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Chapter 39
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hunting by Stars, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Community and Identity
Resistance, Survival, and Hope
Dehumanization and Trauma
Language, Memory, and Legacy
Colonial Dominance vs. Healing with Nature
Summary
Analysis
Frenchie’s family drives south until they use up the truck’s spare gas can, then walk. The landscape is flat and open. Nam feels like the Recruiters have won by chasing them out of Canada. Miig disagrees, saying such borders aren’t real: as long as they remember the land’s original owners, the Recruiters haven’t won. The family stops to sing for the dead and bury Rania’s necklace and Tree and Zheegwon’s hat. Frenchie walks with Miig, who confirms he knows how Frenchie escaped the school. Miig says Frenchie did what he had to in order to keep them safe, but Frenchie still feels extremely guilty. He thinks of Sunny. Miig says now isn’t the time to tell the others the truth: Frenchie must carry the burden alone.
By pointing out that the natural world doesn’t recognize manmade borders, Miig implies that colonialism’s quest to dominate the land will inevitably fail. This is especially true when Indigenous people—who respect the land rather than exploit it—remember their own legacy, emphasizing the power of memory to shape the future. In a similar vein, the family buries the dead’s mementoes as a way to honor and preserve their memory. Knowing that the truth of Frenchie’s betrayal, however understandable, will cause discord among the family, Miig wisely encourages Frenchie to prioritize their communal safety over his need to confess.
Themes
Remembering something, Frenchie asks Miig what Minerva’s last name was. When the reply is “Eliot,” Frenchie instinctively knows that Marguerite Eliot—one of the isolated inmates who wrote to her mother—is Minerva’s daughter. Miig says this is another reason to survive. Frenchie agrees—he wants to save the people he brought in. Frenchie catches up with Rose and they run ahead, embracing. Rose says she never believed the nurse’s story that Frenchie became a traitor. She assures him she was never romantically involved with Derrick. Frenchie starts tell her the truth, but he stops. It isn’t the right time. He only says he and Mitch saw an opportunity and took it, and that Mitch was lost.
Although Marguerite is a stranger to them, both Miig and Frenchie know they will try to rescue her out of devotion to Minerva. Similarly, Frenchie feels responsible for Therese and Sunny, who are imprisoned because of him, and plans to return to Canada to free him. This desire to make amends signifies Frenchie is once again sure of who he is in the context of his family. Rose readily assumes the nurses were incorrect about Frenchie’s defection because she can’t bear to think otherwise. Though Frenchie follows Miig’s advice and doesn’t correct her, this moment foreshadows future conflict when the truth inevitably comes out.
Themes
Frenchie and Rose rejoin the group as they come upon open farmland. Chi Boy thinks he can smell the ocean. He bounces Ishkode happily. Wab is speaking again but doesn’t take her eyes off the baby. Frenchie takes first watch while the others set up camp. Nam shares a packet of dry noodles with everyone. Frenchie watches Rose, cherishing her movements. He sits on a hill overlooking the farmland, noting an abandoned amusement park. The stars seem closer. Frenchie worries about the future, but the wind and the sky remind him to stay present. It is enough that they are alive for now.
While Frenchie’s family is clearly grateful to be together once again, their suffering has left undeniable scars which will certainly affect the group going forward. Nevertheless, they move forward in hope of finding a safer, better life. As he's done many times, Frenchie takes comfort in the natural world, reassured that he is not alone but part of something larger than himself.
Themes
