The Marrow Thieves: A Plague of Madness Summary & Analysis

Frenchie says that in a sense, he got the moose: he dreamed about following the moose on the shores of Lake Huron. Because the group hasn't seen a Recruiter in weeks, they travel more slowly and happily. Wab, however, seems anxious. After a few days, 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 due to the plague. Over time, some people changed. The doctor dedicated his life to helping people, which Miig suggests means the doctor got closer to his true nature.

Wab takes this to mean that 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, depending on what motivates them. Rose asks if their current situation is the same sort of thing: they run because of the Recruiters, and the Recruiters chase them because of the schools. Miig says that they and the Recruiters are both motivated by survival—people are killing themselves because of the dreamlessness, and Indigenous people are, to the Recruiters, the solution. Wab confirms that Miig thinks that they are, in a way, the same as the Recruiters, and then declares that she's right. Since the Recruiters are bad, they must be bad, too.

Miig asks Wab what she'd do to save them. Chi-Boy says he'd do anything, and Wab says she'd do everything. Rose takes Frenchie's hand. Miig says that for now they are on the run, but this might change. After a long silence, Wab says that she saw two men in the woods, one of which she recognized. She says the man wasn't honest and confirms that they were both Indians. Rose and Frenchie look excited, but Miig warns that not all Indians are true Indians.