Munro’s comparison of a novel to a house that can be explored in many different orders and still be understood for its meaning greatly applies to her own novel, Open Secrets. Munro’s use of the motif of flawed romance allows for Munro to easily create connections between her stories in the same way that hallways create connections in a house. Two of Munro’s stories, “Carried Away” and “Jack Ronda Hotel”, use this motif to great effect in order to progress their plot. In the short story “Carried Away”, Louisa experiences a very rocky love life and never truly settles down with one man. Louisa still harbors feelings for the men she once loved as evidenced by her quote “Love never dies” (52). Louisa’s past relationships failed due to certain …show more content…
Gail and Will in this story are a previously married couple that have had their ups and downs and are separated at this point. Gail still loves Will and hopes that their marriage can survive even though Will left her for another women very shortly after the end of their own marriage. Gail and Will’s marriage was never strong to begin with due to incompatibility between the two and Will involving himself in extramarital relations.This weak relationship eventually failed and Will moved to Australia. Gail becomes so obsessed with Will that he follows him and his new lover, Sandy, to Australia and even manipulates Will’s correspondence to a recently deceased lady, Mrs. Thornbury, by acting like her. The use of a failed relationship between Gail and Will creates an obsession in Gail that fuels the rest of the plot of the story. Munro’s use of the motif of failed romantic relationships throughout Open Secrets allows for connections to be drawn between many of the stories, a key component of the “story is a house” metaphor. Munro’s use of this motif allows for plot progression in her collection of stories, Open Secrets. The connection between stories provides a strong bridge between both the stories “Carried Away” and “Jack Randa Hotel” as well as between all the other stories in the