Setting
Physical setting
The short story “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro, takes place on a fox farm in the fictional town of Jubilee, Canada. We are told that the narrator’s father sells the fur pelts to the Hudson’s Bay Company or the Montreal Fur Traders. The names of these Canadian companies help place the story. The main events take place in spring (p. 6, l. 23).
It appears that people’s workplaces depend on their gender. For instance, the cellar is the place where the father works, pelting the foxes, because the mother does not want the operation taking place in the house (p. 1, ll. 15-17), which is the mother’s domain. When the narrator grows up, she is expected to join her mother in the house, which is the place where women are supposed to work (p. 5, l. 5). However, the na...