In Alice Munro's short story “Boys and Girls,” our narrator is a young farm girl on the brink of puberty who is learning what it means to be a “girl . " The story shows the different gender roles of boys and girls – particularly the fact that women represent the weaker and more emotional sex – by showing how the adults in the story expect children to grow into their respective roles of girl and boy, and how children grow up and eventually begin to fill these roles, moving from being “children” to being “young adults.” The adults in the story expect children to grow into the gender role that their sex has assigned to them This is seen at several points in the story, like when the narrator hears his mother talking to his father: "I heard my mother say, 'Wait until Laird gets a little older, then you'll have some real help'..." '” (Munro 495), when her grandmother comes to visit her and tells her all the things girls shouldn't do, and when she fights with her little brother and farm hand, Henry Bailey, tells her, “that Laird will show you , one of these days" (Munro 497). While the narrator disagrees with the adults and tries not to conform to their expectations, by the end of the story both she and her brother end up behaving exactly as one would expect a child of their age and gender to behave: the preadolescent who cries for no apparent logical reason, and the boy is thrilled to have been included among the men, and tells the exciting story of killing a horse. At the beginning of the story, the narrator and her brother are just "children", but by the end the narrator is a "girl" and Laird is a "boy"; have become very d...... middle of paper ......older and the opportunity to show her courage emerges in the form of Flora running away, she doesn't even consider playing the part of the hero, he simply follows his father's orders, and even that turns back when he leaves the gate open. He no longer daydreams about action and excitement; she instead imagines herself in a love story. Throughout the story, the different roles and expectations placed on men and women are highlighted, and the coming of age of two children is depicted in a way that is relatable to many. women who think back to their childhood. The narrator abandons the title of “child” and begins to take on the new role of a young adolescent woman. Works Cited Munro, Alice. “Boys and girls”. Introduction to literature. Ed. Isobel M. Findlay et al. 5th ed. Canada: Nelson Education, 2004. 491-502. Press.