“Tragedies that Help Portray the Worth of Life” In life no one knows their actual fate and the story “Miles City, Montana” gives a true picture of just that. In this story, we see two different times and events that take place. The first event is the death of a childhood friend and the second is an almost unexpected tragedy that makes a woman think back to the childhood catastrophe. Munro uses mostly dialog to help give the reader a description of the theme in her story. In “Miles City, Montana,” Alice Munro discusses some realities of life: how drastically things can change, and how quickly and unexpectedly death can come. At the beginning of the story, the narrator starts by remembering a childhood calamity. Her young playmate Steve Gauley had drowned in the nearby river. This untimely death brings back memories that question the meaning of life.The question is about Steve Gauley’s life in particular. His mother had left Steve and his father to fend for themselves. Steve’s father was “a drinker but not a drunk” and, “the fact that the child had been left with him when the mother went away…seemed accidental” (Munro 458). The narrator felt it was a shame that people, especially her parents, felt this way, but it was the truth. Steve Gauley’s life was somehow accidental just like his death.Twenty years later, the narrator tells about a family trip to Ontario in which she finally discovers for herself the realities of death and life. It would take her own children to teach her that life is fickle and death is lurking. The narrator is confused about the true meaning of life and she tries to find it among herself. Going on the trip helps her to find that sense of relief. During the trip, the scenery is flat and uninviting and the weather is hot and sticky. The narrator’s oldest daughter wishes that there was a beach. The narrator states t...
