Boys and Girls Written by Alice Munro

     Boys and girls, written by Alice Munro, is set on a fox farm in the modern society, where young girl, a narrator, live with her brother Laird. On a traditional farm, gender discrimination is significantly issued, which means the roles of men and women are sharply divided. The author uses the element of cognitive design to call the reader’s attention to resist the idea that a narrator is expected to be feminine

     At the beginning of the story, the reader is quickly informed that the girl is a tomboy. In contrast, during this period of time, girls are supposed to enjoy being a wife and a mother, which means that her father considers her action as weak:” A girl was not as I had supposed, simply what I was; it was what I had to become “. Eventually, it is concluded by her father:” She is only a girl “. Basically, it has damaged her prior behavior because he dismissed her mercilessly such a way. In addition, a girl seems to prefer being outside and doing many chores to staying inside. For this reason, her mother is related: “She was plotting now to get me to stay in the house more, although she knew I hated it (because she knew I hated it) and keep me from working for my father “, specifically when a horse gets away and goes straight to her. Surprisingly, she opens the gate to set it free.

     In a word, a narrator desirably wants to do the men’s work but she has to be on parents’ side, so she realizes that it is impossible, which means she is “condemned” to live the life of a girl. A cognitive design element shows that a gender discrimination is not only meaningless but it is also wrecking the life of a person.