The Importance of Sacrifice
Cherie Dimaline's novel The Marrow Thieves exemplifies sacrifice and how the characters put others ahead of themselves. The Marrow Thieves is a survival story about a group of Indigenous people who are being hunted by the Canadian government for their bone marrow. Their bone marrow is useful because it grants people the ability to dream. Throughout the story, sacrifices were made amongst the group. Frenchie makes a sacrifice by testing a potentially electrified fence. Minerva puts herself in danger by sleeping away from the group in order to keep a lookout. Mitch sacrifices himself so that Frenchie can escape the recruiters. The theme of sacrifice is important to Cherie Dimaline's novel The Marrow Thieves.
Frenchie exemplifies sacrifice by putting his life at risk for the benefit of the group. When the group was at the Four Winds, they noticed that the resorts were fenced off to prevent anyone from residing there. Frenchie states, “Before Miig could start his run, before I could lose my nerve, I reached out and took two chain links in my fingers.”
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As the group was looking for shelter, they found an old barn to rest in for the night. Everyone slept atop the ladder on the hay nest except Minerva. Frenchie states, “She nodded again and walked to the center of the open barn, pointing at the floor directly in the middle.” (149). In this quote, Minerva shows that she prefers to keep watch than sleep on the nest of hay with the others. Minerva put herself at risk by stooping to the ground and taking a nap there. Her actions demonstrate sacrifice. Minerva's sacrifice is an important decision in The Marrow Thieves because it demonstrates how much Minerva cares about the others.Mitch sacrifices himself and gets apprehended by the recruiters in order for Frenchie to survive. The recruiters heard movement but were unaware that there were two people present.