A Deconstructive Analysis of Alice Munro’s Runaway: Exploring Moral Ambiguities and Identity Construction

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-511-9_38How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Deconstructionism; Runaway; Alice Munro

Abstract

This study explores Alice Munro’s short story Runaway from the perspective of deconstructionism to examine its narrative structure and thematic depth. Drawing upon Jacques Derrida’s concept of “différance,” the analysis unfolds in three critical dimensions. In the beginning, it investigates the symbolic significance of Flora, the goat, whose shifting meaning reflects the instability of signs and the fluidity of interpretation. In addition, it reconsiders the portrayal of Carla, the protagonist, whose hesitation and lack of decisive action challenge conventional feminist narratives that often valorize agency and emancipation. Rather than acting as a liberated figure, Carla embodies internalized fear, silence, and moral ambivalence. At last, the study explores how the text deconstructs binary oppositions such as good and evil, suggesting that characters and choices in Munro’s story resist simplistic moral classification. Through these focal points, the paper demonstrates how deconstruction offers a powerful critical framework for revealing the latent tensions, contradictions, and multiplicity of meanings embedded within the text. In conclusion, by applying deconstructionist theory, this study opens a broader interpretive space and enriches the literary understanding of Runaway, contributing to both Munro scholarship and the field of literary criticism more broadly, especially in studies of identity, ethics, and poststructuralist literary theory.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yueqi Zhang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - A Deconstructive Analysis of Alice Munro’s Runaway: Exploring Moral Ambiguities and Identity Construction
BT  - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 331
EP  - 338
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-511-9_38
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-511-9_38
ID  - Zhang2025
ER  -