The struggle of Piquette --Analyzing Piquette in The Loons

Abstract： The paper focuses on analyzing heroine a Metis girl Piquette who struggled at the margin of the white-dominated society.By analyzing character Piquette in her life,This paper intepreted that Piquette who fail in struggling with the white-dominated society.

Key words：Piquette  The loons  character change

1、Leading

The Loons was written by Magarette Laurence in 1970 when Canana began to spread the multiculturalism. After a series of uprising and rebellion crushed by white,Metis is marginalized by the white-dominated society.The heroine a Metis girl growed up under this harsh circumstances.The author of this fiction used first person method mentioning the teenager, I(Vanessa) was filled with compassion and hatred.As the result of real life deprived of right of enoying life,she brought up cynical character.But once life gives her hope,she appeared ferverished than anyone else.Howerer,when the hope was disillustrated,she turned to be gloomy and pessimistic.In The Loons,the character change of Piquette is deserved to learn.

2.Analyzing character change of Piquette

2.1Treat coldly and few words                                    

2.1.1At Diamond’s cottage,Piquettte’s coarse-featured face bore no expression,it was blank,as though she no longer dwelt within her own skull,as though she had gone elsewhere.I approached her,she looked at me with a sudden flash of scorn.I tried to talk with her,her voice was distant. I invited her to walk,she said:‘‘I ain’t supposed to do no more walking.’’When my curiosity drove me to ask her to tell me about the woods,she looked at me with her large dark unsmiling eyes and replied angrily‘‘You ‘d better shut up.’’

2.1.2 Lost mother’ tongue like lost the self’s homestead. The Tonerras spent their life in this circumstance. Her mother is unable to suffer the burden.Her grandpa and father were drunkers.Piquette had to burden all the housework.It is unavoidable that Piqutte has become unsocial.In fact,in her apathy attitude,there was a extremein feriority.By use of unsocial character,she firmly protected the self-esteem.Just like her brother Piquette who aslo was a person hard to get along with.In her eyes,a white man who was interested in her family matters was laughing at them.The unsocial character firmly protected her self- esteem.It was the coldst aspect in Piquette’s characters.

2.2Hot and unruly

2.2.1Four years later, When I met her, she has changed a lot.Her face was so stolid and she talked loudly with the boys.Her lipstick was bright carmine and her cut-short hair was frizzily permed.She helloed me in manner,‘‘Long time no see”.So when she told me proudly and turgidly she had married.Her old friend was an English fella,worked in the stockyards.He was a tall guy with blond wavy hair. I did see her, for the first and only time in all the years we had both lived in the same town. Her defiant face became unguarded and unmasked and her eyes appeared terrifying hope at a moment.

2.2.2Contrast

In the dialogue,there was a contrast.Four years before,I kept picking up topics,but she answered rudely.Her distant voice implied the dilemma.In contrast,,Poquette laughed and talked loudly with the boys around her.She called me as soon as she recognized me,and can’t help telling the experience.I was awkward in squeezing some words to her because I disgusted the self-pity in her voice.It seemed that we had nothing to say to each other.

2.2.3What has been buried in her character change in that she longs for love,self-esteem.The character change strengthened the determination she want to get rid of.As to her,married to a white man is the best way to find her standing room.Burst into the white world have broadened her horizon.In this sense,she had to purse which she does not cares.There was a contrast difference between present aspiring eyes and former cold eyes.It also enunciate that the dominant culture is hard to communicate with Piquette who represent the marginalized Metis.

Conclusion：This short fiction depict the heroine Piquette’s character with a quirky twist,it’s hard to pacify the heart.In the Piquette’s short life,she kept looking for her sense of belongingness, to find a family which has only esteem, loveand warmth. But when she realized all the struggle was in vain beacause she was marginalized by the dominated society. Piquette was only a represent of marginal people, her story is deseved to deliberate.

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