Alice Munro The Shining House

“There is nothing you can do at present but put your hands in your pockets and keep a disaffected heart.” (8). Mary had chosen her side, but was this the right course of action? In the short story The Shining Houses, Alice Munro portrays a conflict between collective interest and individual belief, which is then projected through the characters within the story. One of the main characters that is part of this conflict is Mary. Mary lives in a suburb where the development of houses, land, and property are expanding and a newer generation of houses ought to replace the older ones in order for the community to modernize. In the community, a house belonging to a woman named Mrs. Fullerton does not represent the modernization of these houses, as

Fullerton’s house to be demolished as it does not represent the community’s interests and presents it self as an eyesore to the majority of the people compared to the new “shining houses”. The only person that opposes this interest is Mary. She believes that because Mrs. Fullerton is old and had been living there for almost 50 years, deserves the right to stay. Mary was also the only one that had developed a personal relationship with Mrs. Fullerton as she had talked to her at a personal level which had made Mary understand her more. Since the majority of the people in the community wanted to remove Mrs. Fullerton for the benefit of the community as a whole, Mary believed that this was not right and that her own belief overcame collective interest. The conflict between collective interest and individual belief is reflected in Mary as her attributes of inquisitiveness, compassion, and courage reflect this conflict as she is internally separated to choose to support either

Fullerton as a result of her inquisitiveness and curious trait. This had led her to ultimately support Mrs. Fullerton when others didn’t. In the beginning of the story, Mary had gone to Mrs. Fullerton’s house in order to pay her the egg money as Mrs. Fullerton sold eggs. When conversating with Mrs. Fullerton, Mary asked many questions that later sparked a new conversation after the last one. This made sure Mary’s curiosity was fulfilled as after each conversation she would ask another question or say something that would lead to Mrs. Fullerton to bring about another story to talk about. Mary was able to learn many new things about Mrs. Fullerton because of this and gained enough information to know her very well. Many other people in the community saw Mrs. Fullerton as an old lady who lived in an old house but Mary knew she was a nice lady and understood her. This is why the majority of the people wanted her to leave because they never knew her at a personal level. As Mrs. Fullerton concludes a statement about her husband, Mary asks, “Was it long ago?” (pg.2). Mary visits Mrs. Fullerton’s house so she could pay for the eggs she had bought. The author explains how Mary would pretend to know less than what she already knew in order for her curiosity to be fulfilled. Because of her inquisitiveness and curious trait, she was able to establish a personal connection with Mrs. Fullerton that no one