Analysis of The Loons by Margret Laurence
Analysis of "The Loons" by Margret Laurence
In Margret Laurence's The Loons, the stories idea is that sets of lifestyles can be wiped out the same way as an animal species can once it hits extinction. The Loons were wiped away from Diamond Lake by tourists. The Tonnerre way of life was wiped out by Europeans crowding their land.
How are the Tonnerre's ever suppose to get out of their shanty town where they are always being put down by others. People are consistantly putting the family down, making false assumputions about them, aswell as calling them names, "If that half breed youngster comes along to Silent Lake, I'm not going," Grandmother McLead, (Laurence, page ). These hardships drive them into a dark hole of alcoholism and poverty. "Sometimes old Jules or his son Lazarus would get in a Saturday night brawl, and we would hit at whoever was nearest or howl drunkenly among the offended shoppers of main street," Vanessa narrates, (Laurence, page ).
The effect of the ignorance and hatred suffered by the Tonnerres totally shape their lives. Piquette's mother is driven off by it, leaving Piquette to do all the cooking and cleaning for the family. "The mother's not there...... can't say I blame her. Piquette cooks for them, and she says Lazarus would never do anything for himself as long as she's there," (Laurence, page ). Her harsh life teaches her to be harsh towards others. Others seem shallow to Piquette, because they know nothing about the hardships of her life.
Finally Piquette attemps to adapt to the dominating lifestyle. By marrying an Englishman with a "classy name," she feels like her life is beginning to fall into place. Her vision is quickly shattered though, and she ends up back where she started, but this time with two small children. She soon falls back into her family’s pattern of drinking and bad behavior, and like the loons, she's snuffed out.
All the same factors contribute to Piquette and the Tonnerre's fate as they do to the fate of the Loons. Ignorance of invading people seemed to make it impossible for them to adapt to their lifestyle.