Reading Munro’s ‘Deep-Holes’ in the wake of the revelations

Alice Munro occupies a unique place in literary culture. In light of recent biographical revelations, this article advocates ethically engaged, interdisciplinary readings of her fiction. Focusing on ‘Deep-Holes’ (2009), it draws on Albert Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement to examine how the story represents the erosion of the mother–child bond through subtle strategies of denial, rationalization and blame-shifting. By situating the text within Munro’s broader exploration of familial estrangement and silence, the article shows how moral disengagement provides a new framework for understanding the narrative construction of responsibility and the evasions that perpetuate harm.