SCHOLAR: NOVEL REVIEW In Search of April Raintree

 

The book, “In Search of April Raintree,” by Beatrice Culleton is a book that depicts the life of April Raintree as she searches for meaning in her native heritage.  The book tells a tragic story of two Metis sisters and their struggles in 1960’s Winnipeg.  These two siblings grew up in foster care.  Their transformation to adulthood is well documented in the book as they struggle for freedom.  The book portrays depictions of whiteness as April longs to assimilate to the white culture.  Furthermore, the book delves into the issue of racism against native people.  Lastly, toxic masculinity and rape are explored as April finds intimate partners.  Throughout the book, it becomes evident that there is a real problem in their society, especially because there is a division between natives and whites. 

The book explains that both April and Cheryl Raintree are sisters who grew up in foster care because their parents were, “sick.”  As the book progresses April and Cheryl lament the times they had with their biological parents.  They always assumed that their parents were taking, “medication.”  Little did they know what was called “medication,” was really alcohol and drugs.  As April grows out of her naïve tendencies, she begins to unravel the truth about her biological parents.  She keeps it a secret from Cheryl as to protect her.  As they grow, April is sent to different foster parents.  The first foster care she received, she was too young to understand what was going on.  She didn’t know why her and her sister were separated from their parents by Children’s Aid.  If it isn’t expressly evident, they were separated because the parents were in no condition to care for these children as they were addicts.  They were placed in an orphanage until they could be placed in houses.  In this orphanage April and Cheryl were separated for the first time.  This was very difficult for them, as they haven’t ever been apart.  Under the care of Mother Superior, April and Cheryl attempt to escape as they see their father looking inward from the front of the building.  Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and end up getting scolded.  Once Children’s Aid settled where each child would go, they took both April and Cheryl and sent them to their respective new foster parents. 

For the purposes of this essay, April will be the main focus.  April is sent to the Dion’s who openly accepted her.  In this home April didn’t experience anything negative.  She was treated as their child and she grew to have very fond memories of this experience.  One day, Mrs. Dion becomes sick.  This would evidently cause April to move to another home as Mr. Dion wasn’t versed in caring for another child.  This is when April is taken to the DesRosiers.  She was not very fond of them from the beginning.  Upon first inspection April, “studied [her] new foster mother with great disappointment” (Cullen 1983, page 38), as she looked superficial.  April was given a cold room in the back of the house with a cot that was broken down.  As time passes the DeRosier kids begin to mock April calling her parents, “drunkards,” (Cullen 1983, page 47).  Moreover, arguments become discriminatory as Maggie the daughter says, “but then half- breeds and Indians are pretty stupid, (Cullen 1983, page 47).  Whiteness is the identifying of characteristics, typical of membership of the white race such as having white skin or being European.  Whites are typically thought to have white privilege in which they are thought to receive more benefits from others and or are seen superior.  Through the colonization of North America, whites are seen as dominant.  With relation to the reading’s whites seem to have more physical and social power (Perry 2011, page 59) or even appear more intelligent.  When it comes to April, the fact that she’s native and getting harassed by others, is a depiction of the discrimination against not only natives but other races.  

As April was in the DeRosier household there was an incident where Maggie had blamed April for stealing money and other items of interest.  April got so upset that she accused Maggie of being a, “bloody liar” (Cullen 1983, page 51) to which Mrs.  DeRosier responds, “[slapping April] across the side of the head” (Cullen 1983, page 51) and saying “Don’t you ever talk to my daughter in that tone of voice again” (Cullen 1983, page 51).  This was the time when tensions got so bad that April started to realize that this place was not for her.  The DeRosier kids would encourage people on the bus to taunt her.   They would make malicious rumors like April flirting with the mother foster kids in the home.  To add insult to injury, Maggie, steals April’s suitcase and returns it vandalized.  The malicious lies the DeRosier family had an impact on April as no one would believe in her claim not even the social worker.  Tensions rise as circumstances permit that Cheryl move into the DeRosier residence.  From the moment that she moved in, April felt that she now has leverage against her foster family.  At this point the social workers didn’t believe the negative narratives which both April and Cheryl were claiming.  In fact, April thought that, “Talking to her social worker was futile, because she had already … proven that she was on Mrs.  DeRosier’s side.  And the same thing went for the teachers” (Cullen 1983, page 81).  To make matters worse, their biological mother and father stopped visiting them as they regularly did in the past.  This was when April started to believe that her parents were, “drunkards.”  An incident arises in the DeRosiers household as Mrs. DeRosier is out, Maggie and her brother let out a bull which they believe will target Cheryl.  April runs to inform Cheryl who is working on the field.  The bull misses Cheryl and an altercation starts with the DeRosier kids and the Raintrees.  Once the dust had settled, the DeRosier kids were beaten up.  Several days later Cheryl’s social worker arrives, and April gets a premonition that Cheryl will be taken away.  They then run away from the DeRosier household making their way back to Winnipeg.  They exhausted, continued to walk until nighttime, at which point they fall asleep and awaken to a police officer.  They are brough back to the Children’s Aid office for a round of questioning.  The social workers still didn’t believe in their stories of abuse.  It was then decided that April and Cheryl live apart once again as it was seen and proven that they were a bad influence on one another.  Before moving, an interesting conversation takes place, the social worker warns the Raintrees about the, “native girl syndrome” (Cullen 1983, page 66) which means that native girls tend to fight, run away and be liars.  Further they are unable to get jobs and become pregnant so they are supported by the government.  This is an example of stereotyping.  When in reference to the readings, it can be seen that the reason why natives become like this is because they have been victimized.  Through the victimization-criminalization continuum it becomes evident that since natives have become victims of the whites through colonization, they have a tendency to be deviant in society (Perry 2011).  The natives are coping with the victimization through crime and other activities.  Moreover, through the three pillars of white supremacy slavery/ capitalism, genocide/ colonialism and orientalism/ war, natives experience social decay (INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (Ed.) 2016).  Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to focus on the family unit so that relationships may be fostered which is what Children’s Aid is doing via foster care.  

Once April returns to the DeRosier household.  She then plots to get her justice but is unsure how she will approach it.  An opportunity came to which her school requested stories to be written for a competition.  This was the time that April was looking for, she decided to write about her story about her place of residence entitled, “What I want for Christmas.”  This story ended with, “What I want for Christmas is for somebody to listen to me and to believe in me” (Cullen 1983, page 82).  The story gets the attention of the teachers who approach April several months after.  A new Social worker was appointed.  As he came to the DeRosier residence, he was talking to Mrs.  DeRosier who was lying about the room in which April stayed.  The social worker gets wind of this because April was upset and rebutting Mrs.  DeRosier.  In short, Mrs.  DeRosier lost her discretion and April was to move out instantly.  Several years thereafter, April becomes an adult to which she no longer needed foster care.  She was finally free.  April then begins to make preparations for employment.  Once she completed training, she was hired as a secretary at a law firm of Harbison and Associates.  

At the law firm April meets Bob.  She and Bob go out for a few dates and they shortly marry despite Cheryl’s protest.  Bob is a business owner of furniture in Toronto.  April was then invited to move to Toronto with Bob.  Once she did, she realized that she married into wealth.  She was happy that she would be finally assimilating into white society.  April was always insecure about her native past but she kept her discretion about it.  In fact, she was so embarrassed about her native heritage that she looked at Cheryl’s darker skin tone with prejudice.  Through the discourse of color blindness, April’s actions could be analyzed.  Her bias towards lighter skin is reminiscent to how, “white people insist that they do not notice the skin color of racial minority person[s]” (Tator 2010, page 12).  In this discourse, racial minorities are viewed as culturally deficient.  She was actually really embarrassed about it so much so that when she worked at the law firm, “[she] never invited Cheryl to come meet [her] for lunch because [she] didn’t want anyone at work see her” (Cullen 1983, page 103).  When April married Bob all was good until Cheryl was invited one day to come stay.  This is where April starts to get wind of Bob’s affair.  She catches Bob’s mother and the mistress talking amongst themselves under the balcony.  The confrontation is heated and reveals the true nature of racism.  Bob’s mother when questioned what her issue is with April say, “Didn’t you notice her sister?  They’re Indians …  not Indians but half-breeds, which almost is the same thing.  And they’re not half sisters.  …  And I would simply dread being grandmother to a bunch of little half- breeds!” (Cullen 1983, page 126).  This conversation is with relation to how April’s skin is white and how Cheryl has darker tanned skin.  This is an example of when the discourse of political correctness gets questioned.  Political correctness can be defined as, “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities should be eliminated” (Tator 2010, page 12).  Throughout the relationship, Bob’s mother attempts to maintain political correctness as she treats April with respect and dignity.  However, as time passes, especially after she meets Cheryl, this act all starts to breakdown and racism emerges.  Once all the dust settled, April moves back to Winnipeg with Cheryl whom she suspects has turned to validate her beliefs of Indians.  She has stopped university and has resorted to drinking and prostitution.  

The last incident that I would like to highlight is when April gets raped.  As Cheryl was in the hospital for intoxication, April is instructed to retrieve her belongings for her from her house.  Cheryl’s place of residence was in a bad place in town.  As April approaches the house, she is met with three men who intend to rape her.  This scene is full of violence and abuse.  These men molest April forcing themselves on her.  A quote of interest is, “You’re going to fuck this bitch, dummy, whether you like it or not” (Cullen 1983, page 143).  Moreover as the men abuse her they also say racist remarks as, “yeah, you little savages like it rough, eh" (Cullen 1983, page 142).  To sum it all up they assaulted her and also passed her off with discriminatory remarks insinuating that she is receiving pleasure from their rape.  She was treated as a, “lying slut” (Perry 2011, page 220) by these men.  In this cases these men were relying on, “cultural scripts or rape myths such as ….  “Women enjoy rough sex”” (Perry 2011, page 220).  When April informs the police she confirms that it was a humiliating process.  She experiences a significant trauma long after the rape incident.  Symptoms she experience are consistent with battered women syndrome as she takes baths to get the stench of their, “Stinky,” bodies out of her.  This experience clearly depicts that women are truly helpless in the face of male aggression.  

Based on all the findings, I can rate this book at 5 of 5.  Mainly because it explores racism against natives in detail.  It portrays how April and Cheryl struggled through their journey in foster care.  The book was effective in depicting the roots of whiteness and the victimization of the other.  Further, the rape that was experienced by April further brings light to how women are treated in private.  The injustice to women must be stopped and movements such as #Meetoo have been effective in bringing light to this.  

REFERENCES

Henry, Francis and Carol Tator. (2010). The Colour of Democracy: Racism In Canadian Society 2009 4th Edition. Toronto: Nelson Thomson.

Cullen, Beatrice.  (1983).   In Search of April Raintree.  California:  Pemmican Publications Inc.

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (Ed.). (2016). Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology. DURHAM; LONDON: Duke University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1220mvs

Perry, Barbara (Ed.) (2011). Diversity, Crime, and Justice in Canada. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.