april raintree essay

Sisterhood in Beatrice Mosionier’s

Throughout her life, April deals with racism on a multitude of levels that can be primarily classified into two intertwining categories: personal and institutional. The violence and abuse, both childhood and sexual, that April faces from the DeRosiers and her rapists, respectively, are examples of personal racism. This includes the slanderous names that the DeRosiers call her, like “half-breed,” “squaw,” and “Ape, the bitch” (Mosionier 35, 46). While the word “half-breed” is used “as a synonym for sloth, squalor, and disobedience,” the term “Ape, the bitch” implies “a primordial savagery and animal sexuality,” which dehumanizes April (Smulders 82). The foster care process works to distance April from her Metis traditions as well as her family. April also experiences racism in the form of physical and verbal abuse and her rapists, in the added form of sexual violence. When April gets raped, she is forced into “the identity of the ‘squaw’—a figure created to justify sexual and racial abuse” (Fee 220). Thus, external identities are imposed upon April to dehumanize and limit her. Ultimately, both the DeRosiers and the rapists use their personal racism to justify mistreating April because they perceive her race as inferior.

Nonetheless, there are more subtle forms of thought that constitute personal prejudices, even though they stem from larger social institutions, such as the media and education. An example is the belief that April’s social worker, Mrs. Semple, has in the constructed trope of “the ‘Native girl’ syndrome,” (Mosionier 64). Although Mrs. Semple does not exhibit explicit hatred towards April for her Nativeness, she looks down on her and limits her scope for self-definition by confining her to such a stereotype. The ‘Native girl’ syndrome’s symptoms include, “[getting] pregnant right away, [being unable to] find or keep jobs… alcohol and drugs… shoplifting and prostitution … [going] in and out of jails… [and living] with men who abuse you” (64). As young and impressionable girls, this speech rattles April and Cheryl. The ‘Native girl’ syndrome blames the individual instead of acknowledging the social conditions that lead to these problems. Thus, these symptoms remain, as naturalized ideologies do, in April and Cheryl’s minds until the syndrome becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for Cheryl. Margery Fee notes that “April decides to be white; Cheryl decides to be a Native social worker. These choices—one typically evasive, the other typically resistant—protects them from identifying as the racist’s Other” (220). As a reaction to the identity that Mrs. Semple imposes onto them, April and Cheryl develop unique coping mechanisms that lead them towards different routes and ultimately alienate them from each other. Mary Gillis suggests that “the two sisters have marked differences in their outlooks— differences which lead to intense conflict and finally a rift that is healed only with Cheryl's death” (44). When Cheryl dies, April can no longer evade the social conditions that lead to the ‘Native girl’ syndrome and takes on Cheryl’s unfulfilled responsibility to fight for Metis rights.

Nevertheless, the most powerful form of racism that derives both from the personal and institutional places is self-hatred. As April encounters external racism throughout her childhood and adolescence, she internalizes it and develops a shame for her Metis heritage. When April and Cheryl first become isolated from each other when they are put into separate foster homes, “her ‘Metis sister’ remains the most important person in April’s life. She lives for her visiting days with Cheryl” (Gillis 49). At first, April has unconditional love for her parents and misses her family’s togetherness, but this perception deteriorates quickly. At this point, April still tries to grasp onto the familial and cultural bonds that have been ripped away from her by the social workers. When she begins to develop resentment towards her parents for no longer visiting them, April comforts Cheryl with, “No matter what, we’ll always have each other” and decides, “To hell with my parents! To hell with everyone, except Cheryl” (Mosionier 41, 43). April’s racist upbringing shifts her perception of her Metis culture and family and fills her with anger towards her parents. April also starts distancing herself from Cheryl in attempt to blend into white society since she believes that her sister represents her suppressed Metis self.

April spends the majority of her childhood and adolescence attempting to assimilate into the white-dominated world. She sees Cheryl, who looks more ‘Indian’ than her, as a threat to her ability to hide her Metis heritage. From the onset of the novel, April describes her family as:

When April describes her father, she uses ambiguous terms, such as “a little of this, a little of that” and refers to him with the generalized misnomer, “Indian”. She also speaks about his and Cheryl’s “dark brown eyes that [turn] black when angry,” which implies a negative emotionality. However, when April states her mother’s background, she emphasizes its specificity, which is “Irish” and “Ojibway”. This difference in description suggests that April has a more positive view of her mother’s appearance. Even in this seemingly innocent account of her family, April reveals her hidden prejudice towards her father and Cheryl’s racially marked bodies. However, looking to the past from the present, April acknowledges that her family’s hybridity is irrelevant while they “were living together as a family”. Only once they are placed under white society’s scrutiny do the physical differences between April and her sister become relevant to their lives.

Once April and Cheryl are taken away from their parents, who are alcoholics and deemed by social workers to be unsuitable for raising their own children, April begins to distance herself from her Metis family and heritage. When April describes her Grade 10 life at St. Bernadette’s Academy, she states,

April uses her light skin to obscure the fact that she is Metis and the real reason for being with Children’s Aid. Thus, April’s family and heritage become parts of her that she wants to repress to be accepted in white society.

For the first time, April admits to Cheryl that she is ashamed of her Metis background and tries to distance herself from her sister. April emphasizes the differences between herself and Cheryl with their outlook on their background, using phrases like, “you don’t feel the same I do,” “I’m different from you,” and “I have to go my way”. Nevertheless, Cheryl’s visit to Toronto exposes April’s Metis heritage and results in her stepmother’s successful attempt to end the marriage. In addition, April’s promise, “I’ll always be there if you need me,” is empty because her quest for whiteness causes her to leave Cheryl in a pivotal point of her sister’s life. While April tries to fit into white society in Toronto, Cheryl becomes the embodiment of the ‘Native girl’ syndrome when she becomes disillusioned upon finding her father and discovering her mother’s suicide and drops out of school, enters an abuse relationship, takes up alcoholism, and becomes a prostitute.

When April is raped, the primary damage does not derive from its violent misogyny, but the event’s assertion of Nativeness onto her. At this point, April realizes that she can no longer disconnect her physical appearance and Metis heritage from Cheryl. When April discovers that she was mistaken for Cheryl, “From April’s perspective, ‘she’ was not raped—Cheryl was, and implicitly, deserved it—so April no longer has to accept the imposition of Nativeness on her and can overcome her sense that she somehow deserved this degradation” (Fee 221). While Fee is correct that April displaces her rape onto Cheryl when she discovers the identity mix-up, I argue that this is the moment when April finally realizes that her familial connection to her sister, both in terms of appearance and Metis heritage, is inevitable. April physically feels the rape that was intended for Cheryl and while her sister’s past actions anger her, she realizes that she must learn to embrace their sisterhood bond to overcome this personal trauma.

In addition, April was unaware that Cheryl had a child until after her sister’s suicide. April’s nephew, Henry Lee, carries Cheryl’s as well as April’s genes and now becomes part of April’s life. When April finally meets Henry, she realizes, “I had used the words ‘my people, our people’ and meant them... It was tragic that it had taken Cheryl’s death to bring me to accept my identity. But no, Cheryl had once said, ‘All life dies to give new life’ (Mosionier 233-4). Even though Cheryl’s life is sacrificed in the process, her death helps April find herself. While April spent her entire life trying to alienate herself from her Metis heritage and family, Cheryl’s death was the final push towards April’s acceptance of her full identity, which now encompasses her deceased sister. According to Fee, “if Cheryl is April’s ‘Native’ side, she isn’t dead, and the baby also will always mark April as Metis in the same way Cheryl did” (224). Cheryl’s legacy lives on through April and her son. Although April was previously ashamed that her sister’s ‘Native’ appearance marked her, she now accepts her Metis identity.

Once Cheryl dies, April is finally able to reconnect with her sister. Cheryl’s suicide letter says, “April, you have strength. Dream my dreams for me. Make them come true for me” (Mosionier 233). Cheryl’s death imbues April with a sense of responsibility to fulfil her sister’s dreams. April begins close to Cheryl, but spends the majority of her childhood distancing herself, until she finally reunites “with Cheryl after her sister’s death” (Gillis 45). Gillis suggests that the novel is built on “doppelganger and circle motifs,” and “As the doppelganger, Cheryl personifies April’s Metis self… In order to complete the circle and find identity and wholeness, then, April must return to her Metis roots by reconciling with her sister” (45-6). In April’s search for April Raintree, her hybrid Metis identity, she should have been trying to reconnect with the aspects of her sister within herself. Only once Cheryl dies does April ultimately find her sister’s presence within herself and from then on, Cheryl lives through April. Thus, the novel’s true name should have been .

Fee, Margery. “Deploying Identity in the Face of Racism.”
By Beatrice Mosionier. Ed. Cheryl Suzack. Winnipeg, Man.: Portage & Main,
1999. 212-26. Print.
Gillis, Mary Sheila Colleen. “Woman as Healer: The Creation of an Ideal for Native Women in
Canada in Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed, Beatrice Culleton’s In Search of April Raintree,  and Jeannette Armstrong’s Slash.” (1994): 1-98.
University of New Brunswick, 1994. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Mosionier, Beatrice. Winnipeg, Man.: Portage & Main, 2008. Print.
Smulders, Sharon. “‘What Is the Proper Word for People Like You?’: The Question of Métis
Identity in In Search of April Raintree.” 32.4 (2006): 75-100. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

In Search of April Raintree

Table of contents

Introduction

Critical Essays

Deploying Identity in the Face of Racism

• Margery Fee

The Problem of “Searching” For April Raintree

• Janice Acoose

Abuse and Violence: April Raintree’s Human Rights (if she had any)

• Agnes Grant

The Special Time

• Beatrice Culleton Mosionier

“What Constitutes a Meaningful Life?”: Identity Quest(ion)s in In Search of April Raintree

• Michael Creal

In Search of Cheryl Raintree, and Her Mother

• Jeanne Perreault

“Nothing But the Truth”: Discursive Transparency in Beatrice Culleton

The Effect of Readers’ Responses on the Development of Aboriginal Literature in Canada: A Study of Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed , Beatrice Culleton’s In Search of April Raintree , and Richard Wagamese’s Keeper’n Me

• Jo-Ann Thom

“The Only Dirty Book”: The Rape of April Raintree

• Peter Cumming

The Limits of Sisterhood

• Heather Zwicker

Contributors

Intimate, hopeful, and impossible to put down, Beatrice Mosionier’s timeless classic is thoughtfully analyzed in this critical edition.

In Search of April Raintree Novel Study - English First Peoples 12

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Beatrice Mosionier’s Novel In Search of April Raintree Short Summary

“You say that we are drunkards, that we live for drinking. But drinking is a way of dying. Dying without enjoying life” (Mosionier 154), April Raintree, main character of the novel In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton Mosionier, wished she could change her Metis heritage or the spelling of her last name, Raintree, so it would seem less native. Why? Racism and family history, but mostly because of the judgement of a character trait that is carried throughout native woman called, “native girl syndrome”: drinking, doing drugs, having promiscuous sex, and even getting involved in crime.

April discovered that the stereotype is in fact true, but there is no shame in fighting for change. As a child, the dynamic character, April Raintree discovered early of how her parents were alcoholics. She called it a “sickness” and how her parent’s took their “medicine. ” The circumstances she was raised in brought both disrespect for the Native culture and the trait of racism which April learnt while playing in the playground with her sister, Cheryl. “There were two different groups of children that went to the park. One group was the brown- skinned children who looked like Cheryl in most ways.

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Some of them even came over to our house with their parents. But they were dirty looking and they dressed in real raggedy clothes. I didn’t care to play with them at all. The other group was white- skinned, and I used to envy them especially the girls with blond hair and blue eyes. They seemed so clean and reminded me of flowers I had seen,” (Mosionier 16) instantaneously April disestablished herself from her Metis heritage and culture to the point that she uses materialism and white culture as a coping mechanism. It helped her to ease the association through heritage and kept her away from the problems that plagued the native peoples.

The foreshadowing of April abandoning Cheryl’s life is also demonstrated through this text. How she compares the dirty looking children who looked similar to Cheryl to the white children with blonde hair and blue eyes which she envied. The youthful events that happened in April’s past brought upon more racism and even bringing distance with her relationship with Cheryl. The plot in which April illustrates the stereotype of Metis people is spread throughout the novel and acquires to worsen when April is taken away from her family.

Separated because of their parent’s, April and Cheryl became foster children at a young age. April was sent to the worst home, she was little better than a slave, despised as a “half- breed” and is kept only for the government support checks that accompany her. For instance, after April had done all the dishes Maggie, the daughter, had stated, “’You’re not finished,’ Maggie said in a bossy tone, ‘You didn’t even sweep the floor. I heard you half- breeds were dirty but now I can see it’s true’” (Mosionier 39), the snide remark explains how April could become prejudice with accepting how she was Metis wanting to be white.

Escaping the foster parents, the DeRosier’s, April became a bright student, eventually growing up to become an independent woman. When finding Bob, April thought she found her prince charming who would take her to the “white” masquerade. A marriage to the rich Toronto businessman quickly ends not only because her husband cheated on her, but because of the racist remarks that were passed through Mrs. Radcliffe; “Didn’t you notice her sister? They’re Indians, Heather. Well, not Indians but half- breeds which is almost the same. And they’re not half- sisters.

They have the same father and the same mother. That’s the trouble with mixed races. You never know how they’re going to turn out. And I would simply dread being a grandmother to a bunch of snivelling little half- breeds! The only reason I can think of why Bob married her after knowing what she was, was simply to get back at me” (Mosionier 115/ 116). In keeping with her survival instinct of making as few waves as possible and seizing whatever good the moment might have to offer, April accepted the settlement and relocated to Winnipeg.

April achieved financial independence after her divorce from Bob, but this was not enough to shield her from a brutal rape that was influenced through racism: this rape In Search of April Raintree is documented as one of the most graphic rape scenes in English literature. On the other hand, April’s childhood experiences had trained her. The indignity and pain of the rape was an extension of her previous life. She knew the act of surviving the worst circumstances and to weaken under power. She had to fight for life and sanity, but she had to use tactics that were non- threatening to her aggressors. Reporting the rape was the first act hich April did to reclaim herself. The trail was traumatic for her; she did ritual bathing and found herself again once the suspects were behind bars. April also had help to accelerate in life from Roger, the man in which she found intensely irritating for years who simply “had a crush” on her and did not know to properly express it, someone who later became her perfect Romeo. Cheryl’s story follows a different path, always challenging the mainstream and trying to embrace her heritage. Her story influences the challenge in which April has to deal with: not excepting to be Metis, “Then the question came to my mind.

What about Cheryl? How was I going to pass for a white person when I had a Metis sister? Especially when she was so proud of what she was? I loved her. I could never cut myself off from her completely. ” Ignoring the racist remarks and not caring whether the people accepted her beliefs or culture, Cheryl grew up into a strong child. She tried to immerse into the native culture and to become a social worker. Cheryl still acted strong towards April and, when April was married to Bob, the white society who critiqued her, “After praising all these people to Cheryl, some came out with the most patronizing remarks.

Oh I’ve read about Indians. Beautiful people they are. But you’re not exactly Indian are you? ’ ‘What is the proper word for people like you? ’ one asked. ‘Women. ’ Cheryl replied instantly. ‘No, no, I mean nationality? ’ ‘Oh, I’m sorry. We’re Canadians. ’ Cheryl smiled sweetly” (Mosionier 107). How blunt Cheryl was of not ashamed of her nationality and how she did not see any differences between herself and the white people. While visiting April, Cheryl wanted to find her parents: “’No! They’re our parents, April! And we’re not orphans,’ Cheryl’s eyes blazed. I want to see them again. Please, April. I have the right to make that decision for myself. You have to tell me where to begin. How do I find them? ’” (Mosionier 109). After finding her father and learning how her mom committed suicide, Cheryl becomes what her social worker, Mrs. Semple, explained was native girl syndrome, “’ It starts out with the fighting, the running away, the lies. Next come the accusations that everyone in the world is against you. There are the sullen uncooperative silences, the feeling sorry for yourselves.

And when you’re out on your own, you get pregnant right away, or can’t find or keep jobs. So you’ll start with alcohol and drugs. From there, you get into shoplifting and prostitution and in our and of jails. You’ll live with men who abuse you. And on it goes. You’ll end up like your parents, living off society’” (Mosionier 32). Hiding her depression from April, Cheryl moves into April’s apartment, being a drunkard and prostituting the streets. After April’s court date, Cheryl became hostile towards April. Drinking every waking minute and fighting; “’you lied to me and I lied to you.

I did find our precious dear ol’ Dad. He’s a gutter creature, April. A gutter- creature! All the tricks I turned, well, that helped him, too. Ahh, but that’s not all. The best part is still to come. ’She smiled a lopsided smile, as if she had lost control of her facial muscles. “Mother, you know what happened to our poor, dear Mother? She jumped off the Louise Bridge, is what she did. Committed suicide’” (Mosionier 180). Depression overcame Cheryl, and after moving out of April’s apartment, she committed suicide on the Louise Bridge, as her mother did.

When April looks through Cheryl’s diary, she finds out about Cheryl’s other secret: her son Henry Lee. “All life dies to give new life” (Mosionier 207), this sentence seems to be imbedding hope in April’s new identity and Henry Lee, youth who represents hope for the future. In Search of April Raintree was compelling and captivating, in spite that the general style of writing was so simple and subtle, but the characters of April Raintree and Cheryl Raintree defined the plot and created Beatrice Culleton Mosionier’s masterpiece.

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