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 and the family set up tents in the woods, midway between Travis's fire and the cliff. Miig gives orders for keeping watch but they're still caught unaware. Frenchie wakes up when a body crashes into his tent and onto him. He hears Wab scream, pushes the body off of his tent, and unzips it. Travis has Tree and Zheegwon at gunpoint, Chi-Boy has a knife in his arm, and Miig is standing, his gun on the ground. Frenchie sees Lincoln, who looks inebriated, holding RiRi off the ground by her throat. Miig and Travis convince Lincoln to let RiRi down and Frenchie grabs the rifle. Travis tells Lincoln they can't kill anyone—the Recruiters are on their way and dead Indians are worthless.
This shows how dangerous it can be to trust people just because they share the language, as Travis and Lincoln are clearly working for Recruiters. For Frenchie, this experience shows him specifically how dangerous life can be for a kid like RiRi, who has no hope of fighting back against a large man like Lincoln. With this, Frenchie continues to put together his understanding of the ways in which different people are differently vulnerable to violence or exploitation.
Themes
Rose emerges from her tent, shouts for them to let RiRi go, and holds Minerva back from trying to get to RiRi. Lincoln drops 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 and Wab chase Lincoln while Zheegwon and Tree tie up Travis. When Travis is secure, Frenchie follows the others into the dark. He trips over Minerva and finds the others at the edge of the cliff. Wab is on the ground, Rose is vomiting, and Miig leans over the edge. Frenchie angrily asks Miig where Lincoln went but when no one answers, he decides to find Lincoln himself. He stops when he sees one of RiRi's pink boots at the edge of the cliff.
Going over the cliff with Lincoln means that RiRi's death is entirely pointless—nobody, Indigenous or white, was able to make use of her skills or qualities to either create medicine or pass along cultural knowledge. This senseless death mirrors what happened to many children in residential schools that died needlessly of disease or poor treatment, showing again how the novel draws on past history to give more weight and heft to what happens in this fictional future.
Themes
Frenchie feels as though he's totally alone with the boot 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 killed RiRi. Travis tries to reason with Frenchie, but Frenchie angrily notices Travis looking panicked. Travis pleads as Frenchie points the rifle at him. Frenchie can barely hear Tree trying to reason with him and points the rifle first at Travis's face, then his chest. He pulls the trigger.
Killing Travis is the most drastic thing Frenchie does as he moves from child to adult, and he does it in service of RiRi. This shows that his role as a protector does have its limits—acting like this when he had the choice to react differently doesn't always pay off in the long run. This act is something that Frenchie will have to live with for the rest of his life.
Themes
