Halfbreed by Saskatchewan Metis Writer Maria Campbell

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It has been said that whatever does not kill a person makes one stronger. This old clichi?? rings with new truth when read as the central theme in the autobiographical Halfbreed by Saskatchewan Metis writer Maria Campbell. This is her own story, and illustrates a life lived by the author in circumstances that demand a conscious choice between survival and defeat. Likewise, the novel Wild Geese by Martha Ostenso features a central character beset with extreme hardship and faced with the death of her dreams - as real a loss for any heart as the passing of a loved one.

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Prairie women have exhibited great personal strength throughout the development of our province; many of us need only look as far as our own family trees for examples of this. The key female characters in Maria Campbell's Halfbreed and Martha Ostenso's Wild Geese managed to maintain a sense of dignity, pride and self-worth despite the unrelenting efforts of either their families or their community to undermine these characteristics.

Campbell's story is autobiographical and while Ostenso's book is classified as fiction, the character of Judith exemplifies a personal arc that many women can relate to. Both books were written during times of great turmoil. In Campbell's book the struggle of the Metis people to maintain a sense of culture while undergoing assimilation sets the tone for Maria's own battle. In Wild Geese, women's rights, while not addressed outright, are an important theme. Although raised under very different conditions, Judith and Maria share many of the same struggles.

They both long for a different life, one where they are free to live their own dreams and pursue their own goals. The prairies have a way of humbling a person, as though the vast distances of land and sky could strip a person down to the bare bones of their existence and force them to uncover their own truths at the most basic level. For both Maria and Judith this fundamental essence that drove them forward was the dogged pursuit of personal freedom and independence and the ability to live a life different than what they had always known.

Maria Campbell starts her writing career with her autobiography Halfbreed published in 1973. This powerful work of non-fiction garnered international attention; ironic, considering that Campbell had no intention of writing this book for publication. In an interview with Hartmut Lutz, Campbell stated she hadn't written anything prior to Halfbreed and that she was only writing a letter to herself. This letter reflected the history and social milieu of First Nation's peoples.

Although Campbell's intention was not to have her book go public, she was able to provide insight into the complex life of First Nation's peoples, which included her personal history descriptions of Metis social custom, the traditional role assignments of men and women, and the differences between the Indians and the Metis. Her writing of Halfbreed was a written account and reflection of her healing at that time. Her writing is indeed a reflection of her spirit, one she earned through many trials and tribulations.

In the book Halfbreed, Maria is faced with the challenge of adapting to a new way of life while trying to maintain some sense of culture and community. This was time of great confusion for the Metis people. They could no longer survive as nomads and sought to integrate themselves into a society that viewed them as second-class citizens. The Metis people felt under attack; their religion, education system, moral code and way of life were constantly being challenged. Soon enough, due to the constant assault on their community, the Metis people began to show signs of breaking.

Alcohol and starvation began to cause division among the Metis: "It wasn't enough that our Nations were being decimated from within, then came the strategy of divide in order to conquer. Spiritual practices were outlawed, children were kept separated, then finally the attack began on the heart of our culture-the women. In the case of Metis women, this process was accomplished during colonization and ostracizing Metis women-who up until the "White" women arrived were a necessity for trade, sustenance and in many cases survival. " (Canada's First People)