The Presence of Climate Change in The Marrow Thieves

Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves presents a world where resource extractive capitalism, destructive settlement and climate change have been taken to an extreme. The novel touches on the historical significance of the residential schools in a dystopian society where only the indigenous population have marrow which allows them to dream. Settlers have lost the ability to dream due to their poor treatment of nature and the environment. In said dystopia, this marrow is highly sought after and others are willing to kill in order to steal it. The text begins with the world in disarray, natural disasters arise, sickness has become rampant and humanity is caught in lingering sadness after the discovery that settlers can no longer dream (Dimaline 29). The audience follows the protagonist, Frenchie, and his newly formed adopted family through their journey of escaping the "Recruiters" or non-dreamers. Throughout their journey they face multiple challenges in the terrain that used to be present North America, but is now destroyed by climate change.

The dystopian terrain has been destroyed, rising seas that have ruined the coast, "most of the rivers [have been] cut into pieces and lakes [have been] left as grey sludge puckers on the landscape" (Demaline 41). Wars arise in surrounding nations over the depletion of said water, the north has begun to melt and pollution has poisoned the Earth. Due to said pollution, food is scarce and finding something as simple as a bag of Doritos for Frenchie and his brother, Mitch, was similar to finding a surprising gift (Demaline 12). Frenchie is able to look back on his life and look to a world where climate change was not as extreme as it currently is and believes, "[his] own history seemed like a myth" (Demaline 41). The population that have survived the lack of water, food scarcity and natural disasters are left in disarray and depicts how climate change can destroy our world if we continue down this path.

Through an extreme display of climate Demaline is able to present an underlying theme of the pressing issue of climate change throughout her novel. By foreshadowing natural disasters, plagues, violence and lack of resources, The Marrow Thieves illustrates how climates change will impact the world in the near future.