Commitment To Family In 'The Marrow Thieves'

The Importance of Commitment to Family

Rahma Siddique

Commitment is what drives one to look ahead and continue on treacherous roads to realize that these paths are worth travelling on. The Marrow Thieves, a novel by Cherie Dimaline, illustrates the idea of commitment, bringing the past and future into the present setting of the story. The novel portrays the heartbreaking story of a young Indigenous boy nicknamed Frenchie who had lost his family due to them being taken away by the Recruiters. Since then, Frenchie had later been a new addition to a group that had also been on the run. This new group made up of people who have the same ambition of evading the capturers had become a family, and each one of them committed to it. The story not only

Despite the fact that the majority of his new family members were not blood relatives, he immediately acclimated to them and treated them as members of his own family. He demonstrated his dedication to his family during the time that Minerva, the group’s senior, was being held captive by the Recruiters. The only one to rise up and pursue them in order to save Minerva was Frenchie.“‘I said no. I’m not going north.’ The rest of my family looked at me with curiosity… But there was no more north in my heart… ‘I’m going after Minerva.’” By dedicating himself to saving Minerva from the Recruiters and referring to the group as his family, Frenchie displays his dedication to his family in this statement from the novel. In this declaration, he makes it clear that he is committed to safeguarding his family and that, in the event that any of them were in danger, he would make any sacrifices necessary to save them. In the narrative, Frenchie follows Minerva in an effort to save her. He was devoted to his family regardless of whether they were related by blood. For him to be loyal and trustworthy to his family members, he only needed love. He was committed to Minerva not only because he adored and embraced her as a part of his family, but also because she had made a significant contribution to the definition of

Because the group was always on the move and lacked the opportunity to thoroughly research their history and heritage, Frenchie had trouble relating to his customs. Frenchie claims in the book, “Nishin. Nishin. Nishin. I turned the word over in my throat like a stone; a prayer I couldn’t add breath to, a world I wasn’t willing to release. It made my lungs feel heavy, my heart grow light, until the juxtaposition of the two phased into sleep.” This passage from the book illustrates how he was unable to fully understand his culture because he didn’t realize he had the resources to do so until he learned that Minerva was a person who spoke the language and understood culture. After that, he made every effort to study as much as he could about his ancestry in order to identify himself and the significance of his braid. He was lost because he felt that he had no connection to his ancestry. This comment shows that he was annoyed by his ignorance of the phase because he knew it was a part of his culture, but he didn’t know what it meant. This remark makes it clear that it interferes with one’s own identity and battle to define oneself if they are unaware of their own traditions and customs. This demonstrated that people must be committed to their families in order to discover their own ancestry and culture, define their identity to