Blog Assignment 5 : Reading a Short Story Collection

After much deliberation, I’ve decided to go with option one for my research paper: reading/analyzing two short stories from a collection written by a single author.  The author I’ve chosen is Alice Munro.  Though none of her work is currently on the Eng 102 syllabus, it has been in the past, and after discovering a collection of Ms. Munro’s short stories on the library reserve shelf and reading a few, I was hooked.  Like many of the other realistic short story authors we have studied in class, she writes what she knows or has observed in life. Many of her stories depict rural folks in small Canadian townships. Munro's stories are right up there with those of Alice Walker in emphasizing a strong feminine presence with heavy character and setting descriptions. Societal expectation of the genteel female role in the mid twentieth century seems to be a running theme in many of her stories, with the woman (or girl) protagonist always pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. Various familial and romantic relationships are examined, as is the notion of small-town society’s rejection of anything or anyone who doesn’t fit the norm. Munro’s stories run the gauntlet of human emotion: love, hate, betrayal, envy, and sorrow, to name a few. Indeed, as we have come to expect from a realistic writer, she presents human life and all its complexities.

            My dilemma at present is that as I read more and more of the stories included in Alice Munro: Selected Stories, the collection I have chosen, I am finding it difficult to pick just two for analysis. In truth I am fascinated and intimidated by the clarity with which she weaves together plots, despite the fact that she often utilizes unconventional timelines, meaning she skips around in the telling of events in her stories (non-chronological). I am extremely appreciative of the fact that I can understand what is happening in the story right away (as this is not the case in my readings of some works by other realistic authors) but then I hesitate to judge her intent or moral as it were. I can see themes but am having trouble building an argument. Even now writing these words I am confused as to what I mean to say. So much for blogging for clarity!

Update:
Finally decided on .. "Walker Brothers Cowboy" and "Miles City, Montana."