I finished reading "Boys and Girls" today. I must say that when I first started reading, I did not enjoy it, but towards the end I changed my opinion.
I believe I did not like it at first because I did not understand the point of the story. At first it was a girl that was simple telling you the story of part of her life. I will be honest, I did not realize that she was a girl until later on. I must have missed something:-) Anyhow, it started to get interesting when the conflict entered the scene. She was struggling with wanting to have all the strengths of a boy, but being held back by her girl body. Her world around her also seemed to weigh her down. A good example can be found in the comments her grandmother made about her during a visit, "Girls don't slam doors like that" and so on and so forth.
At first, she seemed to push the comments away by acting the extreme opposite of what she was supposed to be. Over time, however, the text shows how she starts to change in spite of herself. I believe a big turning point comes when she witnesses the butchering of a horse. It affects her in a way that she was not expecting to touch her in such a way.
I thought this was very interesting. It took me back to when I was changing. Sometimes I would fight it, and other times I would embrace.
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Yeah, I agree. As a guy, I don't fully understand how the girl mind works. But I found that the story was an illustration of the parting paths that boys and girls take as they reach a certain age. At first, the girl dreaded being with her mother and spending all that time in the kicthen. Then, after she and her brother witnessed the shooting of the firtst horse, she grew away from following in the footsteps of her father. She realized that she was sympathic, and possed that amazing amount of empathy that women have. I could not fully relate to her , as a guy, letting six weeks worth of dinner go out the gate when she let Flora go. However I did realize that she took her path at the crossroads marked with a sign "boys" and a sign, "girls."
ReplyDeleteYAY! Someone who agrees! That is just what I was thinking, only you said it better.
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