Lewiston: A Diamond in the Rough
... this novel is not a historic documentary, Papa Martel is a collection of precious stories that have been handed down from generation to generation of Franco-Americans. Telling stories to one another was a way for Franco-Americans to keep their heritage alive. Many of the people that live in Lewiston are descendants of Canadians who migrated to the mill towns to find work. Many of them had very poor English and could not read or write. Verbally telling stories was a way for them to entertain as well as pass the culture along to future generations. The stories told in this novel have one thing in common: Papa Martel and his family. Their story takes place between 1919 and 1937 as the Martel family tries to balance their Franco culture and becoming “Americanized.” This novel hit home for me in a lot of ways. My grandmother is from Canada. She traveled to the Lewiston/Auburn area when she was a teenager to find work in one of the many mills and shops found on Canal and Lincoln Street in Lewiston. She worked there to help support her family. Her English was not excellent and she still has a very thick French accent. She ended up marrying my grandfather, Charlmer, and they raised a family of ten. Large families were and still are part of the norm in the average Franco household in Lewiston. My mom later married my dad and they had seven children together. Growing up in a large family was not always the easiest thing for me; especially when both of my parents worked impossible hours and did everything they could just to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. Papa Martel helped me to appreciate all that my parents have done and still do for me. In my opinion, if you don’t have love and support from your family, you don’t have anything. The book begins with Louis Martel and his wife Cecile anxiously awaiting the arrival of their fourth child during an old fashioned Maine snowstorm They are concerned and hoping that the doctor will be able to travel in the snow and make it in time to deliver the baby. Every Maine person can relate to this scene. Whether it be waiting for your fourth or fifth child to be born or hoping that someone you know can make it to your house in spite of a snowstorm. Every Maine person can sympathize with a good old fashioned Maine snowstorm. We have all been there and many of us will continue to experience them in our futures. This novel tells of the Martel family and the struggles they endear. The Although the stories of his Franco family and community that he told friends and Army buddies were warmly received, it was many years before he captured them in the novel Papa Martel., a work about a close-knit Franco family living in a thinly-disguised Lewiston. In this closed world, Papa dispenses wisdom, Mama runs the household, the children attend parochial school, and the parish priest uses hockey metaphors to persuade Papa to take in an orphan. Writing Papa Martel was “when I came home,” Robichaud has said. “Lewiston gave me such treasures. I walked away from it completely, and then I came back” (Maine Speaks, p. 456). Robichaud’s statement calling Lewiston a treasure is the same way that I feel about it. I would even go as far as to say it was a “diamond in the rough.” Although Lewiston is known for having one of the highest crime rates in Maine and the home of several drug dealers, it is what I call home. In the mist of the crime and poverty of downtown Lewiston, Petite Canada still remains....