Boys and girls

Alice Munro's "Boys and Girls" Alice Munro's short story, "Boys and Girls," has a very interesting detail written into it. The narrator's brother is named Laird, which was carefully chosen by the author. Laird is a synonym for lord, which plays a important role in a story where a young girl has society's unwritten rules forced upon her. At the time of the story, society did not consider men and women equal. The name symbolized …

…her brother symbolize the roles of males and females in that society. The narrator is forced into doing jobs that she doesn't enjoy doing, namely that associated with women's work at the time. Laird is allowed to do what he pleases. Laird is the lord, as a male he is deemed as the more important of the two, simply because of his sex, while the narrator cast into her womanly role, being of secondary importance.