April Raintree Identity

In Search of April Raintree written by Canadian Metis author Beatrice Mosionier, is a novel about two Metis sisters who were placed in the foster care system in 1955. April and Cheryl Raintree were taken away from their mother and father, who are alcoholics and deemed by social workers unsuitable in raising their own children. Throughout the novel April struggles with accepting her heritage and finding her identity, while her sister Cheryl seems to have a strong sense of her own. The “search” in In Search of April Raintree is equated with the quest for identity. April’s struggles are made complex by her parent’s betrayal, racism and above all her personal comfort within her own skin.
When April and Cheryl are removed from their parents care,
Beatrice Mosionier describes different events where the racism occurs, much like on the school bus and how the kids made fun of her because of her clothes, calling her “Gramma Squaw” (p. 67). While in the care of Mrs. DeRosier, April experiences racism and receives different treatment from that of Mrs. DeRosier’s biological children. April is reminded daily by the DeRosier’s of her heritage, with degrading comments such as “half-breed,” “squaw,” and “Ape, the bitch.” The social worker that was assigned to April also gives the girls a racist speech about the “Native girl” syndrome: “It starts out with 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 go on your own, you get pregnant right away, or you can’t find or keep jobs. So you’ll start with alcohol and drugs. From there, you get into shoplifting and prostitution, and in and out of jails. You’ll live with men who abuse you. And on it goes. You’ll end up like your parents, living off society” (p.62). The racial discrimination that April receives from these two women who are key role models in her life, is very significant to April’s search towards her own
She describes her childhood feelings of shame in being Metis to Cheryl when she tells her “If they had let us, I would have played with the white kids. Never the native kids. To me, the white kids were the winners all the way. I guess what I feel today started back then. It would take an awful lot for me to be able to chance what I’ve felt for a lifetime. Shame doesn’t dissolve overnight” (p. 153). April also decides to marry Bob Radcliff, in an attempt to further assimilate herself into the white society and is ecstatic that she “wouldn’t have to worry about changing the spelling of [her] name, because it was now legally April Radcliff” (p. 101). When standing at the airport with Cheryl, April confirms her want for assimilation into white society by explaining “I can’t accept being a Metis. That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever said to you, Cheryl. And I’m glad you don’t feel the same way I do. I’m so proud of what you’re trying to do. But to me, being Metis means I’m one of the have-nots. And I want so much. I’m selfish. I know it, but that’s the way I am. I want what white society can give me” (p. 101). April spends her life searching for herself, and it isn’t until the death of her sister and the realization that her sister left a son behind, that she shows a glimmer of hope towards her acceptance in herself. Left with the words “The denial had been lifted