Previous
Miig
Wab is a young Indigenous woman who is part of Frenchie’s found family. According to Chi Boy’s coming-to story, Wab joined the group after he, Minerva, and Miig found her hiding inside a beaver’s dam years ago. Wab is expecting a baby with Chi Boy, making her a prime target for Recruiters, as the schools are starting to farm Indigenous infants for their potent bone marrow. Having experienced much hardship and betrayal in her early years, Wab is tough and dislikes being coddled. She delivers her daughter, Ishkode, inside a cage after being captured by the MOMS vigilante group in New York. Fearing what will happen to her child, Wab makes the painful decision to smother Ishkode rather than leave her to a worse fate. Though Ishkode survives, Frenchie senses the experience has changed Wab, making her softer and more fearful than before.
Wab Quotes in Hunting by Stars
The Hunting by Stars quotes below are all either spoken by Wab or refer to Wab. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 29 Quotes
“We, brother, can make it so that more Native people have a chance to truly live. As productive members of a reborn society.”
[…]
“See, there will be the herd, and then there will be everyone else. Not divided by race, exactly. Just divided by purpose. And the purpose of Indigenous people will be to give birth to the answer. What more noble purpose could you ever ask for?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes
I thought about what Mitch had told me. Farms. They weren’t ditching the schools; they were repurposing them. How could dreams be transferred in to such poisoned heads? I couldn’t imagine minds capable of making schemes like that also being able to create nighttime cinema of swimming through the stars or losing teeth by the handful. But it didn’t take depth to build cruelty, only a profound lack of hope.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes
“Ishkode,” he said, his tears striping down his chin like paint.
“Mmmm, a good name for one who’s going to bring change.” Miigwans grinned and spoke a little louder. “I can’t wait until you can tell us who you are, little one, until you can share your coming-to story. Until then, we’ll do our best.”
[…]
“It’s beautiful,” Rania said. “What does it mean?”
Slopper had been studying Anishinaabemowin since Minerva was killed, working to keep us all alive with the words she’d left us, the ones she’d carried forward against all odds, so we could make sure the new kids coming could curve their tongues around those sounds, could rattle the consonants against their baby teeth. He was the one who answered. “Fire. It means fire.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Hunting by Stars LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Wab Character Timeline in Hunting by Stars
The timeline below shows where the character Wab appears in Hunting by Stars. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...return of his husband, Isaac, who he thought had died in the schools. A pregnant Wab paces while her partner Chi Boy tries to calm her. Rose—who is finally ready to...
(full context)
Back at the fire, Chi Boy leads Wab back to their shared tent, urging her to rest. Exhausted by pregnancy, Wab agrees to...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...sits next to Rose and observes the others: Slopper, who is young but learning language, Wab with her scarred face and pregnant belly, quiet Chi Boy, and the twins Tree and...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...the resistance camp, Rose regrets not leaving on her own to look for Frenchie. She, Wab, Chi Boy, and Derrick are attending a Council meeting with Bullet, Frenchie’s dad, and other...
(full context)
Chapter 5
Chi Boy watches Wab sleep inside their tent. The camp is quiet—everyone knows soundlessness is safest. Worried about what...
(full context)
...met their mother. This is the day their story really starts. Secretly awake and listening, Wab cries into her pillow.
(full context)
Chapter 8
...will bring concrete news of where Frenchie was taken, and they can form a plan. Wab is also furious, while Miig regrets not making time for Rose. Jean appreciates Rose and...
(full context)
Chapter 12
...of the punctures will need stitches, but they have no needle or thread. Rose imagines Wab chiding her for rushing into things and making mistakes. Later, Derrick sleeps while Rose stays...
(full context)
Chapter 20
...network of nurses, thanks them. Theo and Rania have news which concerns pregnant people like Wab. The schools are changing and building new constructions in the north. Theo and Rania urge...
(full context)
After hearing Theo and Rania’s story (which isn’t revealed to the reader here), Wab and the rest of Miig’s family prepare to leave. Jean promises Miig that he’ll stay...
(full context)
Chapter 27
...losing parts of himself. When they arrive, Slopper spills a pot of beans in shock. Wab and Chi Boy rush to embrace Frenchie. An unfamiliar woman watches—Frenchie will later learn she...
(full context)
...to calm him. The rest of the family is heading for the border to protect Wab. Before Miig can elaborate, Frenchie tries to leave to search for Rose. Mitch follows him,...
(full context)
Chapter 29
...strange. He doesn’t eat or tell Story. Avoiding Miig’s eye contact, Frenchie asks how soon Wab will deliver her baby. Mitch makes a careless comment about how “we” didn’t know people...
(full context)
Chapter 31
...reach the rendezvous point early. Frenchie keeps watch for everyone else. When the train arrives, Wab boards first. Everyone is giddy with relief except for Miig and Frenchie, who watch the...
(full context)
Chapter 33
...rest of the family are in a small shed, each person restrained against the wall. Wab is alone in a repurposed dog crate in the center of the room. The room...
(full context)
...in the network must have tipped them off, Rania panics, desperate to alert her allies. Wab asks if Mitch could have betrayed them, forcing Frenchie to admit that Mitch is dead....
(full context)
...informant. An armed sentry will guard the shed and another woman—Veronica, who keeps looking at Wab—will stay at the house. Outside, the family hears Veronica tell the sentry that someone in...
(full context)
Chapter 35
...falls, and the crescent moon in the shed’s window reminds Frenchie of Miig’s stolen rib. Wab labors with difficulty in her cage. Rania advises from her place on the wall, encouraging...
(full context)
No one talks about the Recruiters, focused on supporting Wab through her labor. Miig wakes and he and Isaac sing to her. Chi Boy gets...
(full context)
Chapter 37
...seems to be improving. The family eat the food Elizabeth left, though Chi Boy gives Wab his portion as she nurses Ishkode. Veronica returns with chocolate chip cookies, which she hand-delivers...
(full context)
Uncomfortable, Veronica apologizes—she didn’t think the MOMS would go through with their plan. Wab challenges her to open the cage, but Veronica refuses, fearing retribution. She assures Wab that...
(full context)
...stitch. Rummaging through the supplies from Kelsey and Shirley-Rachel, Rania finds a pair of scissors. Wab rocks Ishkode, saying she won’t die by their captors’ hand. Rania uses the scissors to...
(full context)
Frenchie screams at Wab to stop. Elizabeth Purdue walks in and Zheegwon tackles her, cracking her skull against pavement....
(full context)
Chapter 39
...the wild can take them. They keep the twins’ shared baseball cap and Rania’s necklace. Wab carries Ishkode, obviously traumatized by what she almost had to do to save her baby...
(full context)
Chapter 40
...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...
(full context)
Epilogue/Prologue
...reclaims the planet. Rose takes a bundle from her pack before approaching Ishkode, asleep in Wab’s arms. Already, the baby has learned not to cry much. Rose unwraps the bundle, which...
(full context)
