1、Analysis of the Loons This touching story tells of the plight of Piquette Tonnerre, a girl from a native Family. The story Her people were marginalized by the white- dominating society. They are unable to exist independently in a respectable and dignified way. They found it impossible to fit into th
2、e main current of culture and difficult to be assimilated comfortably. At school, Piquete felt out of place and ill at ease with the white children. When she had grown up, she didnt have any chance to improve her life. In fact, her situation was more and more messed up to the end she was killed in a
3、 fire. Her death is like the disappearance of the loons on Diamond Lake. The loons would go away when more cottages were built up at the lake with more people moving in. The loons disappeared as the nature was ruined by civilization. In a similar way, Piquette and her people failed to find their pos
4、ition in modern society. Introduction They were French halfbreeds. Different from the white people, they had their own language, and lived a totally unfair life. 1 The Tonnerres If men didnt work on odd jobs or as section hands on the C.P.R. the whole family will live on relief. Their children have
5、no their own childhoods. When they were still young, they were forced to work for the family. No beautiful cloth, no higher education. 2 Piquette Tonnerre She was French a halfbreed. As a Metis girl, she was not able to own a happy life and receive a good education as her peers. Whats more, she suff
6、ered tuberculosis. The miserable life kept her uncured, and always be absent from school. Those prejudiced person around her made her a totally indifferent, cold and unsociable girl. Setting The first setting is presented in para(l-2) in which the living surrounds and conditions of Piquette are desc
7、ribed in detail in order to lay down the fundamental causes why this girl is doomed to a strategic life in the later years. Misfortune had been buried in her life since her childhood. The second setting in presented in para17 in which the author tired her best to depict an idyllic world or heaven in
8、 her eyes, maybe also in the eyes of Piquette, helping to emphasize the loneliness, torture, struggle and strong desires for freedom and happiness in the deep heart of Piquette. plot The summer holiday together The meeting in the bar Heard about her death Revisit the lake conflict The conflict betwe
9、en Piquette( the mirror ethnic people) and the whole society ,the conflict between the loon and the fast changing modern world, these two conflicts buried in the plots and the theme of the whole novel are the real conflicts in it. Climax The climax should be the meeting after four years because duri
10、ng the meeting the conflicts, the readers can be very clear of what a girl protagonist is. uThe summer holiday by the Diamond Lake It is where the first change took place. At that time,Piquette was 13. In some sense, she was a lucky girl, because she met Ewen, a warm-hearted doctor, and also the onl
11、y white person having mercy on piquette. He took Piquette with the family for the summer holiday, wanting to give her a good environment so that the illness can be done. Vanessa, the daughter of Ewen, didnt have a good time with Piquette. Piquette was cold and locked herself in her own world, not al
12、lowing a second person to join in. uFour years later, she was a charming young lady. In the caf, she was totally a different person. Seventeen as she was, she looked like twenty. She was mature. She was animated. She was beautiful. Unusual ,crazy and fashion with her hair cutting short and permed. O
13、ne thing she got extremely proud of was that she has been engaged with a white young man. She thought he was handsome. She changed a lot, expressed her gratitude to my father and revealed strong eager for happiness. She once had a shortened marriage before her death. The marriage once she took proud
14、 of turned out to be a misfortune. The white young man left her behind soon after they got married. She returned to her fathers in the mountain Manawaka where she once tried all her efforts to get rid of. uSeveral years later, Piquette died Vanessa came to understand Piquette loneliness and sorrow,
15、though not totally. Piquette might have been the only one, after all, who had heard the crying of the loons. It was her tragic destiny that brought her back again. She was totally despaired. Without any hope, she became the Piquette of 13-year-old again, cold, indifferent and dirty. She gave birth t
16、o a pair of two children, which means two more children will suffer a world without sympathy and fairness. The three-step-change of Piquette uThe summer holiday by the Diamond Lake uFour years later, she was a charming young lady. uSeveral years later, Piquette died. timeappearance behaviour charact
17、er childhood (that summer) hoarse voice, grimy cotton dress clumsy limping walk, bore no expression, kept silent rude attitude “a repraoach and mystery” reserved “lonely” defiant 16years old (a caf) much” lipstick, hair, eyes, skirts, sweater, hash perfume animated, talk and was laugh loudly, teeter
18、, speak the truth violent gaiety, seeking her own happiness the end of her life put on an awful weight, slattern, dress the old never speak drunk most helpless, hopless vPiquette is a typical example of the Indian, and her whole life is just a miniature of the ones of them. They seeks to fit into th
