Structure
Begins and ends with a fixation on her father:
The father is a character of great importance in the story, from the beginning the father is the one who shows us the position that the girl should take as a woman and ends with the phrase of “Nevermind, she’s only a girl”, that shows the lack of importance that he gives to the emotions of his daughters, justifying that crying is something exclusive to women showing once again that macho culture that we see through history.
The entire story is a flashback, in chronological order: We can appreciate this because when she talks about her age they say it in the past "The winter I was 11 years old" in addition, during the story on some occasions she tells us in which station they were at that time (“This winter also I began to hear a great deal...” and “ When spring came”) , which shows us that she had the facts in chronological order.
Irony:
The irony of the story is that the girl in the end turns into what she despised, we can see that throughout the story when she was pressured to behave in a specific way. For example, when the grandmother went to visit them and made comments like "Girls don't slam doors like that. "or " Girls keep their knees together when they sit down. " and even told her to shut up when she asked something saying " That's none of girls ’business."
Foreshadowing:
We consider that the two horses are a representation of foreshadowing, because they, like the protagonist, already have a written destination, the horses will inevitably be used for fobber and the girl will inevitably have to be forced to change to what the others want her to be.
Symbolism:
Flora and the gate:
Flora represents the protagonist fantasies, her desire to break free and run away from all expectations of what a girl should be, Flora represents that freedom, but at the same time it represents her chains, since she knows that even if she keeps that gate wide open, even if Flora manages to run away, she will be captured once again. That moment is the first time she disobeys her father, breaking the stereotypes, but at the same time is the moment she realizes she is trapped, her brother becomes a man and helps to catch Flora, while she remains inside and admits has become a ‘‘girl.’’
The horse named Mack:
Mack shows two different things in this new Troy; first of all, it shows the main character’s perception of death, so she understands that it is natural and necessary for them to live, but at the same time, that death is the first sign that showed the protagonist that something is different, due to the fact that it is the first time she feels she is holding-off on her work with her father.
Songs sung by the narrator at night:
It is a ritual that she has with her brother, but for her it is much more than that, it is an opportunity to hear her own voice, which reminds her of all her wishes, desires and fears.
The bedroom and the kid’s bed:
These elements represent security, a feeling of being safe and sound, when the lights are on as long as they are inside the bedroom they are safe, but when the lights are off, the only safe place is their beds.
The narrator’s mother and grandma:
They are the representation of society and the gender roles the protagonist is supposed to fulfill, this since they are the ones that are constantly reminding her of what she should do, wear and even behave.
The foxes on their farm:
The foxes in the story hold a huge symbolism in this story, mainly because they show a direct comparison between them and the main character, the first similarity is the fact that they are nameless, a fox is only called if they serve as part of the breeding stock, if they have a purpose, and the protagonist feels that she doesn’t have a purpose due to her gender. She also relates the fox to her imprisoned state, they are both forced to do what the father wants them to do and the fox pen represents the fact that she feels imprisoned by the roles from society.
The kitchen:
The kitchen is like a prison, not only to her but to her mother as well, who spends practically all day there serving others, and to the protagonist it is a place she despises and represents everything she doesn't want to become.
Theme
Thematic threads
- Conformity: The girl conforming to the role that society gave her, even if that's not what she dreams of. little by little, we can see how the “things of women” were imposed on the girl, causing her to lose her true self.
Coming of age:
The story takes place at the moment that children begin to grow up and have a responsibility at home, the girl stops seeing herself as a hero and starts thinking more like a "woman" or what was considered to be only for women. Because that was what her family imposed on her, leaving aside that adventurous girl full of dreams to be what it was considered a real woman.
Defiance:
The challenge of going against what our family says is not easy and it has to be lonely, but if we want to achieve our dreams we have to keep trying, overcoming obstacles and reaching goals. In the story we can see that the girl's family knocked down her dreams, so that she would fulfill a pre-established role.
Thematic Statement:
The conflict between attaining personal desire and conforming to your present environment can lead a person to take serious actions that will affect the rest of their lives.
How is this aspect seen in the story?
We can see this in the story when the girl silenced her own desires to fit in with the ideals imposed by society and her family. At the end we see how she surrenders to that role of "women". We can assume that from now on she will continue to change herself until she fills the mold imposed on her, leaving aside her dreams.
People can suffer through great obstacles when fighting conformity, and even if at first they do not succeed, they must not give up on what they truly believe in.
Who is affected by circumstances paraphrased in the above statement? In what ways?
The person most affected is the one who fights against conformity.
It is not surprising that society or our families expect something from us that they consider to be the best for our future, but sometimes they forget about our opinion and our dreams, they impose on us what they want and believe that we will accept that without refusing, maybe it is because the path we want to take makes it difficult for us to achieve success, there will be thousands of people with the same goal, we will stumble several times and we will want to give up, but if that leads us to happiness, it will all have been worth it.
In the story we can see the girl losing against social pressure and conforming to the role of women already established, because of this she will fit in with what other people think, If she had continued doing what made her happy she would have had many problems; however, if she managed to be happy in the end, with her passions, with her dreams then she would not have lost herself.
Plot Diagram
Raising actions:
At first we are introduced to the dynamics at the farm, introduced to the different characters and how they interact with each other, and we are told about how the work at the farm gets done, how the protagonist helps her father with everything she can, while her little brother is just an annoyance, while her mother takes care of the house.
The narrator also talks about the foxes, which ones receive names, and the importance of horses as work force and food.
The protagonist begins to realize that there is a big stereotype around the word "girl. For example, she hears her mother plotting to keep her from helping her father in order for her to help at the house.
The girl and her brother are physically fighting and even when she uses all her strength, she still manages to get hurt, which gets her humiliated by her family.
The grandmother comes to visit for a few days and the only thing she does is criticize her, telling her how a girl should be and behave.
Henry and the girls father are preparing to kill a horse and tell the kids to go away, but the kids hide in the stable where they are able to witness the horse being shot, the young girl seems to be just a little shaken up after the fact, but she is used to being around death. Instead she takes care of Laird.
They are preparing to kill Flora, the other horse, but she runs away.
Climax: She is told to close the door in order to block Flora’s path and prevent her from escaping from the farm, but instead of closing it, she just opens it wider for her to run away.
Resolution: They capture Flora and bring her again to the farm in order for her to be killed. While they are sitting all at the table, the narrator’s brother tells everyone that it was her that allowed Flore to escape. When asked for an explanation, she could only cry, being unable to express how oppressed she felt. At that moment she was relegated to the rank of “only a girl”
"Never mind," my father said. He spoke with resignation, even good humour, the words which absolved and dismissed me for good. "She's only a girl," he said. I didn't protest that, even in my heart. Maybe it was true.
New Ending: She couldn’t stand it for longer, with her eyes full of tears she stood up the table and left, she was crying of impotence, rage, and disappointment at herself for being unable to talk back. Maybe today she was “just a girl”, but she made a promise to herself, she would break the cycle and show the world what a girl could do. She would wait, grow stronger, and make a difference.
Conflicts:
Internal Conflict:
The main character against different feelings that appear during the development of the story, due to the fact that at the beginning she is an adventurous girl that enjoys to work with her father and is unaware of the gender roles established by society, but as she grows up those standards mess up with her mind and also with her confidence. All this doubt and confusion leads to her final internal conflict, why she allowed the horse to run away.
External Conflict:
Man vs Man: The main character against the impersonations of the social construction of what a “girl” should be, represented in her mother and her grandma, that want to turn her into a perfect lady, with marvelous manners, that stays home to help with the house, etc, which is not something the main character wants to be.
Man vs Nature: Throughout the story nature takes a key role on the plot, since it is always a reminder of everything she can not be, the girl trying to find freedom, but the foxes reminder she is worthless, trying to escape, but Flora reminds her that she is trapped forever. Besides a much crueler aspect of life, since it also shows her relationship in general with nature and different aspects, like death.
Man vs Society: The main character against the gender roles established by society, that destroys her character and her spirit.
Setting
Innes spaces of the home:
-Kitchen
The bedroom
Outer spaces of the home:
-Hudson's Bay
The garden
The farm
The barn
The barnyard
Cellar:
was a place in the house where the father worked removing the pelt inside-out from the body of the foxes, the place was whitewashed, and lit by a hundred-watt bulb over the worktable.
Bedroom:
it has In the middle of the floor was a square hole, with a wooden railing around it, where the stairs came up, it also has a brick chimney that went up one wall, and on the other side of the stairwell were the things that nobody had any use for anymore.
Characters
Protagonist:
Main character (female narrator):
Since the character is narrating everything from her present, we can notice that everything she says is truly thoughtful and complete, without leaving behind the traces of her carefree childhood, due to this she perfectly narrates the moment when she realizes that there are some expectations that she is awaited to fulfill, and it didn’t matter how hard she resisted to this change, at the end, she succumbs to society and is finally captured inside this little box that contains her wild spirit, all caused by forces greater than herself: Society.
Antagonist (The narrator’s relatives, her mother, father and grandma)
Father:
He is introduced as a serious, decent, and hardworking man. At the beginning of the story he is a supporting father figure to his daughter and his son, but as the story develops we realize that he also wants to turn his daughter into a perfect lady as well, and believes that when she grows up she should stop helping him to become, exclusively, a help to the mother.
Mother:
She is a great woman and a nice mother, she loves to talk with her daughter and tells her about a variety of topics, from fashion to her past. However, she (as well as the protagonist grandma) looks forward to the day when her daughter will be older and so able to relieve more of her labour’s burden, which has a permanent negative impact on her daughter.
Secondary Characters:
Laird:
He is the narrator’s younger brother, at the beginning of the story he is introduced as a sweet ignorant boy, that greatly relays on her sister, nonetheless, as the story progresses we see how he is taken more into consideration as the “boy of the house”, destined to take her sister’s place as the helper to their father, which relegates her sister to the rank of “just a girl”.
Henry Bailey:
He is a farmhand. He is someone truly familiar with the narrator’s family, he is like a friend to the children, that brings entertainment and joy.
Point of View:
This story is told from the point of view of a nameless young woman, and whose experience on the farm forms the basis for the story. Due to this the narrator is the main character.
By María Camila Pinzón and
Camila Orozco, Step 11
