Alice Munro's "Some Women"

Daniel Contreras
Professor Neal Blaikie
Creative Writing ENGL P140
13 September 2010

Three Observations:
1. The story begins with a thought of the protagonist's present following with consecutive memories of her childhood.
2. She compares and contrasts very effectively.
3. The story is almost entirely a memory.

Discussion Question:
Why or why not is the protagonist/author's memory reliable?

Three Observations (Extended):

1.) The introductory paragraph to the story begins with "I am amazed sometimes to think how old I am." Then it proceeds with "I can remember when the streets of the town I lived I lived in were sprinkled with water to lay the dust in the summer--...etc." It threw me off a little when I first read it, but then I noticed that it was just her recalling how she has aged and how things have changed ever since she was thirteen.

2.) Alice Munro really knows how to compare. At one point in the story she compares Mr. Crozier's ears, or the flesh, to plastic. She notes however that back then they used to call it celluloid instead of plastic. Those little comparisons contribute a lot to the overall story. They make the memory more realistic. If it lacked descriptive comparisons it probably would have cost the story some of it's graspingness.

3.) The author tells the story from her perspective. She begins the story with a present thought and ends the story with a similar thought. The last sentence says "I grew up, and old". It could be an entire lie, or a misconstrued memory, twisted to mess with the reader. Who knows since the author's the one in control of the memory.

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