“The Loons”: Social Racism Kills a Metis Girl
Margaret Laurence’s short story “The Loons” from A Bird in the House has proven highly controversial as an example of racist literature. The Loons, is a representation of racial separation in mid-western Canada in the early 1900's. Here, Margaret Laurence uses setting and characterization to show how severe the prejudice of white people can be towards half breeds, after the period of new colonization. Piquette Tonnere, protagonist, who intends to fight those prejudices eventually, dies, leaving readers surprised to observe the cruelty of the society.
The tale “The Loons” illustrates how racism exists in the guise of good intentions, intolerance and stereotyping. When Vanessa's
…show more content…
Being ignorant about aboriginals, Vanessa has preconceived ideas about Picquette's heritage. "It seemed to me that Picquette must be in some way a daughter of the forest, a kind of junior prophetess of the wilds, who might impart me, if I took the right approach......., or whatever it said in Hiawatha." (Laurence 419) Vanessa is suggesting that just because Picquette is an aboriginal, she must be a skilled tracker and hunter like legendary literary character Hiawatha. Piquette senses this, and she refuses to open up to Vanessa, by rejecting her friendly act. Vanessa immediately decides that “as an Indian, Piquette was a dead loss,” when she realizes that Piquette has no “Indian” secrets to share with her; she is confused by Piquette and ultimately rejects her.
Alienated Piquette acts indifferently to her surroundings, and only once in the story her heartfelt feelings have been expressed: “Listen, you wanna know something, Vanessa?...Your dad was the only person in Manawaka that ever done anything good to me” (Laurence 422). Coming from Piquette, who keeps her emotions hidden, just like the loons who cry only at night, her words mean a lot: they show to the readers, Piquette’s loneliness and isolation.
Grown up woman Piquette wants acceptance in white dominating society. She attempts to escape poverty and alienation by becoming a seductive woman to snare a man assuming marriage can be the only avenue of escape. In her make up and skin tight skirt,
Claudia Rankine analyze racism to its core, bringing to surface that miniscule event are just as problematic as televised one. Her words are beautifully brutal, striking up emotions for anyone that reads it. As readers we are taken through a journey from past to present events of racial incidents experienced by different genders and ages. Above all, Claudia provides a strong indication that racism is far from over.
Throughout history, different people are treated with isolation and discrimination. This is shown in our culture through songs, movies, television shows, and other forms of art in every corner of the world. For example, the movie and song “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” parallels the oppression of minorities, specifically with the ‘Code Talkers,’ in the novel, Code Talkers, by Chester Nez, during World War II.
In the two essays, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” by Brent Staples and “I’m Not Racist But…” by Neil Bissoondath, there are both differences and similarities. The two authors differ in their opinion on the causes of racism and life experiences involving racism, but are similar in regards to the use of stereotypes in the world
Many famous individuals of color in our history have hoped to one day live in a nation without the feeling of a segregation between different ethnicities. Unfortunately, these hopes have still not come to fruition in our society today. The United States is still rocked by the idea that one pigment of color is superior to another. This discrimination is caused by a lack of education in our generation and an aversion to difference that has been passed down from our ancestors. Rick Wormeli in “Let’s Talk About Racism in Schools” argues “The violence among U.S. residents of different colors, cultures, religions, and political groups has heated to new levels. Social media may have exacerbated the divisive rhetoric and fanned the flames of hatred more than in past decades, but the intense distrust and contempt, and the inability to resolve these feelings in a civil manner, didn’t start with social media. They are the new normal for many.” (citation). The movie Crash, accurately depicts these problems that we have seen with racism in our country for the past hundred years and more abundantly today. In this essay, I will be discussing how the movie crash helps reveal the fact that racism is multicultural, how racism affects the crime rates in our younger generations, and how the nation can begin to heal from racism.
In “Back to my own country,” Levy claims that today in modern society everybody is used to a mixture of cultures. She supports her claim by using allusion to tell black history and self experiences. Through her curiosity and experiences of racism, she grew passion towards the issue and chose to speak her mind through literature, resulting in
Over the years, the face of racism has taken on many forms. In present day America, racism is a very taboo subject. It a common view that racism is not a big issue anymore, given the large strides that we, as a country have made towards equality. However, the inequalities that still exist between races point to a different situation. Instead of the blatantly discriminatory acts that our nation has witnessed in the past, modern racism practices are more covert and seemingly nonracial, making this kind of discrimination seem more acceptable and politically correct. The Civil Rights Movement forced society to implement a new, subtler way to perpetuate racial inequality. In Racism Without Racists, Bonilla-Silva describes the justification
In these lines from Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the speaker emphasizes the natural human tendencies to “inflict pain.” Similarly, in his poem, “Sympathy,” Paul Dunbar explores pain from the point of view of a bird being trapped in a cage. It flaps its wings and tries to escape but it cannot. The bird symbolizes an African American bound by slavery and unable to escape. On the other hand, in Claude McKay’s poem “The Harlem Dancer,” the dancer feels as if
Vanessa also realizes that trying to gain more knowledge and understanding about the Native culture through Piquette won’t get her anywhere because Piquette is as clueless as her. She accepts that her understanding towards the tradition is not going anywhere further than what the white society views it. However, Vanessa acknowledges the effects the white society has done to the Tonnerres’ family and the Natives. Piquette had the mindset of an adult while growing up due to the struggles her family has undergone. “’The mother’s not there,’ my father replied. ‘She took off a few years back. 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
Vanessa MacLeod was raised by a supportive family and friends in a positive environment. She had a wealthy family who were interested in her happiness, her behavior and how she dressed. Her parents cared for her and allowed her to do amusing things as
At an early age Vanessa’s naivety of Piquettes ethnicity prohibits her from seeing Piquettes struggle with her sense of lacking belonging. This causes the two characters to clash throughout the story in regards to Vanessa's false interpretation of Piquettes identity. Throughout the story Vanessa tends to
Racism can be “defined as the hatred of one person by another or the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes” (“What”). The face of racism over the past 50 years has changed but yet, some still stay the same. People made laws against racism and it is not as blunt anymore. But opinions and stereotypes will remain which will cause others to still be treated differently.
"The legacy of past racism directed at blacks in the United States is more like a bacillus that we have failed to destroy, a live germ that not only continues to make some of us ill but retains the capacity to generate new strains of a disease for which we have no certain cure." - Stanford Historian George Frederickson.
The affiliation between beauty and whiteness limits the concept of beauty only to the person’s exterior. The characters are constantly subjected to images and symbols of whiteness through movies, books, candy, magazines, baby dolls and advertisements. Another example of the images and symbols in the novel is when the black protagonist, Pecola, feasts on a ‘Mary Jane’ candy.
Throughout history in America there has always been the idea of racism. When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still very apparent in America. It is true that since the end of slavery, the U.S. has made great strides towards becoming a less racist country. In reality, racism will never be extinct. In today’s society, all American citizens of all races have the same rights as one another, yet there is still racism. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people. It is human nature to make conclusions about other people, this is what leads to racism. Today’s racism is not limited to whites
Racism is a belief where one race thinks their superior than other race or treating people differently because of their race. Race has and still does affected many people in America because of the color of their skin. In the society past had racism but it continues on today. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about a dark skin family who has opportunities but has less chances of achieving them because the racist society. Race has a lot to do in Raising in the Sun.