The Marrow Thieves

by

Cherie Dimaline

The Marrow Thieves: Word Arrives in Black Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Frenchie wakes up early the next morning, grabs the rifle, and creeps out. He checks Rose's tent—she's alone—and starts to walk. Clarence, Miig, General, and some other men flag Frenchie and invite him to hunt. They spend the day out in the wilderness. Clarence tells Frenchie that as they get closer to the coasts, there's more water. The middle of the continent is poisoned. Clarence says that once it's safe to return to their homelands, they can start to heal. Frenchie, confused, asks how they can go home when home is gone. Clarence patiently explains that they can use their knowledge to heal the land.
Clarence's patient explanation to Frenchie confirms the novel's assertion that the Indigenous characters are the ones with the ability to fix the issues plaguing the planet, and that the information is contained and passed down through Indigenous languages and customs. This, again, situates language as the thing that will keep Indigenous people and the world at large alive.
Themes
Humans and Nature Theme Icon
Quotes
Frenchie hears a high whistle and General pulls Frenchie to the ground. Frenchie feels panicky, but General explains that scouts got an animal. Frenchie's group joins the scouts and their buck, and the hunting party returns to camp around mid-afternoon. Frenchie feels smug and then giddy when Derrick jogs up to them and complains that Clarence didn't wake him up. Clarence says that Derrick needs to get himself up like Frenchie did. Rose runs over, touches Frenchie, and compliments the buck. Frenchie feels inexplicably angry, remembers her dancing with Derrick, and rudely tells her to go watch Derrick wrestle.
In the case of speaking to Rose, Frenchie starts to do here what Derrick did to him the night before and alienate Rose from her family and her friends. This means that Rose won't feel comfortable calling on Frenchie for help, and she certainly won't be sharing any more of the language that she's picked up with him. This conflict, in other words, keeps both of them from being able to take pride in who they are and help the other do the same.
Themes
Family and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Trauma, Identity, and Pride Theme Icon
Rose looks hurt, which makes Frenchie feel flustered. She asks what he's playing at and calls him Francis, but Frenchie asks her to call him French—Francis is what people he respects can call him. He feels horrible immediately, and Rose leads him away from the group. They argue, Rose accuses Frenchie of having changed and of being a jerk, and Rose says that she'll leave after they get Minerva. Frenchie insults Derrick again and says that he won't chase after Rose. Rose starts to cry and Frenchie feels ashamed. He meanders to Dad's room and flops facedown onto Dad's bed.
Rose's decision to leave shows the consequences of Frenchie's behavior: his family starts to break up, and specifically, the person he loves is ready to up and leave. Though it takes Frenchie a while, this shows him that he needs to treat people kindly and with compassion, regardless off his emotions, if he wants himself and others to feel safe and secure.
Themes
Family and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Dad returns to his room about an hour later and when he's sure Frenchie is awake, he starts to tell Frenchie how he ended up in the city. He says he ran away when he was thirteen. He stopped at an old church first. The church was supposedly a "medicine house," but it didn't look right. Dad says he wanted to find something real, and that's why he went. He didn't care about God, but he knew that his family wouldn't look for him there. He says that he suffered from rages that he barely remembered. He closed his eyes to pray for an answer, and he heard crickets and birds. He got on the highway and went to the city, where he found Mom.
The church, a Western addition to Dad's small town, again shows how Indigenous culture has merged with settler culture at times. In this case, Dad was able to get what he wanted from the church, even if it wasn't what the church intended for him to get. That this experience led to him finding his future wife shows Frenchie that, if he asks for help and listens to the natural world, he, too, might be able to find love and patch things up with Rose.
Themes
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Icon
Family and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Humans and Nature Theme Icon
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Dad and Frenchie hear someone shouting for Dad and they make their way out of the cave. A priest shouts that they'll move Minerva tomorrow, and Miig, Frenchie, and Chi-Boy look at the priest with terror. They adopt defensive positions, but Dad yells that this is Father Carole, their spy. Carole says that they're taking Minerva to the airstrip to take her to the capital. Carole tells Frenchie that the Recruiters have to pass nearby to get there.
For those who have been in the residential schools (which were historically run by religious groups), the sight of a priest isn't a good one—it suggests that danger is on the way. Father Carole is, in other words, a symbol for the schools themselves, even as he actively works against the schools.
Themes
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression Theme Icon