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CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IN TWO SHORT STORIES BY ALICE MUNRO...
Introducing unexpected reversals in the narration to deconstruct the
reality established by a story is one of Munro’s typical writing techniques that
has brought her a lot of acclaim. A set of switches is feature in “Five Points”
as well, the most important being Neil’s confession to Brenda that he too was
among the boys who were paid for sex by Maria. This switch redefines the basic
balance of power in the story; suddenly Maria is, in a way, seen as a dominant
character, and Neil as someone submissive, leading to a deep change in how
Brenda perceives Neil. Yet another example of a Munrovian switch is more
important from the point of cultural re-interpretation; namely that of Maria’s
mother. Although described as “meek”, passive and subdued to her husband,
it is actually the mother who decides to sue Maria in court. We can assume
that the mother’s legal proceedings against her daughter made the family’s
misfortune even more public. In spite of her cultural predetermination and
her shame, Maria’s mother decided to go to court rather than to cover up
the incident and silently withdraw. These two Munrovian switches assign a
certain female power to both Maria and her mother, which, again, goes along
with the notion of a tragic strong woman from the shadows, so prominent in
the southeastern European cultural circle.”
The last issue I would like to address in this section is: Why Croatia?
Modern Croatia came into being in the early 1990s, with its independence
being recognized in 1991. Because of that, and, even more so, because of
the war that followed, Croatia suddenly found itself in the spotlight due to
the media, scholarly discourse, and public attention in the west. A similar
phenomenon happened to Greece with Lord Byron and the Greek War of
Independence in the early 19'* century, and Albania with the first popular
reports on the country and its culture in the late 19" century and after
independence in the early 20" century. I would not want to presume that
this exposure of Croatia through the media really influenced Munro’s literary
choice, but it surely might have done so.
Cultural approximation in “Five Points”
Recalling Maria’s mother, Neil mentions twice that she was making pierogi
(and poppy-seed loaf is mentioned once). While pastry covered with poppy¬
seed is indeed featured in the Croatian cuisine, pierogi is certainly not. Pierogi
are filled dumplings of Central and Eastern European origin’’, spelled as
28 "The idea of the tragic (strong) woman is present in the tradition of the Balkans since the
Illyrian times and the story of Queen Teuta (and various legends of the walled-in woman),
in classical Greek literature (for example Antigone), to more modern times (for example,
the myth of Karolina Belinié who risked her life to save the city of Rijeka during Napoleonic
Wars and later died forgotten and denied). A tragic strong woman from the shadow is also
prominent in a lot of Munro’s writing, regardless of the cultural background of the characters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi (accessed April 2020).
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