Miig Character Analysis in The Marrow Thieves

The father figure of a ragtag group of Indigenous children. He's a middle-aged Anishnaabe man who speaks the Cree language and is skilled at teaching his adopted family of eight children the ways of his hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Miig went on the run after he and his husband, Isaac, were betrayed by Indigenous double agents. Though they were both taken to a residential school, Miig was the only one to escape. He later traded information with Dad in exchange for a gun and discovered the truth about the residential schools: they don't just harvest bone marrow, they actually kill the Indigenous victims. Miig carries a vial of bone marrow that he identified as Isaac's with him and refers to it as his "heart" that he carries outside of his body. Despite Miig's role as a steadfast and knowledgeable Elder (at least in the eyes of his young charges), he's overcome by grief for Isaac. He instills in his group the understanding that no one person is more important than another, and encourages them to learn the skills they need to be independent. While the young children sometimes resent Miig for the choices he makes as a leader, Frenchie recognizes that he is doing whatever he can to protect his family and keeping certain information from them so that they have the strength to go on. Once Miig and his group connect with the resistance group, Miig begins to lose the will to keep fighting. He effectively passes the torch to Frenchie and immerses himself in his grief for Isaac, especially after Minerva dies. Though he speaks Cree, he's unable to read syllabics (the written language). Miig understands that the most important way to stand up to the residential schools is to make sure that every Indigenous child learns the history of the residential schools and the origins of why the world is the way it is. For this reason, he tells all or bits of Story to the older children several times per week. At the end of the novel, Frenchie helps Miig reunite with Isaac.

Miig Quotes in The Marrow Thieves

The The Marrow Thieves quotes below are all either spoken by Miig or refer to Miig. 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:

Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Icon

"But we sang our songs and brought them to the streets and into the classrooms—classrooms we built on our own lands and filled with our own words and books. And once we remembered that we were warriors, once we honored the pain and left it on the side of the road, we moved ahead. We were back."

Related Characters: Miig (speaker), Frenchie

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Page Number and Citation: 24

Explanation and Analysis:

"Like how we are motivated to run because of the Recruiters?" Rose jumped in. "And the Recruiters are motivated to run after us because of the schools?"

"Almost," he answered. "We are actually both motivated by the same thing: survival."

"But isn't it just us that's trying to survive? No one's trying to kill those jerk-offs."

"But, nevertheless, they are dying. Mostly killing themselves, mind you. And so they are motivated by the need to be able to survive. And they see that solution in us."

Related Characters: Rose (speaker), Miig (speaker), Wab, Frenchie

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Page Number and Citation: 54

Explanation and Analysis:

"And all those pipelines in the ground? They snapped like icicles and spewed bile over forests, into lakes, drowning whole reserves and towns. So much laid to waste from the miscalculation of infallibility in the face of a planet's revolt."

Related Characters: Miig (speaker), RiRi

Page Number and Citation: 87

Explanation and Analysis:

"Soon, they needed too many bodies, and they turned to history to show them how to best keep us warehoused, how to best position the culling. That's when the new residential schools started growing up from the dirt like poisonous brick mushrooms."

Related Characters: Miig (speaker), RiRi

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 89

Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: Miig (speaker), Isaac, Frenchie

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Page Number and Citation: 106-107

Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: Frenchie (speaker), Miig, Isaac

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Page Number and Citation: 110

Explanation and Analysis:

The schools were an ever-spreading network from the south stretching northward, on our heels like a bushfire. Always north. To what end? Now we'd lost RiRi. Now I'd shot a man. Would I even be welcome in the North? I couldn't even protect a little girl.

Related Characters: Frenchie (speaker), RiRi, Travis, Miig, Chi-Boy

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Page Number and Citation: 147

Explanation and Analysis:

"I mean we can start healing the land. We have the knowledge, kept through the first round of these blasted schools, from before that, when these visitors first made their way over here like angry children throwing tantrums. When we heal our land, we are healed also." Then he added, "We'll get there. Maybe not soon, but eventually."

Related Characters: Clarence (speaker), Frenchie, Miig, General

Related Symbols: Residential Schools

Page Number and Citation: 193

Explanation and Analysis:

I took off running, away from camp, the Council, my family: running toward Rose, who was somewhere beyond the birch-beaded edge of the woods, running towards an idea of home that I wasn't willing to lose, not even if it meant running away from the family I had already found.

Related Characters: Frenchie (speaker), Rose, Dad, Miig

Page Number and Citation: 217

Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: Frenchie (speaker), Miig, Isaac

Page Number and Citation: 231

Explanation and Analysis:

Miig Character Timeline in The Marrow Thieves

The timeline below shows where the character Miig appears in The Marrow Thieves. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

About a year before, Dad met a man named Miig who escaped from the residential schools and who shared what the government is doing to... (full context)

...sees several children of varying ages and an old woman. The man introduces himself as Miig. Frenchie recognizes the name and says, "north." Miig agrees that's where he's going and invites... (full context)

Five years later, Miig explains to his makeshift family that dreams live in their bone marrow. Seven-year-old RiRi asks... (full context)

Frenchie explains that Miig and Minerva are the only adults in the group. Chi-Boy is seventeen and from the... (full context)

Miig says that the Anishnaabe people have been on these lands for thousands of years. They... (full context)

As the governments stole water from the rivers, the North melted. Miig says that the northern people are, as far as he's heard, still okay, which is... (full context)

Returning to Story, Miig says that after ten years of wars over water, world leaders came to new agreements.... (full context)

...her. This is the new routine: RiRi is desperate to hear Story and understand, but Miig wants her to grow up first before she learns that people view her as nothing... (full context)

...a low whistle outside—the alarm—and leaps up. Everyone else but Slopper is around the fire. Miig motions to the east, and Frenchie knows that they'll have to fight if the intruder... (full context)

...past. One warm night, Rose moodily declares that they should go after the government themselves. Miig assures the group that they've survived persecution before and will survive it again and asks... (full context)

One morning, Miig tells the group he's taking hunting that they need to work harder at learning to... (full context)

At the campsite, Miig gives the rabbits to Wab to skin and cook. Rose sits down next to Frenchie,... (full context)

...for Frenchie to hang on. Frenchie wakes up drenched in sweat when Zheegwon pokes him. Miig says they need to leave and move quickly, so others carry Minerva and RiRi's packs.... (full context)

Everyone sits in a circle to wait for breakfast and Miig passes out watches to those who will hunt today. Miig remarks that they used to... (full context)

...tree. Frenchie aims at the moose's head, but then lowers it to the chest, which Miig always says is "the sure target." The moose raises its head and looks right at... (full context)

...ashamed that RiRi will go hungry. He feels better when he sees that Chi-Boy and Miig both got turkeys. Wab is late getting back. They wait anxiously for almost 40 minutes... (full context)

...she asks one evening if circumstances make people bad, or if people make bad circumstances. Miig says that he once read a book by Camus about a town that was quarantined... (full context)

...people change because of circumstances and asks if good people just change in good ways. Miig says it's more complicated: people do what they need to in order to stay safe,... (full context)

Miig asks Wab what she'd do to save them. Chi-Boy says he'd do anything, and Wab... (full context)

...and his family come to the Four Winds resort, which has twelve-foot-high, razor-edged electric fencing. Miig drops his pack and prepares to touch the fence to test if it's still electrified.... (full context)

...the fence and then begins to hunt for a way to get everyone else in. Miig forces Frenchie to look him in the eye and tells him sternly that nobody is... (full context)

Everyone walks down the hallway until they reach a dark opening. Miig and Chi-Boy begin to pull back the drapes to let in moonlight. Miig insists that... (full context)

...days. She considered returning to her grandmother but started walking and ended up running into Miig. Her story finished, she nuzzles into Frenchie's chest. Frenchie starts to get an erection and... (full context)

...of the bed, Wab and Chi-Boy sleeping close to each other on the floor, and Miig on the floor across the room. (full context)

After two days at the Four Winds, Miig wants to leave. Chi-Boy scouts around for supplies and finds knives, blankets, candles, and a... (full context)

...tells the reader that everyone is uneasy around Wab. Her trauma seems dangerous and messy. Miig has never been willing to share her coming-to story, and the boys often swap rumors... (full context)

...being murdered. Frenchie wonders how long RiRi was there and what he can do, but Miig calls RiRi forward to hear Story. (full context)

Miig picks up where he left off on the night when Rose arrived. He says that... (full context)

...to pull dreams out of Indigenous bones. People were taken away and never came back. Miig says that it got to the point where the scientists needed more bodies, so they... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Frenchie asks Miig to stop, but Miig continues. He says that Tree and Zheegwon were captured by a... (full context)

Isaac and Miig ran to their secluded cabin in the early days before things got too bad. Their... (full context)

The older two greeted Isaac and Miig in Anishnaabe, but the young woman tried to pull her hood up. The older woman... (full context)

...older woman 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... (full context)

...away through a doorway, closed it, and began to pile furniture in front of it. Miig realized the rumors were true and knew he needed to move. He locked himself in... (full context)

Miig tells Frenchie to trust that people who know more are making good decisions for their... (full context)

...delight, Minerva teaches them the word “abwaad,” which means "cooking on a fire." After dinner, Miig says that tomorrow they'll head northeast, away from the forest fires. Nobody protests. Frenchie stays... (full context)

...finds a "toy" in the muck. She shows it to Minerva, who raises the alarm. Miig inspects the "toy," which is a broken plastic lunchbox with a superhero on it. Inside... (full context)

...about three hours west. One wears a bright red hat. Frenchie climbs down and approaches Miig and Minerva, who looks unusually alert and upset. He shares what he saw. Miig is... (full context)

...the man in the red hat is carving wood. The other seems to be napping. Miig is concerned by this and privately says they need to keep the girls in their... (full context)

Miig leads his family toward the men and one of the men yells at them. This... (full context)

Miig cautiously says that he's going to travel on, but Travis invites them to stay and... (full context)

...Lincoln swallow something from his palm. They slip into the circle next to Rose and Miig, and Chi-Boy whispers quietly in Miig's ear. (full context)

...that Espanola is the link between the new residential schools and supplies from the south. Miig notes that he's heard that there's an Indigenous resistance group outside Espanola. Frenchie sits up... (full context)

Chi-Boy stands and looks ready to fight as Miig stares down Lincoln. Travis assures Miig that Lincoln is talking about hiding and tries to... (full context)

Travis laughs and invites Miig to camp in the clearing for the night. Miig seems nervous to stay, but Frenchie... (full context)

Miig and the family set up tents in the woods, midway between Travis's fire and the... (full context)

...RiRi entirely and starts to laugh. As Travis turns, Chi-Boy stabs him in the leg, Miig grabs his gun and punches Travis, and Lincoln grabs RiRi and starts to run. Miig... (full context)

...and the rifle. He turns and runs back from whence he came, not listening to Miig telling him to stop. Frenchie startles the twins and Travis sighs and asks if Lincoln... (full context)

On the fourth day, Miig calls Frenchie up to the front of the line. Frenchie complies slowly, thinking that he... (full context)

...Frenchie knows that Dad went into the city because he loved Mom, Frenchie, and Mitch. Miig resumes his story and says that he walked back to the school and sat for... (full context)

...last group of people was "used up," and they're in the back of the truck. Miig pulled aside a tarp and found crates. The man told him to look inside. Miig... (full context)

Eight days after RiRi's death, Miig stops suddenly and tells everyone to scatter into the trees. Frenchie hears Recruiters' whistles and... (full context)

...Zheegwon scampers up a ladder to a loft and announces that it's full of hay. Miig and the others join him, and Miig agrees that they can sleep there. Minerva, however,... (full context)

...won't get to live it. Rose cries and puts the hide into her pack. Outside, Miig declares that they'll keep going north. Frenchie says that he's going to go after Minerva. (full context)

...the resistance near Espanola. Frenchie feels as though he's now getting to make decisions with Miig and Chi-Boy. He's so worried about the possible consequences of heading south that he can... (full context)

...the captors herd everyone into a group. The captors all wear kerchiefs over their faces. Miig tells Frenchie that these are the people who left the syllabics, and Frenchie says that... (full context)

...woman returns with an older man not wearing a kerchief. He looks vaguely familiar. When Miig introduces himself, the man looks shocked and says that Miig's group should be treated like... (full context)

...and sweetgrass makes Frenchie forget his anxiety. The older man from the woods approaches, greets Miig, and says that they'll talk when the Council gets out of the lodge. (full context)

...sweat lodge. Men begin to pour out of the lodge and they all smile at Miig. The last man is missing half of his right leg and calls, "Francis?" Frenchie realizes... (full context)

...and relieved that Frenchie chose to sleep with them, not with Dad, and Frenchie asks Miig if they need to figure things out. Miig agrees that they need a plan, but... (full context)

...is okay, remarks on how crazy it is that Frenchie found Dad, and says that Miig seems worried about Frenchie, not finding Minerva. She points out that Frenchie has changed and... (full context)

They wake up in the middle of the night, listening to Miig singing and shaking a rattle. His voice moans and sounds pained. Frenchie leaves the tent... (full context)

When Frenchie returns to Miig and the group at dusk, General is telling Miig about the social dance in the... (full context)

...grabs the rifle, and creeps out. He checks Rose's tent—she's alone—and starts to walk. Clarence, Miig, General, and some other men flag Frenchie and invite him to hunt. They spend the... (full context)

...their way out of the cave. A priest shouts that they'll move Minerva tomorrow, and Miig, Frenchie, and Chi-Boy look at the priest with terror. They adopt defensive positions, but Dad... (full context)

Frenchie climbs into his tree near Derrick. Miig gives Frenchie his pouch "for safekeeping," and says that it can't go back to the... (full context)

...whoop in celebration and everyone meets at the van. The back door is locked, so Miig steps up to the cab to get the key. The horn stops and they hear... (full context)

Rose takes Minerva's head in her lap and Minerva says, "kiiwen" and begins to sing. Miig picks up the song and sings until Minerva is gone. Miig and Frenchie stand, but... (full context)

...does the same. It makes him feel vulnerable and increases his grief. Frenchie thinks that Miig is now their elder, and nobody mentions that in losing Minerva, they lost the key... (full context)

...Dad. He reasons with himself that going back on the run is silly, and fingers Miig's pouch. He opens it and finds tobacco and a half-full glass vial that Frenchie believes... (full context)

...safe enough to run away. He quickly gathers up his things, leaves his tent and Miig's pouch, and runs after Rose. Twenty meters into the woods, Rose's voice startles him. He... (full context)

Miig considers joining the expedition, but he decides to stay back and work on maps with... (full context)

...and asks, "Isaac?" The man is shocked. Frenchie takes off running for camp and for Miig. He bellows for Miig, and when he appears, Frenchie starts to laugh and cry. (full context)

...up. Frenchie turns to see that Isaac is the first one out of the trees. Miig makes a strange sound and falls to his knees. The men embrace. Frenchie understands that... (full context)

The Marrow Thieves

Miig Character Analysis

Miig Quotes in The Marrow Thieves

Story: Part 1 Quotes

A Plague of Madness Quotes

Story: Part 2 Quotes

Miigwans' Coming-To Story Quotes

Finding Direction Quotes

Rogarou Comes Hunting Quotes

Word Arrives in Black Quotes

Kiiwen Quotes

Locks Mean Nothing to Ghosts Quotes

Miig Character Timeline in The Marrow Thieves