Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Marrow Thieves, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression
Family and Coming of Age
Humans and Nature
Trauma, Identity, and Pride
Summary
Analysis
Miig tells Frenchie to trust that people who know more are making good decisions for their community. He says that people are building a new residential school but insists that not everyone needs to know so that they can remain hopeful enough to keep going. Frenchie walks in silence and can't bear to look at the others. After ten minutes, he tells Miig all he remembers about what he saw. He misses the person he was an hour ago, when his biggest concern was touching Rose's hand.
At this point, Frenchie is forced to remember that there's something to be said from keeping information from people, as Miig tried to keep Story from RiRi. RiRi was far more willing and brighter before she heard Story, and now, Miig is encouraging Frenchie to allow the rest of the group to remain as optimistic as possible.
Themes
That night, the family camps and cooks birds on the barbeque. In her 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 awake later than anyone else and quietly watches Chi-Boy put the beautiful hat under Wab's pillow. He wants to 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 and worse than the schools. He falls asleep watching Rose and imagines them "building instead of running."
That Frenchie stays awake later than anyone thinking about what he learned shows that he's truly stepping into a more adult role in his family. Understanding that he can't ask about Miig's escape shows that Frenchie is developing even more respect for the people around him and the trauma they've experienced, which in turn will allow him to be more open and compassionate when people do choose to share their stories with him.
Themes
