Hope and Culture

            My favorite aspect of Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves is the theme of hope that persists within Indigenous people despite their persecution and climate change’s destruction of the world. While much of the novel focuses on survival and the dark aspects of humanity, hope is an underlying source of motivation that drives Natives. After his brother sacrifices himself so he can keep going, Frenchie is all alone and lost until he is saved by Miig and his group. Frenchie is originally motivated to survive so that Mitch’s sacrifice would not have been in vain but as he grows closer with his new companions, he becomes motivated to ensure their safety. Frenchie’s group ultimately becomes his family, and he displays his willingness to sacrifice himself for them when he touches an electric fence to see if it is active. Frenchie’s family bonds over their shared traumatic experiences and they move north in hope of being able to escape recruiters, find less damaged lands, and be united with more Natives. Frenchie’s family searches for more Natives in the hope of being able to expose the younger members of the group to more of their culture and preserve their heritage. Miig explains why community is so valuable, “even after our way of life was being commoditized, after our lands were filled with water companies and wealthy corporate investors, we were still hopeful. Because we had each other” (89). As an elder, Miig shares stories about the troubled history of Natives and explains how they got through their past, including the original residential schools, by staying together and that they can only face their present challenges together.

            Unity and hope are two of the greatest strengths of Indigenous people and they use these strengths to continue their way of life. When the group’s oldest elder Minerva is captured, they lose their best source of knowledge about Native culture and its language. The first Cree word that Frenchie learns from Minerva is “Nishin” which translates to good and is symbolic in that by persevering language and culture things will ultimately be good and work out, which is a very hopeful view. As a result of Minerva’s capture, Frenchie makes the decision for the group to stop moving north and to rescue Minerva. Shortly after this decision Miig receives a good omen when he finds syllabics, which is the written form of the Cree language. Discovering the syllabics is symbolic of a revival of cultural for the group and they soon are met by the resistance, which is an entire community of Natives. Minerva’s rescue attempt is ultimately unsuccessful, but the Natives soon find a new expert on Cree language when Miig is reunited with his long lost husband Isaac. The Natives teach their language to the youth to preserve their culture and hope for a better future.