43 pages • 1-hour read
Maria Chapdelaine
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Themes
Duty Versus Personal Fulfillment
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
Louis Hémon based Maria Chapdelaine on a Québec undergoing a major shift. At a time when many French-Canadians were departing their homeland to move to industrial centers, young Québécois faced a difficult decision between remaining loyal to their homeland and the centuries-long lineage of their pioneer ancestors, or seeking better opportunities elsewhere. Hémon thus uses this dilemma to explore the tensions between duty and personal fulfillment.
For Maria, this choice comes when she selects her future husband. As a young woman in a patriarchal society, the most agency Maria is allowed over her future is in her choice of suitor. In François, she briefly has a happy medium between tradition and self-determination. Though François is not a habitant, his work relies on the land and is seen as a legitimate expression of French-Canadian identity. Maria truly loves François, and his lifestyle is more appealing and lucrative than that of a farmer. Their brief betrothal is a happy time for Maria, who looks forward to a life filled with “warmth and unfading color” (35).
After François’s death, Maria is left to pick between Eutrope and Lorenzo. She loves neither man, so her choice is between the lifestyles each man can offer her. Eutrope, with his struggling farm, represents duty, tradition, and the preservation of the settler lifestyle. Marrying him means that Maria’s life will change very little. She will emulate her mother, living an isolated and often challenging life on a farmstead, subject to the will of her husband and the indifferent forces of nature that govern a farmer’s life. Simultaneously, she will fulfill her perceived duty to her family and to her French-Canadian identity.
Lorenzo, who has emigrated to Boston and works in a factory, represents a new possibility for Maria. Though she would still be expected to adhere to his will, life with Lorenzo would allow Maria to escape the oppressive climate of her childhood and enjoy the many benefits afforded by urbanization. The idea of living in a city is completely foreign to Maria, who is excited by idealized images of “a world dazzling to the eye” (70). She decides to marry Lorenzo, wanting to escape the “murderous” cold and “squalid” farmhouse.
The death of Madame Chapdelaine forces Maria to reconsider her priorities. Listening to her father’s fond recollections of his late wife, Maria is once again moved by her sense of duty. Madame Chapdelaine spent her life supporting Samuel, ignoring her own desires and expecting no reward. Maria wonders if she can live like her mother did, as a good wife to a struggling farmer. She is torn between her loyalty to her family and her own desire to leave and experience a new environment. Maria beseeches the world for an answer, and Québec itself responds, reminding her that her ultimate duty is loyalty to her lineage. Thus, at the end of the novel, Maria accepts Eutrope’s proposal, choosing adherence to duty over personal fulfillment.
The Hardships and Beauty of Rural Life
The residents of rural Québec are at the mercy of the elements, particularly the long, severe winters and the brutally short summers. From an outside perspective, the novel’s characters seem to lead “a harsh existence” with few sources of joy (1), yet they are also cheerful and willing to embrace the difficulties of frontier life. Throughout the novella, Hémon spotlights both the hardships and beauty of rural life.
Samuel and the Chapdelaine men tirelessly work at clearing the forest around their homestead, and Maria and her mother persist at the daily tasks of making the house livable. The daily demands of rural life and the duties of the household make tenacity a necessity. Nevertheless, there is also an “unquenchable joyousness” among them, and they are largely content despite the hardships of their lives. Even when faced with tragedy, the characters constantly keep working to ensure their continued survival, being thankful for whatever little they may have.
Maria and her family also appreciate the beauties of the landscape that surrounds them. The narrative abounds in descriptions of the river, the trees, and the short-lived but memorable beauty of the spring and summer months. Their winter lifestyle, with the family gathered around the stove while the snow piles up outside, is depicted as something simple and cozy, suggesting that even the harshest season brings its own kind of pleasures.
Maria in particular demonstrates a close attachment to the rhythms and beauties of rural life. The novel often uses pathetic fallacy, with the changes in season and landscape reflecting Maria’s inner emotional world. During the long winters, she comforts herself with the knowledge of spring’s inevitable return, which reflects her hopes of reuniting with François. After François’s death, she keeps her grief to herself, but her perception of the land around her changes. The woods, which once seemed beautiful and mysterious to her, are now menacing and full of the specter of death.
Despite her grief, Maria knows that “country folk do not die for love…they are too near to nature and know too well the stern laws that rule their lives” (55). After François’s death, she continues to attend to the household and begins to plan for a loveless future with one of her surviving suitors. She accepts the tragedy as readily as she does the winter cold. Though initially mired in her sorrow, Maria soon begins to sense the approach of springtime once more, symbolizing her renewed hope for the future and her recommitment to a rural way of life.
The Importance of Resiliency and Faith
Nearly as much as the forces of nature, Catholicism guides the lives of Maria Chapdelaine’s characters. The Chapdelaines worship the “dread God of the Scriptures,” who dislikes laziness and “[condemns] man to earn his bread in the sweat of his face” (11). Like the unpredictable forces of nature, the God of Maria Chapdelaine can be an indifferent figure, seemingly giving and taking at random. Hémon suggests that adherence to the laws of nature and the laws of the church enables the Chapdelaine family to survive in their harsh surroundings, illustrating the importance of resiliency and faith.
Catholicism was the dominant religion in rural Canada at the time of Hémon’s writing, and this deep-rooted faith is reflected in the novel. Though the church is remote and at times inaccessible, rituals of faith pervade the Chapdelaines’ daily lives. They maintain a daily prayer that is as integral to the household’s rhythm as the work of making land. None of them question the faith woven into the fabric of their lives, just as they do not question the whims of nature that control them.
Life is fragile on the brutal frontier of Northern Canada, and as characters contend with loss, they often turn to their faith to explain what is otherwise inexplicable. After François’s death, Samuel voices his belief that humans are “but little children in the hand of God” (50). This belief enables an acceptance of all life’s tragedies, a submission to an all-knowing higher power which parallels the characters’ relationship to the climate. When Madame Chapdelaine is on her deathbed, the visiting doctor declares that “she will die if that be God’s pleasure” (78). The fact that this phrase is spoken by a doctor highlights how deeply Catholicism pervades all facets of Québécois society.
Rather than frightening the family, the doctor’s statement comforts them. Amid the unknown of death, the Catholic rituals attending the deathbed provide guidance for Maria. She knows that her mother’s spirit will be received in Heaven as long as her last rites are read. Though the curé lives tens of miles away, Maria has no doubt that he will arrive on time. Over the obstacles of the frozen river and snow-choked roads, “by day or by night, from far or near, the curé comes…aided by miracles, he never fails” (78). His arrival at the house surmounts even the forces of nature. Maria’s total submission to the will of God assuages her fear about her mother’s death.
In addition to comforting characters in moments of tragedy, faith is a driving force behind the characters’ ability to push forward past hardship. When Maria goes to the curé for advice, he cautions her not to linger in her grief, as doing so would be sacrilege. Though founded in faith, this advice also serves a practical purpose: For rural French Canadians, the daily tasks of the household are essential to their continued survival. Death does not stop the relentless call of duty, a truth which is reflected in Maria’s ultimate choice to marry Eutrope and continue the austere lifestyle of her settler ancestors.
Just as the Chapdelaines accept the unpredictability of the seasons, they accept that their lives are controlled by the will of God. Their belief that all is guided by a higher power prevents them from growing resentful when things go wrong; thus, their faith enables their tenacity and their continuing survival on the frontier.
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