Resilience In 'The Marrow Thieves'

Resilience: The ability to overcome and recover from challenges presented. Usually when people come across troublesome situations, they tend to take the easier route. However, this isn’t always the case, since there are many others who refuse to back down and move forward. The Marrow Thieves displays this topic excellently, as it discusses the difficulties Indigenous people face. In The Marrow Thieves, the theme that in order to embrace one’s culture and heritage people should resist oppression is created through the use of diction and symbolism. In The Marrow Thieves, diction is used to illustrate the resilience of characters, even when they are faced with violent oppression. For instance, when Minerva was taken away by the recruiters and sent to a residential school so they could ‘sample’ her dream

This example connects great with the theme since it shows Minerva’s plan of resistance to preserve her culture from the recruiters. Additionally, Miigwan would often tell stories about the Anishnaabe people and their troubles “we sang our songs and brought them to the streets and into the classrooms.we honored the pain and left it on the side of the road, we moved ahead” (Dimaline 24). Miigwan knows the power knowledge holds, so he spreads it to others, knowing that with enough people that know about their culture, they can resist the recruiters and preserve their traditions. Symbolism is displayed in the story to emphasize the significance of cultural symbols, like jingles and dreams, which can be used to embrace culture and resistance. For example, Minerva had been making jingles from items she would come across before she was taken away by the recruiters and “it was Rose who found the jingles.women’s dresses, being danced into grand entries at the old powwows when we were safe to make noise” (Dimaline