The Loons

Margret Laurence’s “The Loons” is a story of racism and the way society deals with social barriers. Vanessa, the narrator, explains the social structure in her town in Canada. Piquette is a French Canadian girl that Vanessa calles a “Half Breed”. This idea of race makes Piquette feel inferior toward Vanessa, which is one of the reasons they do not get along at the lake. Piquette also has tuberculosis which makes her feel even more frail. Although it seems like Vanessa is just trying to be nice to Piquette she does have her own agenda. She is convinced that Piquette knows a lot about the woods due to her heritage. This inability to communicate is the reality. On the other hand there is the dream of perfect communication, which is personified by the loons. Vanessa describes the loons “ they rose like phantom birds”(202). Vanessa sees the birds as beautiful but she never wonders what they are trying to say. She hears the beauty of the sound but doesn’t even try to understand the meaning. Vanessa invites Piquette to join the loon watch with her father but the offer is rejected with “who gives a goddamn”(202). This shows the scorn that Piquette feels toward Vanessa and everyone else who tries to help her.
The Loons not only represent communication they represent the extinction of native life. For example Vanessa’s father told her that the loons were around way before people moved to the lake, and that soon they will leave due to the development in the area. Piquette’s family were natives of Canada before settlers came and now she was labeled as a minority. Vanessa returns to the lake when she is older she realizes that loons are gone and that “ Piquette might have been the only one, after all who had heard the crying of the loons”