A Discussion On Individual Existence And Self-exploration In Alice Munro’s Collection Of Short Stories Called "Runaway"

Self-discovery in modern times has a long history. It has been through the changes from chasing the Idea out of ourselves to focusing on inner spirit, from the sacred religion to normal life, and from the rational self-control to irrational impulse, then communicating and getting along with self earns attention and recognition finally. Concentration on self is important in Alice Munro’s opus as well. She is good at discover the inner self of individual in trivial routine of life.In Run Away, a collection of short stories, Munro went deep inside the unconsciousness of women with the incisive insight and exquisite words which are peculiar to women to reveal the individual internality and irrationality of modern situation and expose the nature solitude, perpetual inner conflict and struggle of self. When portraying the inner world of the characters, Munro depicted the psychology state and peculiar incidents which are imperceptible as well as indescribable with plain and direct language. Besides, she utilized classical literary allusions, like drama or myth, to illustrate things sometimes. Munro would never inflict her moral judgment and subjective likes and dislikes upon the behavior of the characters. Moreover, her opus seem more like a personal statement comes out of female perspective, however, the research of feminism upon Munro’s opus are usually narrow and limited, which would weaken the universal value of her work.Munro’s exploration of Individual existence and self lead to a philosophy of compromise which is kind of negative and present the disillusionment and nihility of life at the same time. Although her insight is incisive and reasonable, the deficiency of self-transcendence fail to demonstrate the transcendent value of individual.