Boys and Girls

Boys and Girls Summary | Detailed Summary

The unnamed, female narrator of "Boys and Girls," by Alice Munro, begins the short story with her statement, "My father was a fox farmer." She describes his trade in fox furs and the companies he traded with, which gave the family scenic calendars that hung on their kitchen door. She tells of his method for removing the fur from the dead fox, and introduces the hired man, Henry Bailey, as well as her brother, Laird, and her mother. The narrator describes her mother's distaste for the whole pelting process. The narrator describes the overall smell of it all to be homey and comforting. She describes Henry's difficulty with his lungs, and also makes quirks about such things as his voluntary stomach growling and laughter.

The narrator tells how, strangely, they were not afraid of the outside in winter, with the snow and winds howling. Rather, they were afraid of the dark inside. She describes the inside of the room where she and her brother slept every night, and the fears they dealt with as they were trying to sleep. She tells of the rules that every child seems to have about dealing with the dark; such as, the only safe place to be was entirely in bed. They would sing songs and look at the stairwell light and out the window. Once Laird had fallen asleep, the narrator describes how she would tell stories to herself every night before going to sleep herself, involving riding and shooting.

The narrator continues to describe the world of raising foxes, now detailing the buildings that her father built for them to sleep and breed, to feed and water. It was the narrator's job to keep the water dishes filled in the summer. She tells of the names of the foxes, which they got after surviving their first year, and how she named some and how her brother named some. She details the difference between the foxes and pets - even though they had a name now; they were certainly not anybody's pets. Only her father could go in the pens, and they always acted in a very un-petlike manner.

The narrator goes on to tell how she helped cut the long grass by raking the cut portion into piles for her father to throw into the pens. She contrasts her mother and father - her father only talked to her if there was something to say about the job at hand, while her mother could prattle on about everything that entered her mind. Although she is shy of her father, she loves working for him, and is proud when he calls her a hired hand, even though a visiting salesman says, "I thought it was only a girl."

She tells of an occurrence where she sees her mother down at the barn, an unusual sight. She describes her mother's appearance as that of a stereotypical farm wife, with an apron and a kerchief on her head, no time to spend on her appearance. The narrator is given jobs to do in the house in the morning, especially at canning time, and tries to escape the confines of the kitchen for outside work as soon as possible every day. She gets within earshot of her mother and father, and feels betrayed when her mother alludes to Laird as "real help," and voices her expectations of having the narrator help more with the housework. However, she feels proud of her father for his stance as being preoccupied and anxious to get back to work. She expresses her literal love/hate relationship with her mother, since she knows she is love, but feels she has to watch her back since her mother can no longer be trusted. The narrator is confident that her father will stick up for her.

The narrator is reminded by her father's apron to describe what the foxes get fed, which is horsemeat, gotten from a neighbor's old or sick horse that has been shot and butchered. She depicts how sometimes they would keep a horse for a while before using it for meat, and how when she was eleven, they had two horses named Mack and Flora. She also explains how it seemed that she felt the pressure to become a "girl" more and more from those around her, including, inadvertently, her brother, who was growing up and beginning to become stronger than her. Her grandmother was an especially vocal proponent of how a girl should act, causing the narrator to rebel by acting the exact opposite way.

She begins her illustration of the next spring with a description of letting the horses out of the barn. Henry tells her to say goodbye to Mack, since he was going to be shot that day. The narrator decides she wants to see it done, even though her father tells her to leave. She corrals her brother into going to watch with her, and they sneak into the loft to see out of the knotholes and watch. She watches as they lead an unsuspecting Mack out, and her father aims and shoots him. She watches Mack sway and fall, and kick his legs in the air. She leads Laird away, trying to seem nonchalant about what she had just seen, and she remembers the time she lured Laird onto the top beam in the barn when he was little and watched her parents agonize until they got him down. She notices his pale face, and makes him promise that he won't tell that they watched. She worries that he might have a nightmare, and resolves to put it out of his mind by taking him to see a show.

Soon after it is time for Flora to be shot, and the narrator explains that she doesn't want to see it again. Once was plenty. She explains that she was not exactly horrified by it, she understood the necessity; still, she was a bit repulsed and also a bit ashamed. When it is time, Flora gets away from the men and makes a bid for freedom. The narrator's father yells for her to get the gate shut, because she was nearest and was a fast runner. She gets to the gate, but instead of shutting it, she opens it even more, allowing Flora to go through, without giving it a thought. Laird saw what happened, but her father and Henry did not. She assumed Laird would tell, and is conflicted about why she had done it, and worried about her punishment for disobeying her father.

She goes back to the house and tells her mother what happened. She goes up to her bedroom, and tells of her recent redecoration efforts for her part of the room, trying to make it nicer. She explains that they do not sing anymore at night, since Laird had told her she sounded silly. They are no longer afraid of the dark, and even her stories are changing - she is being rescued, instead of doing the rescuing.

The men and Laird come back with the butchered horsemeat in the truck. When they sit down for dinner, Laird tells on the narrator. Her father is disappointed with her, and the narrator begins to cry. Her father dismisses her with, "She's only a girl."