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 considers joining the expedition, but he decides to stay back and work on maps with Dad. Frenchie teases them about being old, but he feels strangely pessimistic to have two dads now. He feels it can't last. On the way to the newcomers' camp, Tree and Zheegwon say that they hope they find an Elder who can help them fight the schools. Bullet walks next to Frenchie and tells him that they go into these welcome expeditions aggressive—it's better to apologize than not be able to bury their friends. Frenchie flashes on RiRi and trips.
While Frenchie may be in a better place in regard to how he thinks about what his family can look like, his pessimism about having Miig and Dad around shows that he's still suffering from the pain and the trauma of being abandoned by Mom and Dad. He is worried that Miig seems to be more than ready to pass the torch.
Themes
The group stops to observe the camp. There are two Guyanese women talking happily, one man who reminds Frenchie of Minerva, and two pale men. One has blond hair, the other's hair is wrapped in a towel. Derrick gives the signal and his group leaps into the camp. Nobody puts up a fight, but the men are annoyed by the rough treatment from Derrick and Clarence. The man with his hair in a towel turns around when he hears Clarence let out a Cree word. Clarence shoves him to the ground, but Rose helps the man up. He thanks her in Cree. The women say that they're helping to keep people out of the residential schools; they were nurses and snuck children out of the hospitals. Clarence speaks to the man who thanked Rose in Cree.
Because of the numbers present at the resistance camp, Frenchie and Derrick have the upper hand and can certainly do away with these people if they need to, unlike with Travis and Lincoln. Trying to keep quiet that they speak Cree allows the resistance group to feel out the situation before declaring who they are, which is one of the few ways that they hide their identity for their safety. This shows that, even in the resistance group, the Indigenous people walk a fine line between being proud and remaining cautious.
Themes
Clarence pulls Rose, Frenchie, and Bullet aside. He says that the pale man is actually Cree; he's fluent, speaks an old form of Cree, and can give his lineage. Clarence insists that the other non-Indigenous people are true allies. Rose asks if the man is as fluent as Minerva was, and she excitedly says that the man doesn't need to be old to have the key, since the language is old. Frenchie turns around and approaches the man. He sees in the man's face that he is Cree, and he asks the man what language he dreams in. The man smiles and says he dreams in Cree.
In general, dreaming in a language implies that a person is fluent in it, which helps this man assert his legitimacy as a Cree person to the resistance group. He now represents the resistance's best hope for the future, as knowing the language means that he likely also knows more of the stories and the songs that convey the culture and its associated wisdom and identity.
Themes
Clarence leads the group back to camp. Frenchie finds himself beside the pale Cree man and asks about his history. The man says that the women, Helene and Talia, helped him get out of a school. Frenchie asks how he stayed alive, and the man pushes his hair back and says there was someone he needed to get back 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 for Miig, and when he appears, Frenchie starts to laugh and cry.
Discovering that this man is Isaac upends what the resistance knows about the schools yet again, as clearly, more people have been able to escape than previously thought. That Isaac essentially lists Miig as his reason for getting out again demonstrates the power of love to motivate people to survive and keep searching for a better future.
Themes
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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 to his knees. The men embrace. Frenchie understands that as long as there are people who dream, he'll be okay. He knows that they'll do anything and everything for each other and for their dreams.
Frenchie now knows that, because he and the other Indigenous characters love each other and love their culture, they have the ability to fight the schools and fight for their dreams—both the dreams in the marrow and their dreams of a better future for everyone.
Themes
