Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

As Katie leaves home for the Alberta oil sands, the memoir’s overarching themes, symbols, and motifs emerge. The first theme that is introduced is The Value of Home and Camaraderie; specifically, their importance to Katie and her community. Katie’s hometown is tied to her identity—no matter where she goes or what accent she speaks with, she will always be from Cape Breton. While many devalue the sort of town Katie is from, calling it a “have-not region of a have-not province” (10), Katie emphasizes her love and deep connection for this beautiful place. One benefit of being from this tight-knit community is that people help each other; her uncle recommends the tool crib position to her, and a fellow East Coaster helps Katie get a job because of their shared heritage. Outside of work, Katie is welcomed to Alberta by a family friend to ward off homesickness, and when she remains in Alberta over Christmas, she exchanges Christmas baubles for cookies with a Cape Breton coworker. These events only occur because of these people’s shared homeland and heritage; they look out for and support each other to create a sense of home even though they are transient.

Katie and many others like her are migrant workers, traveling from all over Canada to find work in the oil sands. While in Alberta, Katie also moves around various oil plants (like from Mildred Lake to Aurora). As a result, though Katie makes positive relationships in each location, they are temporary and precarious. As she moves, those ties are often severed, with no guarantee of reunion—characters that are lovingly drawn in different sections simply disappear afterward. Though Katie visits her family friend for Thanksgiving, she never sees them again. Similarly, though Ambrose offers her help finding work driving heavy haulers, Katie is already on her way to Long Lake and they, too, never meet again. On the subject of transience, he offers her parting advice: “[P]eople kid themselves if they think the only life they’re living is somewhere else” (133). The contrast of home and transience foreshadows the symbolism of ducks as oil sands workers; while birds have not yet made their appearance in the graphic novel, the migratory nature of oil sands work and the tendency to look after one’s own is reminiscent of migratory birds.

The Dangers of Isolation, Transience, and Loneliness are introduced in this section, particularly how Patriarchal Violence Thrives in Isolated Environments. Beaton’s drawing style uses specific techniques to illustrate Katie’s loneliness, often drawing her against an undefined background or as a minuscule figure in a vast landscape. Additionally, sections begin with disembodied drawings of specific objects that break the standard grid page layout. For example, Katie’s move from Cape Breton to Alberta is illustrated by a single airplane on a mostly empty white page (31). Gender disparities amplify her isolation, as Katie is a young woman working in a place where men vastly outnumber her. She is unused to the hypermasculine environment of the oil sands, and she feels objectified because of her gender. Additionally, her female colleagues try to set her up on dates when she is uninterested, thereby isolating her even within her gender. Her Indonesian colleague faces a particular gender bias due to her skin color when she is pressed into socializing with men’s “mail-order brides” because of her ethnicity. While some forms of isolation and loneliness are universal—working alone in the tool crib or moving away from one’s family—others are more specific and tied to identity such as gender or race. The difference between Katie’s experience as a white woman and the experiences of Indigenous and non-white people is also a focal point in the memoir.

Nature is an important motif in this section, something that bridges Katie’s experiences between home in Cape Breton and the culture shock of the Alberta oil sands. While her work and life are stressful, interacting with nature helps her regain her equilibrium and bounce back for another day. Set up on yet another unwanted date with an oil sands guy, Katie sees the bison on reclaimed mining land (66-67); afterward, she can take the rest of the day in stride. This bison is highlighted visually, another single image that occupies a page all on its own, representing its positive impact on Katie’s state of mind. By contrast, when she is frustrated after a chauvinistic conversation with a male coworker, she encounters a three-legged fox that she chases away; these illustrations conform to the standard format, the fox confined to small boxes and panels to represent Katie’s negative state of mind. Finally, when she is angry that tools have been left in the winter cold and will be harder to clean, she sees the Northern Lights (128-31), which gives her more motivation to finish the job. The drawing of the Northern Lights takes up two-thirds of the page, and the remaining three panels show Katie’s awe in close-up, emphasizing the natural wonder’s impact on her. Though Katie has many man-made negatives in her life, the natural positives remind her of her inner strength and motivate her to keep going.

Alcohol and clothes are subtle symbols in this first section. For Katie, alcohol is a social lubricant, easing uncomfortable situations. At the Thanksgiving party, she initially feels awkward until her hosts offer her a beer and mention her relatives. Similarly, when she goes drinking with some of her female colleagues, alcohol relaxes them enough to share horror stories and shake them off. In both cases, alcohol is present in moderation and is thus a useful tool for fitting into social circles. It takes on more negative symbolism later in the memoir. Clothes take on a similar meaning in the context of the oil sands. While skirts used to be a typical outfit item for Katie, she quickly ditches them for more practical trousers and casual jackets, which also protect her from her male coworkers’ stares. Here, clothing morphs from a source of self-expression to armor, something Katie needs to use to protect herself. She only dresses up when going to parties or bars, and she learns that if she wants to be one of the “boys,” she has to start dressing like one.