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Travis
Miig's husband. He's of mixed European and Anishnaabe descent and looks more European than Indigenous in appearance, with green eyes and light skin. He was a poet and somewhat of a linguist, and is fluent in the Cree language. Miig, who spends the majority of the novel believing that Isaac died in the residential schools, notes that Isaac's trusting nature was his downfall: he trusted three Indigenous guests who turned out to be agents for the schools. After Isaac’s supposed death, Miig carries a glass vial containing Isaac's bone marrow with him. Later, Frenchie recognizes Isaac for who he is, thanks to the buffalo tattoo on the back of his left hand—his and Miig's "wedding ring." Frenchie discovers that, because Isaac dreams in the Cree language, he can be the key to destroying the residential schools.
Isaac Quotes in The Marrow Thieves
The The Marrow Thieves quotes below are all either spoken by Isaac or refer to Isaac. 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:
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Miigwans' Coming-To Story Quotes
Isaac didn't have grandparents who'd told residential school stories like campfire tales to scare you into acting right, stories about men and women who promised themselves to God only and then took whatever they wanted from the children, especially at night. Stories about a book that was like a vacuum, used to suck the language right out of your lungs. And I didn't have time to share them, not now.
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Finding Direction Quotes
He'd lost someone he'd built a life with right in the middle of that life. Suddenly, I realized that there was something worse than running, worse even than the schools. There was loss.
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Locks Mean Nothing to Ghosts Quotes
I heard it in his voice as Miigwans began to weep. I watched it in the steps that pulled Isaac, the man who dreamed in Cree, home to his love. The love who'd carried him against the rib and breath and hurt of his chest as ceremony in a glass vial. And I understood that as long as there are dreamers left, there will never be want for a dream. And I understood just what we would do for each other, just what we would do for the ebb and pull of the dream, the bigger dream that held us all.
Anything.
Everything.
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Isaac Character Timeline in The Marrow Thieves
The timeline below shows where the character Isaac appears in The Marrow Thieves. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Back into the Woods
...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...
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Miigwans' Coming-To Story
Isaac and Miig ran to their secluded cabin in the early days before things got too...
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The older two greeted Isaac and Miig in Anishnaabe, but the young woman tried to pull her hood up. The...
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...never let the younger one out of her sight. The young woman told Miig and Isaac that the older two were her cousins, while later, the man told Isaac that the...
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...were true and knew he needed to move. He locked himself in the bedroom with Isaac and they began to pack, but Miig saw Recruiters driving up. Miig insisted they leave...
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Finding Direction
...know how Miig escaped from the schools but knows he can't ask. He knows that Isaac died in the school, and suddenly Frenchie realizes that losing people is worse than running...
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The Long Stumble
...thinking that he could just die. Miig says that he didn't want to live when Isaac couldn't escape. He kept going because he made a promise to himself to go back...
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...age, sex, and tribe. He dug until he found a vial that he identified as Isaac’s. Without thinking, Miig shot the man and left. He drove to a lake, hiked in...
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Loss
...been strange since they arrived. Miig jokes, sighs, and says he's just tired of missing Isaac. Frenchie thinks of Miig pouring vials into the ground and says that after they get...
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Kiiwen
...opens it and finds tobacco and a half-full glass vial that Frenchie believes must be Isaac’s bone marrow. Frenchie knows he needs to give the pouch back.
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Locks Mean Nothing to Ghosts
...to. Frenchie sees a buffalo tattoo on the back of the man's hand and asks, "Isaac?" The man is shocked. Frenchie takes off running for camp and for Miig. He bellows...
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The rest of the group catches up. Frenchie turns to see that Isaac is the first one out of the trees. Miig makes a strange sound and falls...
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