The Marrow Thieves

by

Cherie Dimaline

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Marrow Thieves makes teaching easy.

The Marrow Thieves: Back into the Woods Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Frenchie believes there's something beautiful about the natural world of today. Vines reclaim electrical poles and pipelines, and animals are doing the same. Miig believes that in 50 years, animals will hunt humans again. Frenchie helps get ready to move out as snow starts to fall. Everyone wants to stay at Four Winds where they feel safe. Wab moves slowly, and RiRi is quiet and seems to be trying to act mature enough to handle the truth. Minerva is the only one who seems to be doing well, and she sings as she sits in the cart along with a barbeque they found.
The fact that Frenchie can accept that there's beauty in the way his world is shows that there's some hope for the natural world in his future. It may end up being a good thing that it's taking back the manmade landscape and reasserting itself. RiRi's questionably successful attempts to be mature about Story show that Miig was right to try to keep it from her; it's a lot for a child to take in and understand.
Themes
Humans and Nature Theme Icon
Trauma, Identity, and Pride Theme Icon
Frenchie wonders if the Four Winds was good for him. He thinks that it was amazing to get close to Rose, but she's avoided him since that first night. He wishes he hadn't heard Wab's coming-to story, and seeing RiRi so scared eats at Frenchie. He also dreamed about Mitch during their stay, but Mitch died horrific deaths in the dreams and Frenchie is almost relieved to be back in the forest, where it's cold enough to change his dreams. Miig points out buds on trees and says that April is here, which means more illness with the damp rains. Frenchie knows there's no time to get sick, and he remembers Zheegwon telling him earlier in the year that illness makes Minerva nervous: she lost a baby to a cough.
Frenchie's bad dreams make it clear that having dreams can be a burden, and not just because everybody wants to kill him—they're a burden because they influence Frenchie's unconscious imagination in sometimes-unpleasant ways. Even Frenchie's subconscious mind is constantly dwelling on trauma, while the aside that Minerva lost a baby to a cough shows again that there's still more than enough current and potential trauma in Frenchie's real world.
Themes
Trauma, Identity, and Pride Theme Icon
Frenchie looks back at the resort several times, wondering if they'd stayed if Rose might've come to him again. RiRi and Slopper are angry and complain that Miig is making them move. Frenchie thinks that RiRi is young enough that her anger is cute, especially since she discovered a pair of bright pink rubber boots at the resort and is wearing them now. Frenchie remembers how, after RiRi first put the boots on, she worried that the boots might've belonged to an Indigenous girl who was taken to the residential schools. Frenchie had assured her that the boots probably belonged to a rich blond girl. Whether RiRi believes his story or not, she agreed to keep them.
Here, Frenchie attempts to use storytelling to help RiRi feel better and safer, something that by all accounts was successful. This shows, again, that Frenchie is continuing to transition into a more adult, caregiving role for the younger kids in the group, while also demonstrating that Frenchie is well aware of the power of creating particular narratives, true or otherwise. In this case, where it's impossible to know the truth, this story still has the power to comfort RiRi.
Themes
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Icon
Family and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Around noon, Slopper smells cooking. Frenchie corrects him that it's just smoke, and Slopper is confused that there's a fire with no cooking. RiRi points out that accidental fires exist, and Frenchie notices the fear in her face. Miig asks Frenchie to climb a tree and take a look. Frenchie begins to climb a tall pine, feeling content that he's doing something to protect the people he loves, especially Rose. At the top of the tree, Frenchie can see a smoke plume. Trees shake around the plume and then fall. He can hear a rumble and sees a yellow flash. It doesn't make sense. Back on the ground, Frenchie says that what he saw was weird, and Miig calls him to speak privately.
Noticing how scared RiRi seems of a possible wildfire indicates again that Frenchie is beginning to come of age: he's starting to see RiRi as more of a full, multifaceted person in her own right, not just a little kid in need of his protection. Frenchie recognizes that her history is her own, and it's not something that he can necessarily protect her from. That Frenchie takes pride in being able to climb the tree illustrates how Frenchie's identity is becoming increasingly tied to his role as a protector.
Themes
Family and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Humans and Nature Theme Icon
Trauma, Identity, and Pride Theme Icon
Get the entire The Marrow Thieves LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Marrow Thieves PDF
Frenchie is upset that he can't share what he knows is a dramatic and exciting story. He grumbles to himself that Miig is bossy and just wants the information to himself. Frenchie relays what he saw. After a moment, Miig says that Recruiters interrupted Minerva feeding her baby grandson, raped her, and took the baby. He says that Wab was alone for two years before she joined the group, and she followed them for six weeks before revealing herself. She was too afraid to trust them. Miig says that RiRi and Slopper had a parent each when they arrived, but their parents ended up in the schools.
Sharing these stories with Frenchie functions to impress upon Frenchie that stories shouldn't just be turned into dramatic retellings for the sake of doing so. In this case, they can remind Frenchie of their vulnerability, the violence they've experienced, and the losses they've suffered—likely because of something related to what Frenchie saw from the treetop.
Themes
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Icon
Trauma, Identity, and Pride Theme Icon
Frenchie asks Miig to stop, but Miig continues. He says that Tree and Zheegwon were captured by a small town, whose residents tried brutally to extract their dreams. Miig found the seven-year-old twins hanging from a rope in a barn, cut open, stitched up, and missing their pinkies. Frenchie wants to vomit. Miig says that he lost his husband Isaac to the schools, and Frenchie watches Miig rub the buffalo tattoo on his hand, his "wedding ring" that he shared with Isaac. Miig stumbles and Frenchie quits asking Miig to stop.
Frenchie allowing Miig to continue sharing these stories with him indicates that he's beginning to realize it's his responsibility to listen and to hold onto these stories so that he can remember their shared history and suffering. In this way, Frenchie can go on to honor his family and what they've experienced, rather than pretend it never happened.
Themes
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Icon
Trauma, Identity, and Pride Theme Icon