The search for April Raintree is gripping tale of a Metis woman finding herself in the midst of alcoholism, racism, and the Canadian Foster system. Bred into self hatred by an often cruel unaccepting environment, April is in a constant battle with her identity. In this sense “search” in
“In Search of April Raintree’ is equated with the quest for identity.
Surrounded by the negative effects alcohol leaves on a family, April Raintree gets tangled up in a vicious cycle of self loathing from a very young age. When acquaintances of her parents bring their children over April views them as “sullen and cranky and wouldn’t talk or play with us or else they were aggressive bullies who only wanted to fight us. Usually their faces were dirty,…show more content… She was forever putting my parents down, so I was getting used to her remarks” (pg 44). As a child Aprils doesn’t fully understand that Mrs. DeRosier has a set stance on how she feels about First Nations people in gereral and nothing will probably ever change that. April is left feeling it is a personal attack on her. Mrs. Semple enforces Mrs. DeRosier’s opinions by giving April and her sister the “native girl” syndrome speech. These are all things that shape April’s already warped self-view. She then sets out on what seems to be a mission to transform herself to the very thing she envies.
Left in limbo where her identity is concered April consistently seeks approvail from white people she encounters. Married into a family she believes is accepting of her she finds out, the hard way, that she will always be viewed as an Indian and really she is the only one who can’t seem to accept that fact. There is a lot of apprehenssion in what she will let people know about her and her sister. She is so busy guarding herself that often times she is left feeling alone. April’s life is a battle between race and her own individuality. She is in fact searching for April Raintree
