本科英语专业文学类毕业论文

The Cry of the Marginalized People in Multiculturalism —The Analysis of The Loons and Its Deeper Cultural

Connotation

Abstract

Canada is a country based on multiculturalism, in which the white dominate the mainstream culture, while the aboriginal culture is in the condition of marginalization. In The Loons, Margaret Laurence describes a marginalized minority girl--Piquette’s short but miserable life, who keeps struggling to blend into the mainstream society, but finally ends herself with hopelessness. Laurence also describes the tragic ending of the loons under the development of human civilization, along with Piquette’s whole life. This paper is composed of four parts. In the introduction, the author introduces the cultural and historical background in the writing of The Loons, the course of Laurence’s literary creation, and the main content of The Loons. In the second part, the author shows Piquette’s complicated characters, and the two important figures of speech in the story--symbolism and pun, which make The Loons short but with great power. In the third part, the author reveals two deeper cultural connotations in The Loons: one is post-colonial feminism, which appeals for people to fight for the rights and interests of women in the Third World; the other is Laurence’s ecological view. She expresses great concern about the ecological problems, appealing to the protection of the ecological environment. In the conclusion, the author summarizes the main content of the paper with three words: high artistic quality, sociality, and ideological content.

Key Words: Multiculturalism; Marginalization; Artistic features;

Post-colonial feminism; Ecological environment

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多元文化下边缘人的呐喊 ——解析《潜鸟》及其深层文化内涵

摘 要

加拿大是个有着多元文化的国家，其中白人占据着主流文化，土著文化处于边缘化状态。在《潜鸟》中，玛格丽特?劳伦斯描述了一个被边缘化了的少数民族女孩--皮格特短暂而悲惨的一生。她为融入主流社会而不断的奋斗与抗争，却最终带着绝望结束了自己的生命。劳伦斯还将潜鸟在人类文明的不断发展中走向灭亡的悲惨经历穿插在对皮格特一生的描述当中。该论文主要由四部分组成，在第一部分的简介中，作者介绍了《潜鸟》写作时的历史文化背景，劳伦斯文学创作的变化，及《潜鸟》的主要内容。在第二部分中，作者呈现了劳伦斯所塑造的皮格特这一复杂多变的性格特征，还有小说中的两大表现手法--象征和双关，它们的应用使这篇小说虽短却意味深长。在第三部分中，作者揭示了《潜鸟》的两个主要深层文化内涵：一个是后殖民女性主义思想，呼吁人们为第三世界的女性争取权益；另一个是劳伦斯的生态观，她在这篇小说中表达了对生态问题的深切关怀，呼吁人们保护生态环境。在结尾中，作者用三组词总结了该论文的主要内容，即高艺术性、社会性、思想性。

关键词：多元文化；边缘化；艺术特色；后殖民女性主义；生态环境

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Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................i

摘 要 ........................................................................................................... ii

1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 2 Artistic Appreciation of The Loons .......................................................... 4

2.1 Distinct Description of Piquette’s Complicated Characters .............................. 4

2.1.1 Piquette’s Coldness and Stolidity in the Beginning ................................ 4 2.1.2 Piquette’s Great Devotion to Life Four Years Later ............................... 5 2.1.3 Piquette’s Hopelessness After the Failure of Marriage ........................... 6 2.2 Symbolism in The Loons .................................................................................. 7

2.2.1 The Symbolism of the Environments ...................................................... 7 2.2.2 The Symbolism of the Spirit ................................................................... 8 2.2.3 The Symbolism of the Ending ................................................................ 9 2.3 Pun in The Loons .............................................................................................. 9

3 The Deeper Cultural Connotation in The Loons .................................... 12

3.1 Post-colonial Feminism .................................................................................. 12 3.2 Ecological View in The Loons---Conflicts Between Human Civilization and Ecological Environment .................................................................................. 13

4 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 15 References ................................................................................................. 17 Acknowledgements ................................................................................... 19

毕业设计（论文）知识产权声明 .................................................................. 20 毕业设计（论文）独创性声明 ...................................................................... 21

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西安工业大学学士学位论文

The Cry of the Marginalized People in Multiculturalism —The Analysis of The Loons and Its Deeper Cultural

Connotation

1 Introduction

Canada is a country with multi-culture, multi-ethnics, and multi-religions, which

is composed of immigrants and aboriginal peoples. Because of the complicated composition of the ethnics, for one thing, Canadian culture has various and colorful features, for another, there exists serious national contradiction and conflict of interests resulting from different culture, traditions, customs, religions, and some other values. Canadian national literature is rooted in the multiculturalism.

Nation assimilation is a kind of phenomenon that a nation or a part of a nation loses its own national features, becoming another nation. [1] For a long time, the Canadian mainstream culture was possessed by British and French culture, while aboriginal culture was oppressed and assimilated, resulting in their low social status and education level. Hence, Canadian writers in that period were almost the descendants of white settlers, whose literary themes were living conditions of the white. At the same time, a few writers began to focus on the aboriginal culture. For example, E. Carl wrote lots of novels about the Indian culture, and created a unique theme of Canadian literature.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, it is an unprecedented booming period for Canadian national literature. The subjects of literary works in that period became increasingly diverse, and works focused on the female psychology and living conditions of minorities increased. Meanwhile, there emerged a large number of outstanding writers, and Margaret Laurence was the best representative. White person as Laurence was, she did not make the white culture the center of her literary works.

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西安工业大学学士学位论文 Laurence stayed several years in Africa, and had profound observation on the surrounding life, which made her have special feelings to the marginalized people suffering from long-term colonial oppression, and made her have deep understandings to the Canadian multiculturalism. Therefore, her works often showed the living conditions of marginalized people in multiculturalism. Marginal existence and survival became one of her main literary themes, which made her woks have distinctive artistic features and profound ideological content. Her masterpiece The Loons described the living conditions of marginalized people under multiculturalism, and revealed the cultural dilemma and survival plight of ethnic minorities after cultural colonization.

Margaret Laurence was born in a little prairie town of Canada in 1926. After graduation in 1947, she married Jack Laurence, who was an engineer. In 1949, they moved to Britain, and then moved to Ghana in Africa, where Laurence bore two children. Her life experience in Africa offered her abundant writing resources. As a result, her early works was centered on the African life and their fight for survival, freedom, and independence.

In 1957, the Laurences settled back to Canada, thus her literary creation entered a new period. Her literary themes began to completely turn to Canadian life, in which the most famous are the Manawaka series short stories, including four long stories ----The Stone Angel, A Jest of God, The fire-dwellers, The diviners and a collection of short stories---A Bird in the House. The five stories laid the foundation of Margaret Laurence’s status in Canadian literature, and made her rise to fame all around the world.

The collection of short stories---A Bird in the House published in 1970 gathered Laurence’s eight short stories, which are closely related. This is a collection with a nature of biography. Through the telling of the little heroin--Vanessa Macleod, the author showed from the eye of a kid the complicated characters under the complicated environment. The Loons is one of the most wonderful stories in Manawaka series. Manawaka is a virtual environment, whose prototype is the birthplace of Margaret Laurence. Small as Manawaka was, it was a microcosm of Canadian society.

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西安工业大学学士学位论文 several dozen, and the settlement had all the attributes of a flourishing resort--hotels, a dance-hall, cafes with neon signs, the penetrating odours of potato chips and hot dogs.” [3] The lake seemed the same as it had always been, but “the long-drawn cry, half mocking and half plaintive, spearing through the stillness across the lake” had disappeared. The loons finally failed in fighting against human civilization, losing their home. “Perhaps they had gone away to some far place of belonging. Perhaps they had been unable to find such a place, and simply died out, having ceased to care any longer whether they lived or not.” [3]

Nevertheless, Piquette and the Metis nation had lost their home, too. What they lost was not only the lands, also the spirit. [6] At the beginning of the story, Laurence showed their marginalized conditions. The Tonnerres lived in an undeveloped area far away from a Canadian little town, almost in a primitive condition. But around their “shack” were “wooden packing cases, warped lumber, discarded car types, ramshackle chicken coops, tangled strands of barbed wire and rusty tin cans”, [3] showing the great strike of industrial civilization to their life. They lived among the modern industrial civilization, and their own aboriginal culture was gradually assimilated.

“People can see their nests just up the lake shore, behind the logs.” “That evening I went out by myself, scrambling through the bushes that overhung the steep path, my feet slipping on the fallen spruce needles that covered the ground. When I reached the shore, I walked along the firm damp sand to the small pier that my father had built, and sat down there.” [3] Scrambling, steep path, sleeping and the fallen spruce needles that covered the ground, all these words showed that the living environment of the loons is distant and complex. They are far from other animals, and people can just hear their voice in the evening but can not see them. [7] 2.2.2 The Symbolism of the Spirit

The loons never appeared directly in the novel, and Laurence just described their voice constantly. Their ululating sound was a symbol of Piquette’s unceasing fight against society and destiny. The “ululating sound” was their criticism to the hurt of industrial civilization to their home, and the “coldness” in the voice was their cry to

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西安工业大学学士学位论文 the miserable destiny, which was like Piquette’s characters. The cry of the loons was a symbol of Metis’ fight against their marginalization in the white mainstream society. In the story, the loon is to human is what Piquette is to white society. [8] Although their home was occupied by humans, they did not simply give up pursuing a piece of land appropriate to them. Just like the loons, Piquette did not yield to their increasing marginalization, fighting against sense of belonging. No matter what the fight was, negative, active, or the extreme fight in the last, she never ceased it. Both Piquette and the loons are accorded in the pursuit of “the root”, and only Piquette had really understood the cry of the loons. [9] 2.2.3 The Symbolism of the Ending

Both Piquette and the loons came to a tragic ending in a cruel society, though they both tried their best to fight against the destiny.

When “nature” was irresistibly changed to “society” with the trend of industrial civilization, the loons lost their remaining land. Their reservation became a prosperous resort, even the nights was just like daytime with the shinning neons. They could not survive in both space and time, so when coming to the Diamond Lake again, “I” never once heard that long-drawn call.

The same with the loons, Piquette, with her own way, pursued the so-called love, dignity, and sense of belonging, but she chose a wrong way, in which she lost herself. She could not change the difference in nature between the aboriginal people and the white people, and could not change the society with more serious racial discrimination. Finally, she was unable to integrate into the mainstream society, and lost her national soul, becoming a marginalized person in a marginalized nation. Her death was in both body and soul.

The loon is a kind of Canadian bird in danger, and their ululating sound and their destiny properly reflected living conditions of the Metis. Piquette’s short life represented the whole marginalized people. The symbolism of the loons makes the character more vivid and clear. 2.3 Pun in The Loons

The feature of short stories is that the authors use dapper language to express

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西安工业大学学士学位论文 deeper connotation. In The Loons, Laurence not only showed symbolism of the loons, also used many puns, which had the function of deeper symbolism and hint. The author shows several examples to express the functions of pun.

A. Piquette was picking up stones and snail shells and then dropping them again. “Who gives a good goddamn?”

This sentence showed the marginalized condition of Piquette and the whole Metis. “Who gives a good goddamn?”, this sentence was not only a rebuff to me, also self-mockery. Nobody cared them, nor did themselves. On the one hand, they were driven by white people to live in the marginalized place of cities, and their own national culture was gradually eroded by the suppression and assimilation of the government, so they had low status in economy and politics, let alone their cultural status. The attitude of traditional white people had never changed. In the story, “my” grandmother called Metis “neither flesh, fowl, nor good salt herring”, [3] and refused to have a holiday with Piquette. People had little reaction to Piquette’s death, even “my” mother did not wrote it to me as an event, just mentioning it in chatting. On the other hand, they did not care about themselves, either. Piquette’s ascendants were driven to the undeveloped land, but they never struggled to get rid of the poor life, instead they drunk on the most days, and sometimes lived on the relief. Nevertheless Piquette desired to integrate into the white mainstream society by marrying a white man. Unfortunately, she was abandoned by the white society, and lost the root of her own nation. “Who gives a good goddamn” is satire to the Metis themselves. Only those who love themselves can be loved. How can those who do not love themselves be paid attention to? [10]

B. Galloping Mountain was now a national park, and Diamond Lake had been re-named Lake Wapakata, for it was felt that an Indian name would have a greater appeal to tourists. Indian culture was once the mainstream culture in North America. With the invasion of European settlers, Indian culture gradually disappeared, only some distinctive surnames left. Superficially, “an Indian name would have a greater appeal to tourists” seemed that Canadian government paid attention to Indian culture, while

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西安工业大学学士学位论文 in fact, it showed the devastating strike to native American culture under the high-pressure cultural policy. As is said, a thing is valued if it is rare. Generally speaking, people are interested in those that are less, that are disappearing, even that have been lost. Indian culture was disappearing gradually, so people desired to see something about it, even a lake named with an Indian name. But actually, the lake had nothing to do with Indian culture, for it was just a flourishing resort. That those could attract people had disappeared, only some so-called names left, just like a walking body.

C. I did not know what had happened to the birds. Perhaps they had gone away to some far place of belonging. Perhaps they had been unable to find such a place, and had simply died out, having ceased to care any longer whether they lived or not. This sentence showed the ending of the loons directly, also implied the real reason for Piquette’s death. “Having ceased to care any longer whether they lived or not”, it seemed the author’s thinking about the real reason for Piquette’s death. When “my” mother mentioned Piquette’s death, she just said “the shack caught fire”, which seemed an accident. But when not finding the loons for the second time in Diamond Lake, “I” had deep thinking about the destiny of the loons and the real reason for Piquette’s death. It seemed Laurence’s thoughtless writing, but actually imply to readers. For the loons, they could not find a place of belonging, and died out. For Piquette, although she unceasingly struggled to blend into the mainstream society, she finally failed, and died with broken-heart.

Besides the three classic examples above, there are also a lot of words in the story showing different meanings, especially the description of the Tonnerres’ living conditions at the beginning. “As the Tonnerres had increased, their settlement had been added to, until the clearing at the foot of the town hill was a chaos of lean-tos, wooden packing cases, warped lumber, discarded car types, ramshackle chicken coops, tangled strands of barbed wire and rusty tin cans.” [3] Laurence continuously used seven adjectives: wooden, warped, discarded, ramshackle, tangled, barbed, and rusty, describing both their living conditions and their internal characteristics. For example,

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西安工业大学学士学位论文 “warped”, for one thing, it showed the lumber was twisted, for another, it implied that the Tonnerres were psychologically twisted as marginalized people. “Discarded”, for one thing, it showed that the types were thrown away, and became luggage. For another, as a marginalized nation, they were segregated by the mainstream society, in other words, they were discarded and abandoned by the mainstream society. “Ramshackle”, for one thing, it showed the wooden house and the chicken coops were going to collapse, because they had been built for fifty years. For another, it meant

that the Tonnerres were down-hearted, and they never stove to live a better life. [11] In The Loons, Laurence showed Piquette’s contradictory and miserable life with strong feelings and concise language, revealing the loons’ ecological tragedy, a girl’s tragedy even with constant fight against destiny, and an aboriginal nation’s tragedy in social marginalized conditions.

3 The Deeper Cultural Connotation in The Loons

By the description of a short story in The Loons, Laurence revealed deep cultural connotation, within which post-colonial feminism and protection of the ecological environment are the most important ones. 3.1 Post-colonial Feminism

Post-colonial feminism is a new academic school springing up in the 1980s, which began as criticism of both Western feminism and post-colonial theory. [12] Post-colonial feminist criticism holds the viewpoint that females were often subjected to what has been called “double oppression”, that is, they were discriminated not only for their position as colonized people but also as women. They must fight against gender discrimination as well as colonialism and racialism. Post-colonial feminists were often regarded as colored feminists. [13] The theme of the post-colonial feminist criticism is to criticize the colonial thoughts, and question the feminism of Western middle-class, observing the difference of women in the Third World, fighting for their rights and interests. [14] Spivak, who was a representative of post-colonial feminism, pointed out that women in the Third World suffered more cultural colonization, and they were the disproof of the patriarchy and imperialism. [15]

Piquette’s living plight was presented in “double oppression”: her minority

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