's angst and simmering separation, one day an Ingelow aunt desired to see her niece. She sent a letter to Elizabeth. Never thought of getting a reply, leave alone agreeing to send Worth, everyone is surprised that their estranged sister has relented at last.

Worth arrives and endears herself to the whole family and neighbors. How she manages to break the ice with Uncle Paul is what the reader will enjoy. I mean can Montgomery ever fail to endear?

With this ends a week of joyous reading of L M Montgomery's stories. I have picked a piece each of the collection of various years. I hope to start again some other time soon with a different anthology of her's. Let me know your thoughts and feedback.

 

At the Bay Shore Farm - L M Montgomery - 127 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

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At the Bay Shore Farm - from the collection of stories of Montgomery of 1904

. The collection of stories of this book are a pleasant read invoking feeling of home, the goodness of friendships and family matters. Written in Montgomery's easy style, they are all endearing to the reader's heart.





Picnic, sisterhood and meeting a dream author.

Three words enough to pique my interest in this short story called At the Bay Shore Farm. The Newburys are all ready to attend the governor's picnic in the coming week. The picnic is the highlight of the day at Claymont. With the small village and its families, the Governor has some exciting activities for the children. The Newbury teens are thrilled and the elder sisters Frances and Cecilia are debating what they would want to do at the picnic.





In comes Mrs. Newbury and delivers a news that their grandmother at a nearby town, Ashland, wants to send her birthday with one of her grandchildren. Utter gloom spreads on the kids' faces. But gradually everyone looks at Cecilia - the understanding and noble Cecilia who is known to give up her wishes for her siblings and friends. However, she is adamant to stay back because she hopes to meet her best friend Dan after a gap of many years. Fran wants to meet her favorite author Sara Beaumont as she is an ardent admirer. Though she had never seen her photograph, (since authors usually didn't share their profiles then.)

And so the joy of picnic wanes away and the argument starts as to who will go to Granny's. The boys conveniently slip away leaving Fran and Cec to sort out. They go to bed without deciding anything.

Next day when Cec wakes up, and finds a note from Fran that she is going to Ashland. Further Fran writes that 'you have monopoly of giving up things and this time I wont allow it.' Showing her kindness unexpectedly made Cec's heart and eyes brim over.

At Bay Shore farm with her granny, Fran has a lovely time at arrival. Totally taken back at Fran's arrival Granny wonders how the mild selfishness in this sister disappeared as she knew that Cecilia was known as the self sacrificing monk! Granny considered the girl's gesture as a double gift along with her coming.

There was a pleasant surprise for Fran at Ashland. A visitor, Mrs. Kennedy, had dropped by to meet Granny and the three women had a lovely afternoon tea. Later Granny sent them off for a walk. Fran, in the course of the conversation in the walk, shared her dreams of being an author and idolizing Mrs. Beaumont. Mrs. Kennedy advised her that the glamor of writers are only attained after a lot of hard work. Thus a beautiful afternoon was spent.

On their return, Granny broke the lovely surprise that Mrs Kennedy was actually Sara Beaumont. Fran's kindness was rewarded and she understood that the universe created by God does bring the bounty out of goodness and blessings.


                                          

Davenport's Story - Lucy Maud Montgomery - 126 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

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Davenport's Story

This story is from Montgomery's collection of Short Stories 1902 to 1903.

A tale about ghosts, apparitions and sights of spirits. But I had fun reading about the fact that a group of friends gather together regularly to share and swap stories. Altogether a fun idea for spooky winter evenings.








On a rainy afternoon a group of friends gather to recount a strange ghostly experience which really happened to them or someone they knew. Amidst them, a gentleman Jack who was wont to never believe any of these happenings, denied every tale and declared spirits do not exist.

Soon their friend Davenport arrives and joins in with his story which he claimed really happened to him. His brother Charles was in love with a lady Dorothy. Unfortunately, she died young and Charles unable to bear the sorrow, died of ill health a short period later.

Time passed and, Davenport married Dorothy's sister. They had a child named Dolly. Dolly's face was very similar to Dorothy. Everyone used to be awestruck with the face resemblance.

One day the family decided to travel from New Orleans to Europe as Dolly was planning to study in Paris. Davenport couldn't accompany them due to business matters. Dolly, her mother and uncle went ahead stopping first at New York for two days . The next night, alone at home in Orleans, in his room Davenport could feel a presence in the lonely house. Fearing a robber, he got up to investigate the matter, and behold was his dead brother Charles!

Stupefied by the very real presence of him, Davenport was more shocked than scared as he knew the spirit will not harm him, being his own brother. All Charles said, according to Davenport, was to urgently message Dolly not to travel on the Aragon ship to Europe. After saying that single sentence, Charles left.

Too numb to utter a sound, Davenport stood there. When he composed himself, he did not sit to analyse the matter. He only acted on the message.

So he first sent a wire to his wife in the NewYork hotel, where she was staying, telling her to cancel all plans to Europe and to stay put in the city itself. Next he set aside every business, and set by the overnight train to New York. On meeting his wife and brother in law, he explained the entire happening. They laughed at him saying he must have dreamt of Charles. However they agreed to postpone the trip.

A week later the news came that the ships Aragon and Astarte had collided due to a fog and all lives were lost at sea without any survivors. This incident further astounded the entire family including Dolly. Did Charles really appeared to Davenport? Did Charles see Dorothy in Dolly? Many more questions were left unanswered and murmurings were left in the minds of all those who heard the story.

So while Davenport finished narrating, Jack in the afternoon story telling group, showed signs of shock and intrigue. Finally a story to make him believe in ghosts!

A Case of Trespass - Lucy Maud Montgomery - 125 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

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A Case of Trespass


The story is one about honesty and sincerity. Written in Montgomery's traditional pure and crystal clear way with sprinkles of sweetness and depiction of natural beauty, the story of a young Dan and his honest heart will win reader's hearts as it did with her popular Anne novels.

This story is from her collection of Short Stories, 1896 to 1901



Among the tall birches and willows, at Carleton pond, Dan Phillips was fishing for trout. The pond was on the property of a certain new tenant Mr. Walters. Known as a grumpy mister and a hard employer, it was no surprise that the place was without any guests or maiden or kids. This was the general gossip going around the village.

But Dan was not much into gossip. The happy go lucky guy enjoyed the best things provided by the Lord - nature, family and friends. On this particular afternoon, he catches a good amount and then when the sun gets higher, he goes back home. Dan is poor and the family of a widowed mother and a disabled sister, manages on his earnings from odd jobs. But the burdens of life seem light on him as she is always cheery and jolly. While talking to his mother that afternoon, he notices a newspaper ad which mentions a notice by Mr. Walters that 'no trespassers will be entertained on his land and fishing or walking by without permission is punishable. '

Anyone else would have shrugged off the news and used the paper for laying down the fishing rod and angle. But Dan was made of honest soil and truthful nature. His happy face turns to a worrisome look and he decides to go and return the fish back. His mother, as good natured and innocent as him, agrees.


When Dan finally meets Mr.Walters and hesitantly admits his fault, he expects a shouting and a roaring reprimand. The image of the latter was built up with all the assumptions and gossip. But both were in for a pleasant surprise. The old man, though firm and austere, was not as bad as the people made him out to be. Much to the relief of the nervous lad. And Dan was exactly the honest and young man Mr.Walters needed for his place and barn to run.


Not just the value of righteousness but a valuable lesson on the need to stay away from hearsay and muckraking of people, especially without meeting or knowing them.

The Girl and the Wild Race - L M Montgomery - 124 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

The Girl and the Wild Race - from the collection The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories of L M Montgomery



In this chase and love tale of a young woman Judith, Montgomery subtly plugs in the very annoying social evil of matchmaking. Although endearing as plot points in so many novels and stories, here LMM tries to show how the individuality of a lady can be stifled and questioned when the whole world around her tries to pin her to a man.





Judith is content and happy being a single woman. Her aunt Theodora is far from satisfied and very near the edge of her seat and nerves. She doesn't leave a moment to complain to any passerby or close relative about how she will rather bear a lifetime of loneliness without Judith around than see her as a maid while her 'best, younger skin' years are gradually passing by. Judith, hardly heated up by this debate still shows us the beauty of the village, the hills and the ferns. ( a remarkable feature of LMM is that she will never fail to bring us to the natural glory of the location in the story )


Judith has a surprising secret matter up her amusing sleeve. She likes a man, Mr. Bruce Marshal, who is hardly agreeable to her aunt. And the older lady has chosen another gentleman for her niece, Eben King. Thus with these extra characters introduced to us, we see a good amount of fun and chaotic times in this charming story. Which woman's willful desire will win in the end and how the race to Judith's heart literally ends up is the delightful finishing line of this romantic chase.




Picture courtesy - Montgomery Literary Society

Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side by L.M. Montgomery - 123 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side

This was a surprising discovery for me! I would have never equated Montgomery to conceive of tales of the supernatural, ghostly or even a simple village robbery. The closest I think I read of her foray into the gloomy world was when Anne's imagination takes off and she is scared to cross the bridge in the dark when Marilla tells her to go over to Diana's house for an errand. 



The stories are not all equally strong, but they offer a glimpse of Montgomery's diverse authorship; the dark aspect isn't always ghosts or supernatural elements, but very real worries such as alcohol abuse, adultery, broken hearts and sick aunts. Aspects that were always present in her books but often overlooked.

Caption partly courtesy Goodreads

Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea - L M Montgomery - 122 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

Along the Shore


This collection has stories and anecdotes that are reminder of the ocean. They have the emotions of parting, longing, waiting and the daily life which is affected by a coastal life.








The stories demonstrate the obvious truth of the matter that the sea can be both enchanting and entrancing, even grasping, holding, to the point of some individuals actually being forever linked and bonded to the sea, to the ocean and that any and all domiciles not near the water's edge simply do not and will not work (as is described and depicted in Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea especially glowingly and passionately with The Magical Bond of the Sea and A Soul That Was Not at Home, where in both cases, the main protagonists end up having to return to their original oceanside homes, as they can simply not adequately and with health and happiness exist anywhere but near the ocean, near the water, even for education, even for the chance of societal advancement).




( writing partly courtesy Goodreads)