The myth of "happily ever after" has permeated Western culture for centuries. Almost all of our fairy tales and bedtime stories end with the hero and his beautiful bride riding off into the sunset. Through these stories, the idea that marriage is the ultimate goal of life and the source of all happiness remains intact. This is especially true in the case of literature involving female protagonists. In the words of Carol L. Bean, “traditional conventions of the fiction genre – whether popular or elitist – have made the search for true love (with marriage as the signifier and happiness as the inevitable reward) the goal major part of women's quests. » (Bean 330) It is this concept that Alice Munro fights so passionately in her fiction. Although loaded with themes of religion, sex, and other heavy topics, Lives of Girls and Women is a testament to Monroe's belief that marriage does not equal happiness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay We see in Lives of Girls and Women that Del Jordan's world has already been tainted by an "angel in the house" mentality. In fact, Munro gives us Del's vision and desire for the conventional fairy tale. In "Changes and Ceremonies", Del discovers that this year's operetta will be The Pied Piper and finds herself "disappointed, thinking that there would be no court scenes, no ladies-in-waiting, no beautiful clothes.” (Munro 138) Not only is young Del enticed by the idea of ​​a fairy tale romance, but she also wants her real life to reflect the conventions established by "happily ever after" fiction. As she listens to the stories of her mother's life, Del is eager to hear about her parents' marriage in the way tradition has taught her to expect: "Now I was waiting, as in all the memorable and satisfying stories, the glow of Glory, the Reward. Marriage to my father? I hoped that was it. I wish she had left me in no doubt about that. (Munro 89) Although preserving naivety is certainly one aspect of traditional conceptions of happiness, Munro opens our eyes to another, perhaps even more dangerous, aspect of these concepts. In an attempt to perpetuate the importance of marriage in our society, many people resort to scare tactics. These people make their children believe that any attempt to build happiness without marriage can have disastrous consequences. In "Changes and Ceremonies", Naomi, drawing on her mother's teachings, informs Del of the consequences of having children out of wedlock: "if a girl must marry, she either dies with [the child], or she almost dies. , or there is something wrong. Either a hare lip or a club foot, or it's not right in the head. My mother saw it. (Munro 132) Whether women fear the mutilation of their unborn children or simply because they have been raised ignorant of non-traditional happiness, they succumb to the idea of ​​marriage and family as the final reward of life. This is the case for many women in Del Jordan's life. Through these women, Munro shows us how damaging it can be to view marriage as the only source of happiness. At the beginning of Lives of Girls and Women, Munro gives us the image of Aunt Moira, a woman broken and decayed by traditional feminine constraints: "it seemed that the darkness that escaped from Aunt Moira had a gynecological odor, like that of fluffy, rubberized down. bandages on hislegs. This was a woman I would now recognize as someone likely to suffer from varicose veins, hemorrhoids, drooping uterus, cystic ovaries, inflammation, discharge, bumps and stones in various places, a of these heavy, cautiously moving, destroyed survivors of female life. , with stories to tell. (Munro 47) Unlike this decadent victim of tradition, Munro gives us Aunt Elspeth and Aunt Grace. Although they seem to live for Uncle Craig, these two women have been spared the trials of marriage and motherhood. In Del's view, "you couldn't really say much about marriage if you compared [Aunt Moira] with her sisters, who could still jump so quickly, who always smelled fresh and healthy, and who occasionally mentioned , in a derogatory way, marriage. measurement of their size. Even when getting up or sitting down, moving in the rocking chair, Aunt Moira made groans of complaint, involuntary and eloquent like the sounds of digestion and wind. (Munro 47-8) As depressing and horrible as these warnings of physical damage may be, they are only symptoms of a deeper mental damage. Monroe's writings are full of stories of inhibited ambition. One of the most striking aspects of this constraint is society's reluctance to educate women. In the world described in Lives of Girls and Women, the desire for knowledge is considered "a habit to be abandoned when the seriousness and satisfactions of adult life take over." (Munro 131) Del's mother had to educate herself with used textbooks, while waiting for her chance to escape to high school. (Munro 87) Indeed, in much of Munro's fiction, "self-education through books becomes the sign of a quest for experiential and imaginative empowerment." (Stich 125) Once marriage and family entered the picture, women were expected to be content with what they had. A thirst for knowledge would be considered frivolous and extravagant. Munro also shows us how society upholds this notion of a traditional woman in other stories. In “Meneseteung,” from the collection Friend of my Youth, Munro writes of a woman who renounces marriage to write poetry without “the distractions of the housewife.” (Hedin 594-95) After the death of Amelda, the poet of the story, "la Vidette publishes a barely condescending obituary, which recognizes her "sensitive and eloquent verses", but hastens to atone for it by noting “her former work in the Sunday school” and the “noble feminine nature”. (Hedin 595) Here we see that even when a woman manages to break the mold, society continues to try to confine her within the constraints of traditional female roles: those of wife, teacher, and spiritual guide. . The constraints of these traditional female roles deprive Munro's characters of their values ​​and desires. Del's mother Addie was once a proud young woman who defied society's norms in order to pursue her education. She rejected traditional religion in favor of her own system of beliefs and values. As Del listens to stories of her mother's better days, she remarks, "Oh, if there could be a moment outside of time, a moment that we could choose to be judged, naked as can be, besieged, triumphant, then this should be the case. is the moment for her. Later perhaps come compromises and errors; there, it is absurd and unassailable. (Munro 87) And the compromise did indeed arrive in time. Addie is not allowed to continue her college education, and ultimately her only intellectual activity is selling encyclopedias. His provocative views on religion give way.. 32.1(2007): 120-140