Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Interpreting the “Other” in Alice Munro’s “Runaway” from Ecofeminism

Taoran ZhangSchool of Humanities and Law, Wuxi Taihu University, Qian Rong Road 68, Wuxi, China*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Runaway turns on brief openings that close. Carla prepares to leave, returns, and learns how quickly care can become a means of keeping her in place. Read with ecofeminist concerns in mind, the story’s pairing of Carla and the goat, Flora, shows how management of bodies and habitats distributes voice and risk. The analysis follows scenes around departure and recall to show where choice is made visible and how it contracts through shelter, naming, and help offered on specific terms. In this account, “othering” is a practice embedded in routine relations rather than an abstract principle. The reading stays with the text and stops short of universal claims; it identifies the pressures that shape action in these moments and the unresolved ethics of living with non-human dependents under familiar patriarchal arrangements.

Keywords: ecofeminism; Runaway; Alice Munro; patriarchy; othering; care; dependency
Published: March 7, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2025.21376
Volume: CHR Vol.61
pp. 146-151
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