Symbolism In Alice Munro's The Found Boat

The Found Boat

Short fiction is a great form of literature because of the many different elements that bring numerous lessons that can be learned from the story’s meaning. They also allow the reader to decide what the theme of the story is in their own opinion. Short stories often take place at one time, while using flashbacks to give necessary background to the story as it is taking place. While they story is quite a bit shorter than a novel it focuses on creating a mood rather than establishing a plot line to engage or entertain only. There are usually a small amount of characters in short stories, that often symbolize ideas or values.

In Alice Munro’s short story “The Found Boat”, Eva, a daring and adventurous young girl, and Carol, Eva’s

Munro’s purpose throughout the story is to symbolize aging children’s sexuality with the restoration of the boat. The symbolism begins on page 300 in line 15 when the narrator describes the boat in the girls point of view describing it as “ … an old rowboat with most of one side ripped out, the board that had been the seat just dangling. It was pushed up among the branches, lying on what would have been inside, if it had a side, the prow caught high.” The girls obviously see no real value in the boat, but when the boys come running over they instantly were pleased with the boat in its condition. This tells the readers the authors opinion, that boys find their sexuality first and more enthusiastically than

She insists that she 's not sick and starts insulting him, telling him to "take your schoolbooks and go" because she thinks he isn’t qualified for the job and that he is too young. Granny feels like her bones are “floating around” inside her, and Doctor Harry looks like he 's floating around as well. The is the first sign that granny may not be a reliable narrator. Granny “decides” she is going to remain in bed for little while. She closes her eyes and hears the doctor whispering about her to her daughter Cornelia. This upsets Granny, so she begins to mentally tear her own daughter down by listing her faults. Throughout the story Granny has a lot of things to do that she plans to get done the next day, she thinks. Most of all she wants to get rid of a box of old love letters that she doesn’t want her children to see. She tries to rest throughout the day but she is aggravated by the blue tint of the light in the room from a lamp shade. Soon, Granny begins to think about death, she assures herself she has come to terms with death. Granny continues reflecting about Cornelia and her other children, Lydia and Jimmy, who both still rely on her for advice. Granny recalls an image of herself in a white veil and a wedding cake. Unfortunately we learn that the man she is supposed to marry never shows up- jilted. She dwells on how horrible it felt to be left at the altar. Cornelia interrupts Granny 's thoughts by asking how