Family Furnishings IOC Outline:

Introduction:

‘Family Furnishings’ is a short story written by Alice Munro. This short story is from Munro’s collection published in 2014, titled ‘Family Furnishings.’ In this short story Munro highlights the intricacies of maturing, exploring the prevalent yet inexplicit theme of coming of age. Munro reveals the burden of becoming an adult and having to carry the ‘family furnishings.’

Sequential Passage Analysis:

This passage is situated after the protagonist attends her father’s funeral, she meets Alfrida’s daughter and finds out that Alfrida did not attend the funeral due to her health problems and old age. The purpose of this passage is to confine the entire story and tie everything together. 

1.     Alfrida’s daughter recalls the story about Alfrida and the protagonist’s father:

a.     “Boy and a girl, they would just get teased something terrible” this foreshadows the incestuous relationship later revealed to have blossomed between the narrator’s father and Alfirda in their youthful years.

b.     “Bells rung.” According to the Bible, Bells ringing may symbolize the sacred union between a man and a woman. Bells also symbolize the start of a new life. The bells allude to the incestuous relationship between Alfrida and the protagonist’s father, and the extra-marital child that was created as a result of the union.

c.      Alfrida’s daughter recalls the story vividly, yet in a manner that is non-identical to the protagonist’s version of it. Here Munro reveals the “power” of words (as stated in line 7). Story telling is always structured in a manner appropriate for its readers.

2.     The protagonist is confused as to the change in the story she was once told about her father and Alfrida.

a.     “Only I thought hey were just children.” The noun ‘children’ symbolizes purity and innocence. In emphasizing the word children, Munro reveals the impurity of the relationship between Afrida and the protagonist’s father.

b.     “She was pretty good at remembering anything involving your father.” This alludes to the emotional attachment and love that Alfrida had for the protagonist’s father.

c.      “People change things around.” Munro discusses the power of words and storytelling once again, people have the ability to mend the truth and change their words in order to protect their selves.

3.     The protagonists finds out that she lived her whole life not knowing who Alfrida truly was:

a.     “She said you were smart, but you weren’t ever quite as smart as you thought you were.” Here the protagonist figures out the true relationship between her father and Alfrida, indicating how she had overlooked the truth through out her life.

b.     “She said you were kind of a cold fish.” This metaphor characterizes the protagonist as an unresponsive individual, oblivious to their surroundings.

This moment in the plot reveal’s that Alfrida and the protagonists father had emotional and sexual relationships in their teenage years. Alfrida’s reputation, her affinity for her father, her removal to another city, and an implausible story of armistice day with which Murno open her tale all allude to this overlooked relationship. Munro connected the dots, yet kept the reader from doing so. In doing so, Munro has emphasized the power of storytelling. Munro tests how we read between the lines.