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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
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 dreams Mom is in the supply closet, speaking to him in the doorway. She ponders whether dreams were always housed in bone marrow, or if Indigenous people hid them there as a method of survival. Mom says Frenchie needs her to be here, but she will not make it out of the institute. She quotes Mitch’s last words to Frenchie, who wakes in the medical ward with his brother beside him. Mitch remarks that Frenchie is a poor runner, since he only ran back to his room. He asks who Frenchie was looking for, fishing for intel. Frenchie claims he was trying to find Mom. Mitch claims that the records show Mom has never been in any institution.
Frenchie’s dreams of Mom provoke him to ponder the nature of dreams and why Indigenous people are able to protect their dreams when others lose the ability. She muses that dreams are precious and therefore hidden among their people. Mom also links dreaming to survival, implying that the ability to imagine alternative possibilities and worlds enables a person to persist through great oppression. Though Mom isn’t actually present, Frenchie dreaming of her suggests his strong need for support. Mitch’s insider knowledge of the school system suggests he is deeply embedded in the administration.
Active
Themes
Hearing Mitch talk about the schools’ “system,” Frenchie asks if he is a Recruiter now. Mitch claims all people are one under God—there are no distinctions. Disgusted, Frenchie tells Mitch he is no longer his brother. Unperturbed, Mitch tells Frenchie he has stitches in his cheek from his tussle with the Watchmen (security guards). Probing for information on the schools’ hierarchy, Frenchie learns that managers are called Agents and the Clergy act as a board of directors. Some residents, like Mitch, work their way out of the general population by proving cooperative. Frenchie thinks such people are traitors. Mitch describes the medical staff supervising extraction and expanding research, calling the system “a well-oiled machine.”
Not only does Mitch avoid answering Frenchie’s question, but his response also attempts to erase all differences between people—presumably including his own Indigenous identity. This notion also erases the clear differences between oppressor and victim, falsely implying that everyone is treated equally in the world, which belongs to “God.” Overall, Mitch’s words indicate that he has bought into a false narrative that justifies his participation in the school system. Indeed, his descriptions of the school’s inner workings suggest he is proud of how smoothly things run, even as the schools exist to torture and kill Indigenous people like himself and Frenchie. Frenchie views all this as betrayal and is disgusted by the person his brother has become.
Active
Themes
Mitch laughs when Frenchie asks if his marrow has been extracted, saying he’d be a zombie “in the lot out back” if he had. Composing himself, Mitch claims that participating in ongoing research as a test subject is a privilege. Frenchie asks if people die from extraction. Mitch confirms this is true, but only because, without bone marrow, people can’t heal. His calm tone appalls Frenchie. Mitch claims they can rebuild their life now as brothers. Looking around the ward, Frenchie thinks of all the rumors he’s heard about the residential schools. Everyone he’s met who tried to sugarcoat the experiments and portray them as necessary for rebuilding the world was a traitor trying to lure people into a trap.
Active
Themes
Frenchie remembers an activist cousin who came to stay with his family before the world changed. She told Frenchie and Mitch stories about animals in slaughterhouses who were killed quickly, not out of a desire to be humane, but because fear makes the meat taste worse. Frenchie wonders if the dreams of willing Indigenous donors in the early days (before the horrific truth about the residential schools was known) were of better quality. Mitch says he isn’t sure if he dreams anymore, and Frenchie says he’d rather be dead. He hopes his real family are coming and equally hopes they stay far away. Later that night, Mitch visits the ward and tells Frenchie his story.
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