Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Analysis

The Marrow Thieves introduces the reader to a horrific post-apocalyptic world in which the majority of the population has lost the ability to dream—everyone, that is, except Indigenous populations, which are being targeted, kidnapped, and taken to residential schools where their bone marrow (which holds the ability to dream) is harvested. The novel follows Frenchie, a sixteen-year-old Métis boy, as he travels north with other Indigenous children, as well as middle-aged Miig and elderly Minerva. While the novel is a work of speculative fiction, the dystopian future that Dimaline presents isn't complete fantasy. She draws heavily on the history of Canadian residential schools, which operated in Canada in various forms for centuries, and goes to great lengths to show how this history would be shockingly easy to recreate under certain circumstances. With this, Dimaline pays particular attention to the specific ways in which white Canadians have historically targeted Indigenous people, and how, even decades after the official end of the residential schools, those same methods can prove to be just as effective and dangerous. In the face of this bleak reality, The Marrow Thieves becomes Dimaline's call to action for all Canadians, encouraging them to support Indigenous populations in keeping their culture alive by sharing their stories and native languages.

The very fact that the facilities where the government harvests Indigenous bone marrow are called "residential schools" in the novel's present makes it clear that the reality presented in the novel (which takes place sometime after 2050) is simply the current iteration of a dark and complex history of oppression, rather than a radically new idea. Canada's residential schools came into their power in 1876 with the specific goal of separating Indigenous children from their families and their cultures, and in doing so, "civilizing" children and assimilating them into mainstream Canadian culture. Students were banned from speaking their languages and practicing their spiritual beliefs to the point that many students forgot their native languages. This meant that when students did manage to visit their families, they couldn't communicate with them—and by severing this connection between the young and old, colonial powers were able to divorce children from their history and replace it with a story in which children were "saved" and were the recipients of huge favors from the Canadian government. This state of affairs is, importantly, not all that different from the way that the residential schools in the novel operate: Indigenous people who end up in the schools overwhelmingly don't come back out again, and when those people die, their language dies with them. The history of these schools is also something that the characters in The Marrow Thieves haven't forgotten: there are still Elders among them who were victims of the historical residential schools.

Through his actions, Miig suggests that one of the few avenues available to on-the-run Indigenous people to stand up to the government and to these false narratives is through storytelling and language. In particular, Miig advocates for the regular recitation of "Story," or the tale of how the world got to the place it is in the novel's present. As with the historical account of the residential schools, Story tells of how the government abused Indigenous people (adults and children alike) and treated them as disposable and a nuisance—that is, until it turned out that their bone marrow was a valuable natural resource. By regularly reciting Story for Frenchie and the other older children in the group, Miig does one of the few things he can to ensure that his adoptive children don't fall prey to whatever narrative the government is currently spinning about the atrocities taking place.

At the same time, the Elder Minerva regularly bestows "gifts," in the form of words in the Cree language, upon the children in the group. Like Miig’s storytelling, Minerva uses language to help the children connect with their more distant past and in doing so, with their cultural history—in a way that specifically counteracts the aims of the original residential schools and therefore, gives the Indigenous communities a way to begin to heal from some of these abuses. Throughout the novel, Dimaline suggests that Indigenous language is one of the most effective ways to maintain ties with one's culture and to counteract the residential schools. At one point in the novel, Miig and his group hear that when Recruiters captured Minerva and tried to harvest her bone marrow, she broke the extraction machines and the school burned down—all because she began singing traditional songs in the native language. With this, the novel makes the case that one of the most effective ways to stand up to and counteract the oppression of Indigenous people is by keeping Indigenous language and stories alive by passing them on to future generations. Doing so ensures that the history of Indigenous oppression isn't forgotten, minimized, or rationalized.