Character Analysis: In Search Of April Raintree

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There is a quote, by ¨The Coach¨, that says ¨the pleasures that we seek are not happiness at its peak, for it is contentment that drives true fulfillment.” This quote is saying that fulfillment will not be accomplished while seeking out the minuscule pleasures that define oneself. That until they become truly content with themselves, inside and out, they will never be truly fulfilled. In the book “In Search of April Raintree,” April was not content with herself, she was ashamed of being metis and tried to hide her heritage so that she could pretend to be someone she is not. So she could pretend to be white. Cheryl was the opposite of April, Cheryl was proud to be metis and she made it known that she was part indian in the way she looked, wrote and thought. Even as children April and Cheryl were complete opposites and as they grew up it was almost as if they were from two completely different worlds. Throughout most of …show more content…

While in a park the indians and the white kids were divided amongst themselves, Cheryl was content with playing with her fellow Indians while April wanted to play with the white kids. “There were two different groups of children that went to the park. One group was the brown-skinned children who looked like Cheryl in most ways. But they were dirty-looking and they dressed in real raggedy clothes. I didn't care to play with them at all.”(Culleton 15) The problem with April wanting to play with the white kids was that the white kids did not want to play with the indians, therefore teaching April, who thought the white were the privileged, that being indian was not something to be proud of. “The other group was white-skinned and I used to envy them….To me, I imagined they were very rich and lived in big, beautiful houses and there was so much that I wondered about them. But they didn't care to play with Cheryl and me. They called us names and bullied us.”(Culleton

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