Comparing Language And Stories In The Marrow Thieves By Cherie Dimal

As it has been previously stated, the survival of language and stories plays a huge role in the survival of the cultures, not only because they are examples of their ways, but also because they are the main tool to spread their knowledge. In The Marrow Thieves, oral stories play a huge role in relation to the novel and its structure, since almost every relevant piece of information that Frenchie needs to learn or find out is told through a story. The concept of stories plays an important role through the character of Miig, who is the one who tells them to the teens to learn their history. According to Frenchie, talking with Miig involved: “Too many metaphors and stories wrapped in stories. It could be exhausting, talking to Miig” (Dimaline

Miig’s way of sharing the information that the group needs is through a “Story” each night, often by the campfire. The “Story” is a tale about the history and backstory of the indigenous people. Miig tells “Story” because he feels that he has the job of keeping the group protected. In keeping the group protected, Miig needs to teach the group the events of their people in the past, in hopes that the group understands and uses that information to understand the reasons for the events in the present. In “The Marrow Thieves” by Cherie Dimaline on page 25, the main character Frenchie, tells us his explanation for “Story” and why Miig shares it with everyone. “We needed to remember Story. It was his job to set the memory in perpetuity. He spoke to us every week. Sometimes Story was focused on one area, like the first residential schools: where they were, what happened there, when they closed. Other times he told a hundred years in one long narrative, blunt and without detail. Sometimes we gathered for an hour so he could explain treaties, and others it was ten minutes to list the earthquakes in the sequence that they occurred, peeling the edging off the continents back like diseased gums. But every week we spoke, because it was imperative that we know. He said it was the only way to make the kinds of changes that were necessary to really survive”, this paragraph in the first “Story” we read in “Story: Part One” (pages 23-31), is Frenchies description of the meaning behind “Story”. Frenchie talks about how important it is for the group to understand and comprehend the things that are said in the story, and that Miig feels that its job is to force that information into the minds of the “family” for everyone to understand why things are the way they are. Everything happens for a reason, and to share useful information to understand why, you need to look into past events. This is why in classrooms teachers teach the events of