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CANADIAN LANDSCAPES/ PAYSAGES CANADIENS
suspects where Floras dead body may be lying, she does not allow herself to
even contemplate the possibility that Clark killed her, let alone go and check.
While still sitting on the bus Carla thinks about how this is her second running
away: the first was when she left her comfortable middle-class life behind for
Clark’s sake — a loser to her parents’ mind — because she was searching for
authenticity. There she realizes that the meaning of her life is her relationship
with Clark. If she gives up this relationship, she will also need to accept her
failure for the search of her authentic self as well as her parents’ judgement of
him and herself. She rather chooses to stay blind to Clark’s lie (or deed), an act
of disloyalty to her pet goat/ surrogate child, to justify the value of her life with
him. Flora’s sacrifice seems to bring new peace and prosperity into their world:
the rain stops, riding students reappear, and the days of financial difficulties
are over.
It is noteworthy that the name Flora also appears in Munro’s earlier nar¬
ratives in connection with hidden knowledge suddenly revealed to the pro¬
tagonist. In an early narrative, “Boys and Girls” (1968), Flora is the name of
the horse that the teenage girl narrator sets free when she learns that her
father intends to slaughter her for food on the fox farm. The name Flora is
thus closely intertwined in the two narratives with the mystery of life, death
and violence. The name is also featured in “Friend of My Youth” (1991), where
it always appears as fit for the speaker’s intentions. It is through her that the
main character understands that we all shape our stories about ourselves and
others, to justify our existing beliefs.
“DIMENSIONS” (2009)
If “Vandals” is one of Munro’s darkest narratives, “Dimensions” is definitely
her darkest. The young heroine of the story is called Doree/Fleur — another
Flora — and Lloyd, her husband, a former orderly, is the Adam figure. They live
in “a town they picked from a name on the map: Mildmay. They didn’t live in
town; they rented a place in the country. Lloyd got a job in an ice-cream fac¬
tory. They planted a garden. Lloyd knew a lot about gardening, just as he did
about house carpentry, managing a woodstove, and keeping an old car running”
(Munro, “Dimensions”). Maggie, the neighbor/friend and Fleur’s therapist,
Mrs Sand are the ones who tempt Doree/Fleur with the truth.
The plot here also revolves around the hidden horror of the past. The reader
awakens slowly to the secret that Lloyd killed their three children to punish
his wife for her disobedience. The secret is infanticide and an abusive marriage.
Before the murders, Doree constantly finds excuses for her husband’s behavior;
after their children’s death, she tries to erase her memories of her past life. She
takes a new name (Fleur), moves to a new city and washes the past away (she
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