Maria Chapdelaine

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, illness, and death.

“This chill and universal white, the humbleness of the wooden church and the wooden houses scattered along the road, the gloomy forest edging so close that it seemed to threaten, these all spoke of a harsh existence in a stern land. But as the men and boys passed through the doorway and gathered in knots on the broad steps, their cheery salutations, the chaff flung from group to group, the continual interchange of talk, merry or sober, at once disclosed the unquenchable joyousness of a people ever filled with laughter and good humor.”

This quote from the novel’s opening paragraphs establishes one of the key themes, resilience in the face of a harsh climate. Louis Hémon highlights the details of the austere winter landscape before contrasting it with the joyful assembly outside the church.

“Perhaps the coming springtime…perhaps another happiness that was stealing toward her now, nameless and unrecognized.”

Maria draws a parallel between her inner world and the landscape around her. Spring is a common symbol of growth, hope, and new life. As spring approaches, Maria feels that she is on the cusp of a transformation, brought on by her budding romance with François.

“‘Make land!’ Rude phrase of the country, summing up in two words all the heartbreaking labour that transforms the incult woods, barren of sustenance, to smiling fields, ploughed and sown.”

The process of making land touches on several of the novel’s key themes. Turning the “incult woods” into habitable land requires tenacity and a deep understanding of nature. No reward is promised except the transformation of the land, but the characters of Maria Chapdelaine view the work of making land as inherently worthy due to its origin in their settler roots.