Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Garden Of Eden Boys And Girls - 1,704 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

/ 5 / 4 Discuss Margaret Laurence "The Loons" and Alice Munro The Found Boat." How do they depict Canadian/Western Canadian landscapes, characters, and values? O temporal, o mores! (Oh, different times, or different values! ) Greek philosopher I would like to start by saying that Alice Munro is well known for her strength of the fiction based on the regional focus with most of her stories speaking about Huron County, Ontario, that makes her a famous Canadian writer. She has gained recognition across the land for depicting regular Canadian life, the way people acted and lived as well as oftentimes pictures wonderful scenes of Canadian nature and wild life. Munro believes the landscapes of Western Canada are not different from that of the US Mid West.

In her The found Boat she speaks about nice old-looking towns, substantial towns, with big brick houses and big shade trees. She depicts large churches and factories that tend not to be operating any more. I would not be surprised if Munro's favorite place in Canada was Lake Huron, for the fact that she oftentimes comments on it in her stories, as well as on the farms that are located not far from Huron. He likes the wild that Canadian landscapes present, as well as the great sports culture.

In the story the found boat Munro speaks about the gender issues, namely the dilemmas of the adolescent girl coming to terms with family and small town as well as the problems of middle age, of women alone and of the elderly. The style of the Found Boat by Munro emphasizes an explosive momenta moment of revelation or a turning point that can be seen in her statement ''I don't understand where the excitement is supposed to come in a novel, and I do in a story... I kind of want a moment that's explosive, and I want everything gathered into that (Perelman, 2002). The found boat can be subdivided into main five parts starting with the discovery of the boat, consequent fixing of the boat. Then, the boat is rowed down the river, leading to the Peter train station and the moment of truth or dare. A reader can see division between boys and girls in the beginning of the story, as well as in the process of boat-fixing.

The trip is certainly seen as a trip of transgressing gender boundaries. The trip ends up in re-establishing gender boundaries, because womens bodies are vulnerable to rape and in need of protection (Belmar, 2001). What I would personally like to note is that it is the boy, rather than God, that give Eva her sense of shame as opposed to Eve from the Bible. One can here see various cultural peculiarities with the people in Canada being very rooted in the place, and it doesn't really matter for them what happens outside: it is a better fame to be published in the local newspaper rather than in the Toronto Globe. Reading this short story of The Found Boat is a profound experience. I am constantly trying to imagine how kids in their childhood years react, and how they react to the opposite sex.

I think Alice Munro gives us a vivid, interesting depiction of the behaviors of children when they grow from a stage of innocence and ignorance of the opposite sex to starting to be interested in them. One characteristics of such growth is reflected in how the girls would view the boys as annoyance and would not be bothered about their rudeness. Though they seem not to be bothered, this is also the subtle point where they start to get interested in boys. As for boys, like in the story by Munro The found boat, at first they seem to be engaged in their own business, not bothering about the girls, but somewhere along the interval, they have to show some impudence to the girls (Belmar, 2001).

Personally I would like to add that in my own childhood years, if the guys were interested in one girl, they would gather together to tease and make fun of the girl. This is their silly ways to show that they are interested in the girl. And girls who were never been harassed are the ones who are less attractive (Perelman, 2002). Since this version of interpretation comes from the mouth of a guy, maybe there is some truth in it that the impudence boys show to girls is their immature ways of expressing their interest.

I think there are many interesting depiction here of the roles boys and girls take. Here Munro shows a stereotypical version of how boys are interested in fixing and in the mechanics. When there are mechanical things for them to get busy and engaged in, they would forget about the girls and even tolerate, or in more truth, ignore the girls. It is also when they are engaged in the mechanic of fixing and screwing that they won't mind too much of the girls getting involved with them. The boat takes up all their energy and endeavor and nothing else in the world matters anymore. They get so involved that they would even go into the extent taking the pain to gain more knowledge by reading the Popular Mechanics magazine (Perelman, 2002).

You might not agree with me, but I think that fixing the mechanics is an innate ability that the majority of the guys inherit in their blood. My father is always fixing electronics in the house and nobody taught him how and this is also innate in our Canadian blood. As for another writer, I would like to say that Margaret Laurence is another famous Canadian writer that was born in the Manitoba in 1926. She has received numerous honors from Winnipeg Free Press as well as was extremely popular by writing the book "The Loons" (Johnson, 2001). She is well liked and oftentimes was quoted as called Canada the New Garden of Eden (Johnson, 2001). In her book The Loons Margaret Laurence depicted various Canadian values that were seen throughout the book.

Among them was Piquette's way of speaking, her mannerism and commentary on the place of her living. The changing name of the lake as well as the way she died certainly depicts the Canadian value that for some may even appear like stereotypes. Another thing I would like to note would be Vanessa who imposes her own on Piquette, and a the same time remains a "noble savage" in touch with nature; while Piquette is seen like "a dead loss." The mothers motivation for Piquette coming that summer as well as amusing grandmother who is stubborn, close-minded, and opposite of father certainly reveal much of the characters as well as values. The whole town sees Piquette and family as half breeds while I personally believe being much relieved when she dies. Even today people like Piquette and her family in Canada are viewed as outcasts, outsiders, "half-breeds" and drunkards who just want to marry rich (Belmar, 2001).

Here I would also like to comment on other characteristics of the main personages together with the cultural values and issues. I would like to note that the issue of belonging were rather apparent. The Tonnerres were neither Cree nor French, while Vanessa felt rather uncomfortable with Piquette showing the reader that Piquette cannot belong in the Canadian world. The symbolism also plays an important part in value definition as expressed by Margaret Laurence.

One of them is of course, Piquette-loon metaphor, that draws various parallels between loons and Piquette. It should be certainly noted that the inability to change themselves and their environment, the loons are unable to adapt to modern human invasion with Piquette being also completely unable to escape the cultural stereotypes imposed on her in the book by Laurence (Kinney, 2001). Although being democratic and liberal country Canada still faces various race and gender issues in the Loons that can be seen in Piquette's attempt to define her life only in terms of gender and racial stereotypes laid out for her. I believe that just like in other works of Laurence, the main reason for that is the colonialism past that causes so many problems for the main characters of the book.

I should not neglect the lyricism of language describing the Loons setting that is a realist impression of independent natural forces operative around cottage with absolutely no accommodation for humans, except for many inborn or native wisdom as is seen in the work of Margaret Laurence. In conclusion I would like to note that in the Loons Laurence tries to give the human voice the hidden emotions, as well as showing the difficulty in order to express them. Canada with its immense spaces, its fertile earth, and its forests was, in the writings of both Margaret Laurence and Alice Munroe the new Garden of Eden. Canada indeed appears like one due to its abundant greenery, wonderful wild flora and fauna as well as peaceful populace and the strong family ties. But, like in every paradise, it was not preserved from the wicked serpent. The serpent of the wonderful Canadian landscape is certainly expressed in monotony and the melancholia that blemish the life of province.

The long and cold winters, the summers warm and dry, together with the breathlessness of the personages and the innate virgin wilderness are supported by stability and calmness. The first pioneers who discovered the white spots on the Canadian map certainly had influenced various customs and traditions that already were originated by the natives. The reader sees that both writers, although liking their own land and depicting the peculiarities of the characters, the values and the landscape, still show various negative sides of the beautiful Garden of Eden that Canada represents. Bibliography: Margaret Laurence "The Loons" PUT YOUR LIBRARY SPECIFICS HERE Alice Munro The Found Boat." PUT YOUR LIBRARY SPECIFICS HERE.

Mike Perelman, The literary treasures of Canada, Oxford University Press, 2002. Steve Belmar, The need for critical thinking, McGraw Hill, 2001. Mark De Burg, The Canadian writers anthology, Prentice Hall, 2001. Robert Kinney, Landscapes of Canada in literature, Penguin Books, 2001.

George Johnson, Canadian literary heritage, NY Random House, 2001.


Free research essays on topics related to: margaret laurence, gender boundaries, garden of eden, boys and girls, alice munro

Research essay sample on Garden Of Eden Boys And Girls

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com