Margaret Laurence's The Loons

After the period of colonization of Canada, the colonized group, the Indigenous people encountered extreme racism and hatred from the oppressor. In the short story, “The Loons” by Margaret Laurence talks about a young Metis girl, Piquette who tries to adapt to radical change but fails to do so as she grows up under a civilization that suppresses the Metis group. Using post-colonial lens, it helps us empathize for those who undergo similar or identical occurrence. It helps the readers to recognize the issues how the colonizer has affected the colonized people, those who are subordinates. She faces extreme prejudice from the whites, the colonizer and poverty as she is not given the opportunity or the chance to be financially stable When European settlers colonized Canada, the Indigenous people were oppressed and were faced with utmost discrimination, and prejudice that affected the life of Indigenous people in a negative way. Indigenous people were seen as savages by the white people because they did not follow the Eurocentric life. As Metis were half-French and half- First Nations, they did not belong in any of the race and were treated severely bad. The main character of the book, Vanessa who is a young white girl is exposed to negative prejudice towards the Metis.

The product of colonization is the colonizer gaining powers and having more opportunities than the colonized, as known as zero-sum game. The colonizer seeks benefits at the expense of the colonized. Consequently, the Metis group loses land, their rights, wealth and true identity while the colonizer gained wealth, land and power. Since racism and prejudice people have on the Metis people, no one reaches out to help the Tonnerres beside Vanessa’s