Topic of Racism and Discrimination

What is racism? wrong or right, black or white? The topic of racism and discrimination is a key element in Beatrice Culleton Mosionier’s novel “In search of April Raintree” and is mostly expressed through Cheryl Raintree in comparison with the other characters. Racism is defined as; “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others” (racism.(n.d.).Dictionary.com).

This is expressed throughout the entire novel but particularly when Cheryl comes to visit. April’s mother in law and her friends treat her her differently because of the colour of her skin. Racism is a prejudice that varies in severity but is experienced by nearly all native peoples because the whites see themselves as a superior. April shows her fear of experiencing discrimination when she states “ she is disavowing the part of her that might be seen as a native, as a disavowal also reflected in her fear of being a mother of brown skinned babies” (117). April’s fear of producing brown skinned babies demonstrates the impact the societies views, discriminations and racist perspective truly effects people even when it comes to producing offspring; she feels this way because she doesn’t want her their brown skin to give away her metis identity that she has digilenty tried to hide but also because she does not want her children to the face the same treatment