Prue By Alice Munro Analysis

Alice Munro has long been critically acclaimed as an expert in short fiction throughout the past decades. Her prose has earned the praise of many and is filled with evocative language and colorful characters. Within a period of seven years she published the short stories “Forgiveness in Families” (1974), “The Moons of Jupiter” (1978) and “Prue” in 1981. All three of these stories center around women and their different experiences in life. In these short stories, Munro uses the main characters to depict women with mental illnesses, and through this portrayal of her protagonists, Munro allows the reader to see the effect that illness has on their decisions and actions.
In her short story “Prue”, Munro follows the life and habits of the main
A little enamelled dish, a sterling silver spoon for salt, a crystal fish.These are not sentimental keepsakes. She never looks at them and often forgets what she has there. (1219)
Prue finds herself collecting small items, and because they have little to no value otherwise, she is confused about her reasons for doing so. When Prue recounts this story to her friends, she withholds this part of the story, something she felt the need to do because she took the cufflink without permission or reason. The disconnect between her visible actions and her thoughts is pronounced; Prue’s static life seems to make these small displays of cognitive dissonance all the more obvious as these appear to be some of the only moments that differ from her otherwise fixed existence.
In Forgiveness and Families, Alice Munro explores the relationship between Val and her brother Cam, which ultimately exposes her underlying and developing obsessive tendencies. As it is clear from the story, Val dislikes Cam quite a bit, but their mother adores Cam, and because of this, Val and Cam’s relationship has been tense.
I said that to mother; She laughed. “You’re hard on that boy,