Liberating Female Identity and Narrative from the Confines of Masculine Discourse in Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women

Abstract

An examination of contemporary feminist literary theory reveals that man's traditional association with culture has created a position of privilege from which men are encouraged to write, while women have been denied access to language and, therefore, must escape imprisoning conceptions of femininity before they are able to envision themselves as creators of culture. In Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women (1971), Del Jordan is a young woman and developing artist who struggles against objectification to achieve a sense of her own creative autonomy. Del's quest for authorial power effectively marginalizes her in Jubilee. However, she welcomes the freedom implied by this marginalization and encourages it through acts of social indiscretion and, later, through sexuality. Del's quest for freedom through sexuality ultimately parallels her quest for a language, or narrative voice, which challenges the confines of masculine discourse. As Del matures beyond the illusions generated by fantasy and love, she realizes that her own sense of identity and her creativity are the only true sources of salvation. The creative vision that Del fosters throughout the novel acknowledges and reconciles paradoxes, and, thereby, rejects the binary schemes and imprisoning labels that patriarchy has traditionally used to limit and contain female identity.