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Identity In The Marrow Thieves By Cherie Dimalina

648 Words3 Pages

Award winning novel, The Marrow Thieves written by Métis Canadian writer Cherie Dimaline, is set in post apocalyptic Canada where people have lost the ability to dream, where individuals have lost their capacity for dreaming, leading to a pandemic of insanity. The only population who still has this ability are the North American indigenous communities, where the dreams are hidden in the marrow of their bones. Native Americans are being hunted and exploited for their bone marrow, which holds the solution to regaining something that humanity as a whole has lost: the capability to dream.

The Marrow Thieves explores a variety of interesting topics pertaining to the significance of identity, including the value of language, the preservation of …show more content…

My chest tightened. How could she have the language? She was the same age as me, and I deserved it more. I don't know why, but I felt certain way that I did. I yanked my braid out the back of my shirt and let it fall over my shoulder. Some kind of proof I suppose.” (Dimaline 38)

The lead character, Frenchie, is resentful that another individual his age in the community is learning the language before him. expressing a desire to prove his identity, he also pulls his braid out, indicating that he is more indigenous than she is.

Secondly, the characters in the novel rely on an oral historical method of education known as "Story," which is provided by the group leader, Miigwans. The objective of Story is to remind indigenous youth to grow by being given specific information in crucial periods in time of North American Indigenous history, and having the duty of passing on those stories to others when they reach adulthood. Cherie Dimaline employs oral history to relate the storyline to real-life events.
“ We suffered there. We almost lost our languages. Many lost their innocence, their laughter, their lives. But we got through it, and the schools were shut down” (Dimaline

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