Discovering One's Identity In The Marrow Thieves

Many characters have developed throughout The Marrow Thieves, but none have grown as much as Francis. The novel The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline is about coming of age and discovering one's Identity. The Marrow Thieves explores the topic of Coming of age and discovering one’s identity, by discussing Francis’ development throughout the novel. Francis is the protagonist and is a significant character in the novel. Judging by Francis’ actions and behaviour at the beginning of the novel, he is perceived as an Ignorant young man. Francis, ignorance really shows when he thinks to himself; “Frigging Miig, so bossy. RiRi and Slopper were right, who died and made this guy chief? Wanted all the info for himself first.” but later after discussing

Because Francis is so ignorant and close minded, he tends to overlook Miigwan’s true intentions and will later in the novel come to develop an understanding of the reasoning behind them. An example of Francis’s ignorance is when Francis wanted to tell the group about something he saw upon looking out from the top of a tree. Miigwan stopped after he learned of what he saw and thought to himself; “Frigging Miig, so bossy. RiRi and Slopper were right, who died and made this guy chief? Wanted all the info for himself first.” Francis only wanted to disclose what he discovered for selfish reasons. He didn’t truly understand what he found until Miigwan explained it was a school and didn’t want him informing the group as it may trigger the group to make rash decisions. This is only the beginning for Francis, as he is still young and still has to prove his worth within the

He had grown up without a father and lost part of his childhood revolving around having one. Francis believed he had lost his whole family to recruiters. Miigwan and his family found him and took him under their wing. He flourished among the group into becoming a respected man. He had difficulties as he found himself questioning his superior, Miigwan. Francis thought he knew better for a while. Luckily, Miigwan explained a decision he made after Francis was fuming about it. He listened to Miigwan’s explanation and what his true motives were. Francis learned from this and found himself not being so jealous of Miigwan and his position within the group. With this new-found respect and understanding, he changed how he viewed things going forward. He undoubtedly stepped up as a leader when he chose to save Minerva. He became a highly valuable leader who gained the trust and respect of the