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Fbio Oliveira
Comparative Literature: Ecocriticism and Ecofeminism
7 January 2016
Ecofeminist Analysis of Boys and Girls by Alice Munro
At the climax of the short story by the Canadian Nobel Laureate, the narrator and
protagonist, a young girl without a name, instinctively (she says she did not make any
decision to do this) took the side of Flora, an old mare who was running away, instead of
obeying her father and thus being on his side (I was on Floras side, and that made me no use
to anybody, not even to her). This image, which opposes men (the girls father, Henry and
Laird) to women and animals (represented by the girl and Flora) may serve to highlight the
connections between the domination of women and the domination of nature, an issue which
is at the centre of ecofeminism. In fact, a number of these connections, articulated for
example by Karen Warren (1996), can be studied and illustrated with examples taken from
Alice Munros Boys and Girls.
One of the types of connections listed by Warren are the conceptual connections, that
imply that there are conceptual tools used for the domination of women and nature alike. A
clear example of this is the use of value dualisms and value hierarchies in which the two sides
are seen as oppositional, with one of them being attributed higher value. In Alice Munros
short story the intentional and critical use of such conceptual dualisms is apparent right from
the title which constitutes in itself a disjunctive pair: Boys and Girls. This dualism is further
emphasized by the characters of the girl and her brother, Laird (it is significant that he has a
name and she does not), and by the pair of horses, one male and one female (Mack and Flora).
That there is a hierarchical relationship between the two elements of this pair is proven by the
statement which is repeated at different stages of the story: I thought it was only a girl;
Shes only a girl. The word only implies the perverse idea that girls are less than boys, that
they are lower in an assumed hierarchical organization. This hierarchical opposition is also
present in the relationship between people (mainly men) and animals (nature). The girls
family make a living from killing animals, and she is too used to seeing the death of animals
as a necessity by which we (they) lived. It is apparently accepted, therefore, that human lives
are more valuable than the lives of other animals. Another conceptual instrument for
domination has to do with conceptual frameworks. Karren Warren defines a conceptual
framework as a socially constructed set of basic beliefs, values, attitudes, and assumptions
that shape and reflect how one views oneself and others (xii). Many examples could be
provided of how an oppressive and patriarchal framework underlies the social system
depicted in the shorty story and how it contributes to sanction, maintain, and perpetuate the
twin dominations of women and nature (Warren xii). Using the narrators words, it seemed
that there was a steady undercurrent of though, not to be deflected on this subject. This

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undercurrent of though or conceptual framework determined that there were specific places,
attitudes and occupations for women and for men, so, as the protagonist realized, a girl was
not, as I (she) had supposed, simply what I (she) was; it was what I (she) had to become.
In regard with the epistemological connections, Boys and Girls reveals an instrumental
view of nature and women. It is a clear example of how humans not only consider themselves
separated from nature but also look at it as a mere instrument for achieving their aims. This
view is very nicely summarized in the lesson that the girl had learned from her father: we
needed the meat to feed the foxes, we needed the foxes to make our living. This
instrumentalism is applied to the girl as well. Her mother wished she could use her more in
the house and because she does not get much involved in the housework, she feels its not
like I (she) had a girl in the family at all. By the way, it is interesting to note how the girls
mother and grandmother not only occupy their place within the patriarchal system but also
play a major role in perpetuating this system. They are the ones who engage more actively in
educating the girl according to this model.
Overall, a comparison may be established between the way animals and women are
treated by men in the short story. As suggested by Warren, feminist animal-rights scholars
argue that activities such as farming are tied to patriarchal concepts and practices (xiii). From
this perspective, the opening line of the story is far from being innocuous: My father
(patriarchal reference) was a fox farmer. It is the father who makes the world that foxes
inhabit, and it is the patriarchal system that makes the world inhabited by women and by the
protagonist in particular, a world that never presented opportunities for courage, boldness,
and self-sacrifice. It is appealing that while the foxes world is composed of fences, gates
and pens, the girls world is full of constraints, conventions and expectations (in one way or
another, both are enclosed).
In addition to that, there is a revealing insistence on the idea of freedom. The girl tries to
keep herself free by defying the conventions concerning girls behaviour, she enjoys the
great feeling of opening-out, of release provided by the arrival of spring and she finds it
exciting to see her (Flora) running, whinnying, going up on her legs, prancing and
threatening like a horse in a Western movie, an unbroken ranch horse. She helps Flora
running away probably because she identifies with her and also wants to break free from the
patriarchal oppression that puts them on the same side, the side of the oppressed. She wants to
be what she is and not what she should be in the same way that Flora runs like an unbroken
horse even though she is just an old driver, an old sorrel mare (because this is the function
attributed to her by men). However, both Flora and the girl fail to attain freedom. The mare
was shot and cut up in fifty pieces. As concerns the girl, mysterious alterations took place in
her way of looking at herself. In the stories she used to tell herself from night to night, her
role changed from being the heroine to being the victim who was rescued by men and who
was more important for her appearance than for her actions. In other words, she succumbed to
patriarchal domination and started believing she was only a girl.

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Works Cited
Munro, Alice. Boys and Girls. Dance of the Happy Shades. 2nd ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill
Ryerson, 1988. Print.
Warren, Karen. Ecological Feminist Philosophies: An Overview of the Issues. Ecological
Feminist Philosophies. Ed. Karen Warren. Blomington: Indiana University Press,
1996. ixxxvi. Print.