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April Raintree Sparknotes

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The novel April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier is about two Métis sisters' life story, which takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. April and Cheryl Raintree were raised in separate foster homes after being taken from their families as young children. A racist foster family who shamed April for being Métis cared for her for the majority of her childhood. She was forced to pretend to be a member of the white society she perceived as superior and to hide her Métis heritage because she was a pale-skinned girl. On the other hand, Cheryl was raised in a family that supported her identity and encouraged her to be proud of her Métis heritage and brown skin. Significant conflicts in the story revolve around the characters' battles with alcoholism, April's …show more content…

In April's opinion, the only way to get away from the injustice was to shed her Métis identity. April decided to live her life as a white woman because her skin tone differed from Métis people. Herto her sister's strong connection to her Métis ancestry, she caused April to become estranged from her. April started to lose her identity because she worked so hard to satisfy the standards set by white people for worth, which she then used to judge her worth. April’s rejection of her metis roots continues after she is faced with racism in the form of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Three white men who wanted to rape Cheryl mistakenly thought April was her younger sister one afternoon. Instead, the men grabbed April and smacked her around violently, treating her like a "helpless animal" (127) before shoving her into their vehicle. The men verbally and physically harassed April while driving, calling her things like "squaw/bitch/cunt/savage/whore" (128-130). The men keep bringing up April's Métis heritage throughout this scene as if that somehow made her deserving of their treatment. By rationalizing their racial and sexual abuse in this manner, April's hatred for her culture grew. April felt much more shame and guilt as a result of this than blame or resentment for her

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