Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Loons
We talk about symbols and inner meanings in a story and when I went back through and started to dissect this story I find tons. Right from the very beginning in the description of the place where the Tonnerres live is described in an unfavorable light. Everything about the description has negative connotations to it. The river was brown. Normally one would think of the sound of a river aqs being soothing but in this story it is said that the river is noisy. The trees that line the property also are symbolic. If you look at pictures of scrub oaks, the branches of this particular oak are all twisted; the tree itself is not very pretty to look at. Then the arthor describes the grey-green willow tree. willows have the representation of weeping and in this case the meaning of saddness.(198) Later on in the story the arthor talks about how the children of this family would panhandle by knocking on the doors of the town's brick houses.(199) The use of the term "brick houses" also cements in the arthors description of the different between what is perceived as "normal people' and who are labeled as "half-breeds" in this story. (199) In comparision the land and description of the lake house are in direct oppostion of that of the Tonnerres homestead. I find it interesting that even though the Macleods are considered acceptable, the author makes a unique reference to their lake house having no name like the others. (200) I think in a small way the arthor is trying to show us, the readers, we are all alike in some fashion. The description of the lake house and the surrounding area are in direct contrast of the aurthor's description of the Tonnerrer homestead. Here the arthor talks about the filigree of the spruce trees, the water glistening greenly as the sun caught it. (200) But then again the arthor makes a point to describe raspberry plants as being sharp-branched. (200) Maybe this is a reference to how "normal" people are towards what is considered an outcast, half-bred; with sharpness and bitternesss. Even the beauty of the strawberry is clouded with the reference of the hairiness of the stems. On the surface this story seems to be about someone who has been put down all their life and never really is able to rise above that. The deeper meaning found in the symbolism in this story seems to be we are all alike whether we like it or not and we all have a choice and must live our lives with those choices.
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I agree Michelle that the descriptions in the beginning of the story definitely make for an unkempt and perhaps unfriendly setting at the Tonnerres homestead. The stark contrast of descriptions to the MacLeod’s lake house is pretty interesting way to symbolize the vast difference in physical ownership, but can also suggest that choices made will directly influence your future. I think that Laurence has a great voice for such descriptions; the way she describes a natural location really grabs the reader, and symbolism is personally much more revealing to me through these descriptions, rather than perhaps analyzing character dialogue or development.
ReplyDeleteI liked the mention of symbolism you made. I picked out some of the things you caught at the beginning such as the brown river and the property they lived on being disheveled, but the willows completely skipped past my radar. That does make for a more expressive setting, and making it seem all the more gloomy. While I think you did a great job analyzing the story and catching many symbols I had not even noticed, I was really hoping to catch your interpretation of what the loons were supposed to symbolize, if you have any thoughts please feel free to comment on mine.
ReplyDeleteI thought your mention of symbolism was really good. When i read the story I did not get the symbolism in the story. I agree with you when you say "The deeper meaning found in the symbolism in this story seems to be we are all alike whether we like it or not and we all have a choice and must live our lives with those choices". Piquette never cared about anyone and she was always mean to people even the people that tried to help her. At the end of the story she ended up being dead cause she couldn’t get out of her house with her children. It almost makes up for how rude she was to people.
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