The Untrafficable Woman and Twisted Sisterhood in “Free Radicals”, a Story by Alice Munro

One of Alice Munro’s great short stories is “Free Radicals”. It has not been paid sufficient attention to and I believe the women presented in the story are quite remarkable. In the story, there is a subplot about how the murderer has killed his parents and his crippled sister. This paper aims to study the role of the sister since she is not seen as a woman. She does not have an exchange value base on Gayle Rubin’s idea and she does not function as a woman based on Luce Irigaray’s view as she is handicap and overweight. Moreover, this research intends to demonstrate the invisible sisterhood which exists between the protagonist of the story and her husband's first wife. Although she has betrayed his wife, through an imaginary story, she creates a bond with her that leads to saving her from getting killed.

Keywords:

Alice Munro , “Free Radicals” , Luce Irigaray , Gayle Rubin , Exchange Value , Gift , Sisterhood , Exchange of Women.