Literary Essay Sample on Alice Munro's Dear Life

In the short story, Dear Life by Alice Munro reminisces her childhood, her parents, her school years and her life after school. The writers reminiscing of her childhood is evident in the opening paragraph. In this paragraphs the writer vividly remembers and provides accurate descriptions of the walkways from her childhood neighborhood, the rickety houses, bridges, signs on the road, and the schools she attended during her school going years. Alice Munro present vivid descriptions of houses, roads, walkways and other aspects of the town she grew up. This help in painting a clear picture for the reader. The writer also writes about her childhood friend, Diane and their relationship. She writes about an incident when they had skipped school to go dance in Dianes house and how her mother had warned her about playing in Dianes house.

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Alice Munro also writes about how her parents moved from the countryside to the town. She compares life in town and the countryside and concludes that it was different. This is mainly because in the town people did not know each other; on the other hand, people in the countryside knew each other very well to the extent that they knew each others house content. The short story also explores the writers school experience. In the story, the writer provides a detailed description of her school, toilets, and other students. Writer talks about the length it took to finish school. This led to some of her family members teasing her. This also led to some people dropping out of school and not completing the 13th grade. After school, people got part time jobs, which ended up being full time jobs while some of the girls got married and had babies

Alice Munro also writes fondly about her mother and their relationship- From the story it is evident that the writers mother struggled to move from a poor farm to being a schoolteacher in a town school. She also writes about her mothers conditions, Parkinsons disease, and the effect it had on their lives. The story also explains how the condition started simply and continued to worsen with time. Alice Munro also remembers fondly the stories on Mrs. Netterfield that her mother told her.

Similar to her mother, the writer also speaks fondly of her father and his dream to leave the countryside to pursue a career in the city. She provides details in the story how her father had purchased a plot in the town with all his monetary savings, fenced it and built animal pens for himself. The writer also fondly writers about how she also enjoyed helping her father out on the farm pumping water and refilling the animals drinking tins.

She also writes about her fathers business. In the short story, she states that he had entered the fur business late to make good money out of it. This was mainly because fur was getting less fashionable in the 1930s and 1940s as compared to the 1920s leading to a decline in fur sales and demand. However, she states that after the war her father had a lucky work season where he was able to renovate their old house. Lastly, the writer discusses how helpful her father had been during her mothers illness. She concludes that he was a hardworking man who loved challenges in life.