The Shining Houses

"The Shining Houses"

1) Explain what type of narration is used in this story.
The type of narration that is used in “The Shining Houses” is third person, retrospect and omniscient. I think that the narration is third person because there is a lot of he and she when taking about people. I know that the narration is also retrospect because the story is told in pass tense. I know the third narration is omniscient because the narrator knows all and what everyone is thinking about. Almost god like is a sense.   
2) How is "The Shining Houses" structured? Why do you suppose Munro structured the narrative this way?
The Story "The Shining House" is structured with a classic beginning and end. It starts out with Mary talking to Mrs. Fullerton you find the back story of her neighbor and find out that she is not as bad as the new neighbors will portray her to be. With out previously knowing the back story of Mrs. Fullerton the story would not work out in the same way and you may not feel the same as you read it. I think that this is the reason why Munro wrote the story this way. Munro wanted you to feel compassion for Mrs. Fullerton and show how Mary had real morals.  
3) Discuss irony in the story with respect to the title.
The irony in the story is that when you think of the new and wonderful looking homes you probably thought that the people living in them were just as nice as the houses that looked on at the street in peace. But it turns out that the people that live inside of them are mean and think only of them self and not for their neighbor. They are the opposite of what you originally thought of them.
4) What distinction does the story highlight in terms of the difference between legal and moral?
The distinction between legal and moral is that it is legal to petition for a new lane to be made that goes though Mrs. Fullerton’s home but it is not the moral thing to do. Mrs. Fullerton has lived in her home for 40 years and these people from Garden Place want to get rid of her and her home. That is not a moral thing to do a justifying it by making a lane that goes though her property is just as bad as letting the kids play with fire at Mrs. Fullerton’s house.
5) Sketch Mary's character. (Note: this doesn't mean draw her; rather it means to describe her in terms of the definition above)
Mary is a moral and respectful person. She wants to know her neighbors, all of them not just the people in the new lots, Mary is not the kind of person that judges people because of what they look like or how their house may look like. She cares for people even the people that others do not care for. And the best thing about Mary is that she tries to do what is right and not what others want her to do she never gave in to the presser that her neighbors from her community put her though.