The Importance of Family and the Elders

    In The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline the importance of family plays a crucial role for the characters. This story takes place in a dystopian future and the world has been devastated by climate change resulting in people losing their ability to dream. Indigenous people are hunted for their bone marrow because it restores people's ability to dream. Due to the hunting, families are split up and children are being taken away from their mothers and fathers. The main character, Frenchie, frequently dreams of his brother, Mitch, who sacrificed himself to save Frenchie. Frenchie also lost his mother to the Recruiters and his father went with the council to try and stop the atrocities from continuing. Frenchie is then on the run with no family, until he finds his makeshift one. His makeshift family consists of Chi-Boy, Wab, Tree and Zheegwon, RiRi, Slopper, Miig, Rose, and the elder Minerva. This makeshift family provides support for one another in the absence of their own families. They are in a dangerous world and they provide emotional support, encouragement, and assistance when needed. Frenchie is also still connected to his culture, or what is left of it, while surrounded by this family and community. They share stories, songs, and traditions in hopes of keeping the culture alive and providing a sense of identity. One example of when they share ideas and knowledge is when Miig taught the boys how to hunt. Miig said, “[y]ou boys need to work on your hunting” (33), despite there being no animals to hunt. He still taught them because it is part of their culture. Their support for one another is unmatched, even though they aren't blood-related. 

The Elders are also a crucial part of the story because they are what protect the culture from fully declining. The elder specific to Frenchie's “family” is Minerva. Throughout most of the plot, she is silent except for when she teaches Rose words in her native language. When Minerva was taken by the recruiters she was able to burn the residential school down when they were harvesting her bone marrow. In the Chapter, The Miracle of Minerva, it is said that “Minerva hummed and drummed out an old song on her flannel thighs throughout it all. But when the wires were fastened to her own neutral connectors, and the probe reached into her heartbeat and instinct, that's when she opened her mouth. That's when she called on her blood memory, her teachings, and her ancestors. That's when she brought the whole thing down” (172). This part of the plot is why the Elders are so important. Minerva was clinging onto what was left of her culture, which was her language, and she was able to burn the school. It is clear that language and learning their culture is what is going to beat the residential schools and cause change. Overall, the Elders are respected by the younger characters because they offer advice and lessons. They are essential to the survival of the indigenous culture in the novel.