1、The Natural Settings of the Loons,Natural setting,Paragraph 1 (开场描写) Paragraph17（别墅景色） Paragraph39（钻石湖景致） Paragraph73（结尾重返钻石湖）,Paragraph 1,The beginning of the article is a detailed description of the scenery, making clear the place where the story took place. (Manakawa)The scrub oak and grey-green
2、willow (beautiful scenery )As the Tonnerres had increased, rusty tin cans. (the disordered and dirty living environment of the family)The poor condition of their living is a hint of the miserable ending of Piquette.,Lean-to,lean-tos,Meanwhile, it indistinctly included the fact that the Metis were op
3、pressed.the year that Riel was hung long silence.( vaguely implied Piquettes plight ),Paragraph17(description of summer cottage),The spruce trees, ferns, raspberry bushes, moss, wild strawberry, white flowers, moose antlers, the fragrance and the glistening water occupied the cottage, presenting a n
4、atural and villatic(田园的) landscape.The author spent a lot of words describing and embellishing the place, because it is the place where the climax of the story happened and the loons, the main clue of the novel, lived.,In addition, it forms a sharp contrast with the ending of the articlehotels, a da
5、nce-hall, cafes with neon signs, the penetrating odours of potato chips and hot dogs.It suggested the relentless damage that human caused to the natural environment and the loons habitat. Thus , they had to leave or even die.,Paragraph39,The article reached its climax when Vanessa went up to the lak
6、e and listened the birds. Actually, the description of the plaintive crying of loons and the surrounding environment is the exact reflection of the destiny of Piquetteshe struggled and fighted for herself in a society which the white take the mainstream, but finally had to give in to fate as the end
7、angered loons.,Paragraph73,At night, the lake at least was the sameit seemed too quiet, and then I realized that the loons were no longer here.The scenery description of ending is full of the feeling of loneliness and sadness, which is just the mood of the author. And it also reflects the changing o
8、f social environment thenthe white are dominant, while the native Indians couldnt find their way of life.,summary,Obviously, in the novel, wherever the author got, she would introduce the scenery first. The scenery is connected with either the social background or the characters feelings. These deta
9、iled description of natural scenery played a vital role in the development of the story.,The Social Settings of the Loons,Aboriginal Peoples in Canada,Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Metis. The terms First Peoples and First Nations are both used to refer to indigen
10、ous peoples of Canada. First Nations has come into general use for the indigenous peoples of North America in Canada, and their descendants.加拿大土著居民由第一民族，因纽特和梅蒂族组成。第一民族指的是加拿大的北美土著居民以及其后裔。,The origin of Mtis Nation is rooted in the history fabric of Canada. It was in the Canadian Northwest that they e
11、volved into a new and distinct nation. They are the mixed-blood offspring of French, Scottish or English fur traders and aborigional women. With their mixed traditions and command of both Europeans and Indians, the Mtis were logical intermediaries in the commercial relationship between the two civil
12、izations. The Mtis were officially rocognized as one of Canadas three Aboriginal peoples in the Constitution Act of 1982. 梅蒂族被列加拿大的三大土著居民之一，于印第安人和因纽特人并列。 Mtis本是一个法语词汇，其拉丁语意思即为“混合”。加拿大梅蒂族起源于17世纪印第安女子与早期欧洲皮货商的婚姻。直到1982年的宪法才官方认证梅蒂族为加拿大三大土著居民之一。今天，梅蒂族享受一些政府福利，但仍是加拿大教育水平最低，就业率最差，收入最低的民族之一。,The Mtis,The L
13、oons,The Loons is written by Margaret Laurence in 1970, when Canada faced a sequence of troubles including political, racial and gender problems. Rebellions were frequent as people, especially the aborigional people struggled to survive. The loons is based on a series of rebellions originated from t
14、he Riel Rebellion. The Riel Rebellion (or more precisely Riel Rebellions) is the name often given to two uprisings led by Louis Riel in what are now Manitoba and Saskatchewan. These were: The Red River Rebellion of 1869 The North-West Rebellion of 1885 20世纪6070年代初是加拿大面临动荡和决策的时期，种族、地区和性别矛盾日益激烈，抵抗运动风起
15、云涌。当地的梅蒂人的生计日趋困难，这个民族当时以狩猎为生，他们深恐自己永远失去猎场，更怕加拿大邦政府干涉他们的信仰，对加入联邦抱有深重的怀疑态度，因此梅蒂族发动了两次里尔起义。这两次起义分别是第一次的1869年红河起义和第二次的1885年西北起义。,The Red River Rebellion,The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Mtis le
16、ader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian of Manitoba. To forestall United States expansionism, the British and Canadian governments had been for some time negotiating the transfer of Ruperts Land from the Hudsons Bay Company to Canada. The Ruperts La
17、nd Act 1868 authorized the transfer. On December 1, 1869, Canada purchased the territory. The Mtis perceived it as a threat to their way of life more specifically, they feared losing their farms. The larger fear was for losing their language and Catholic religion, and facing marginalisation and disc
18、rimination in what had been their home territory.,红河起义,1869年，加拿大联邦政府与英国哈得孙湾公司达成转让西部土地的协议。居住在西部红河地区的梅蒂人担心联邦政府接管这一地区会破坏他们渔猎生活，推举里埃尔为领袖，占领了红河居民区中心要塞加里堡（今温尼伯市）发动武装起义。1870年初成立以里埃尔为首的临时政府,提出权利条款并与联邦政府进行谈判。同年 5月，联邦议会通过马尼托巴法案，接受权利条款的大部分要求，将包括红河地区在内的马尼托巴作为一个省加入联邦，成为联邦的第 5个省。起义期间，里埃尔临时政府的军事法庭曾处死一名武装对抗的英裔居民斯科特
19、，引起英裔加拿大人的强烈抗议。当联邦政府军人进驻马尼托巴省时，里埃尔因惧怕英裔加拿大人的报复而逃离加里堡，流亡5年后定居美国蒙大拿州。,The North-West Rebellion,The North-West Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Mtis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel against Canada. During a time of great social change in Western Cana
20、da, the Mtis believed that Canada had failed to address the protection of their rights, their land and their survival as a distinct people. Despite some notable early victories at Duck, Fish Creek and Cut Knife, the rebellion effectively ended for the Mtis with their defeat at the siege of Batoche,
21、Saskatchewan , the eventual scattering of their allied Aboriginal forces elsewhere, and the trial and hanging of Louis Riel. Tensions between French Canada and English Canada increased for some time. Due to the role that the Canadian Pacific played in transporting troops, political support increased
22、 and the legislature authorized funds to complete the nations first transcontinental railway.,西北起义,1870年通过了马尼托巴法案Manitoba Act，红河定居者以马尼托巴省的名义集体加入联邦。法案满足了梅蒂人的一些要求，建立公立法语学校，以法律的名义保障天主教徒的信仰自由。随着大批移民向西开拓，梅蒂人的生计每况逾下，他们为了获得新的猎场逐步西移，进入今天的萨斯卡通加一带，并且与英裔移民矛盾日深。马尼托巴省建立后，梅蒂人被压迫的地位仍改善不大。被迫向更远的西部迁移，在今萨斯喀彻温的北部建立了新的
23、居民点。不久，联邦政府人员和移民又接踵而至。梅蒂人为保持传统的生活方式，争取生存权利，于1884年再次举行武装起义。里埃尔应召返回加拿大领导起义。1885年 3月，起义者建立临时政府，并得到一部分印第安人的支持，他们与政府军战斗持续数月后终被镇压。里埃尔被捕,以叛国罪于9月16日在里贾纳被处绞刑。 第二次红河起义之后两年，联邦政府满足了梅蒂人的一些要求。但梅蒂人成为法定三大先民之一，要拖到1982年宪法。今天，梅蒂人做为加拿大先民之一，享受一些特殊的福利，但这个族群仍然是加拿大教育水平最低、就业率最差、收入最贫困的民族之一。,The Loon focuses on the conflicts
24、and assimilation between different races and cultures in terms of multi-cultural politics, and shows the equal and free idea of “multiculturalism” which has been highlighted by the author . The Loons, written by Margaret Laurence in 1970, sets its background on a sequence of rebellions named Riel Re
25、bellions in which the Mtis struggled for their living in the Red River Region and tried to protect the nature they lived on.潜鸟“The Loons”（1970）是加拿大著名女作家玛格丽特劳伦斯（Margaret Laurence）的代表作之一。这部作品以十九世纪末梅蒂人反对联邦政府接管他们居住的红河地区，为保护赖以生存的自然环境和争取生存权利举行起义，但很快被镇压，并因此受到社会的歧视为背景。潜鸟正写于加拿大推出多元文化政策的前期。,The Social Setting
26、 in the Text,The basis at this dwelling was a small square cabin made of poplar the year that Riel was hung and the voices of the Metis entered their long silence. 大约五十年前，朱勒斯托纳尔的大腿中弹，从巴托什战场返回家乡，建造了这座小屋。也正是那一年里尔被施了绞刑，梅蒂族人从此便杳无音信了。,It refers to the North-west Rebellion or the Riel Rebellion in 1885 wh
27、en their leader Riel was hung by the government. In this brief information, we can figure out that tha Metis were oppressed by the Canadian government, and they were forced to move further into the west territories.,The Tonnerres were French half breeds, They did not belong among the Cree of the Gal
28、loping Mountain reservation, further north, and they did not belong among the Scots-Irish and Ukrainians of Manawaka, either. 托纳尔一家是法裔混血儿，他们彼此之间讲话用的是一种土话，既不像克里印第安语，也不像法语。他们说的英语字不成句，还尽是些低级下流的粗话。他们既不属于北方跑马山保留地上居住的克里族，也不属于马纳瓦卡山上居住的苏格兰爱尔兰人和乌克兰人群体。,The Mtis are the mixed-blood offspring of French, Scotti
29、sh or English fur traders and aboriginal women who have their own culture ans language. Through this description by the author, we may find out that although Metis were legally accepted, they were not accepted by the whole society in which the white were the domination while the minorities were the
30、still discriminated and unaccepted.,When their men were not working at odd jobs or as section hands on the C.P. R. they lived on relief. 他们的生计全靠家里的壮丁外出打零工或是在加拿大太平洋铁路上当养路工来维持；没有这种打工机会时，他们一家便靠吃救济粮过日子。,CPR is the abbreviation of Canadian Pacific Railroad. At that time, Mtis mainly worked on the constru
31、ction of this first transcontinental railway in the northwest Canada. We have to know the Indian treaties which are aggrements signed by the Metis and the Crown in which the Metis gave up some of their land, settlements and rights so as to gain some welfares given by the govenment. However, their li
32、ving conditions were not improved, neither did their social status. Their educational level was among the lowest, so did their employment rate and their income,Sometimes old Jules, or his son Lazarus, would get mixed up in a Saturday-night brawl, and would hit out at whoever was nearest or howl drun
33、kenly among the offended shoppers on Main Street, and then the Mountie would put them for the night in the barred cell underneath the Court House, and the next morning they would be quiet again. 有时候，在星期六晚上，老儒勒或是他的儿子拉扎鲁会酗酒闹事，不是发疯似地见人就打，就是挤到大街上购物逛街的行人之中狂呼乱叫，让人恼怒，于是骑警队就会将他们抓去，关进法院楼下的铁牢里，第二天，他们便会恢复如常。,A
34、lthough the Manitoba Act was singed in 1870, the Metis were still accepted legally but not socially. In the society in which the white dominated, the Metis were the objects of being oppressed and persecuted. They were still discriminated by the white people and their social status were not improved.
35、 They were not treated equally as the white and were punishen illegally. This also reflects the future miserable life of Piquette.,Unlikely as it may seem, I had only just realised that the Tonnerre family, whom I had always heard Called half breeds, were actually Indians, or as near as made no diff
36、erence. 看起来可能有些不合情理，我直到这时才开始认识到，那总被人们称作混血儿的坦纳瑞一家其实是印第安人，或者说很接近印第安人。,This sentence, in which the author used the first pronoun to show her own understanding of Piquettes family, reflecting the long and conventional stereotype of the Metis from the white peoples point of viewthe Metis have long been n
37、eglected and discriminated by the white society. The white, being the mainstream of the whole society, have long showed their indifference to the Metis whom they considered as freaks.,The small pier which my father had built was gone, and in its place there was a large and solid pier built by the go
38、vernment, for Galloping Mountain was now a national park, and Diamond Lake had been re-named Lake Wapakata, odours of potato chips and hot dogs. 我父亲筑起的那道防波堤不见了，代之而出现于眼前的是政府出资修筑的一道坚固的大堤。这是因为跑马山现已辟为国家公园，钻石湖也已更名为瓦帕卡塔湖，的炸土豆片和热狗的香味。,The Indian Act 1951 is a Canadian statute that concerns registered india
39、ns, their bands, and the system of indian reserves. As the Indian treaties mentioned previously, we may have a general idea why the pier now was funded by the government and why the mountain and lake were renamed. This description not only reflects miserable loss of the Metis themselvesgiving up their land, rights and culture, but also reflects the later life of Piquettesacrificing her own culture to pursue the white culture and ending her life in a mesirable way.,Thank You,
