46 pages • 1 hour read
Cherie DimalineThe Marrow Thieves
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 25-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary: “Kiiwen”
Frenchie’s group and the Council’s group go on the run again. They bury Minerva, at which point Rose “took scissors to her curls” (212). Frenchie then “cut my own braid off to send with Minerva” (212). The group makes a new camp; Chi-Boy and Wab move in together, and not long after, “it became apparent to all of us that Wab was expecting a baby” (213). Everyone sets about the task of trying to recreate as much of their languages as possible, and sharing with the younger generations to preserve as much culture as quickly as possible.
Rose leaves to go back to the woods. Frenchie avoids her, not wanting to deal with saying goodbye, and assuring himself that he does not want to go on the run again. Frenchie still has Miig’s pouch, which he opens to find a vial inside—the one that Miig must have identified as Isaac’s. After finding his way to Jean’s new living quarters, Frenchie tells him, “I have to go” (217). Frenchie collects his things and starts “running towards an idea of home that I wasn’t willing to lose, not even if it meant running away from the family I had already found” (217).
Frenchie finds Rose quickly; she did not go far because she believed he would come after her. Discovering there are strangers nearby, Frenchie and Rose decide to stay with the camp a day longer to take part in greeting the strangers.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Locks Mean Nothing to Ghosts”
Frenchie goes with the welcoming party, where everyone is hoping to find an Elder to help replace Minerva. One of the Council members tells Frenchie, “This is your first welcoming party […] We come in full aggression” (222). As Frenchie’s team scouts the new group, they are set on edge upon discovering that two members of the group are pale and none look particularly old.
Frenchie’s group charges the strangers, and one of Frenchie’s group members accidentally speaks Cree without thinking. One of the pale men responds in Cree. Each group asks the other if they’re from the schools. One of the Guyanese women in the group of strangers replies, “God, no […] We’re helping to keep people from the damn schools” (225). Derrick’s uncle pulls Frenchie and the group aside, explaining that the pale man who spoke Cree is actually Cree, and that he is “way more fluent than me or anyone else I’ve met” (227). Rose postulates that Minerva’s power didn’t necessarily come from her age, but the age of the language she spoke, and that maybe this new Cree could take her place as the “key.” Frenchie asks the man what language he dreams in, to which the man replies, “I dream in Cree” (228).
Frenchie sees a buffalo tattoo on the back of the Cree’s hand and realizes that this is Isaac, Miig’s long-lost husband. Racing back to camp, Frenchie calls for Miig. Isaac runs behind Frenchie, and Isaac and Miig reunite. In witnessing this reunion, Frenchie finally understands that the greatest power the Indigenous community has is each other.
Chapters 25-26 Analysis
Dimaline emphasizes in this section the idea that home means family, and that community is stronger than anything. Frenchie chooses Rose over his father, Jean, because Rose is Frenchie’s potential future family—and by extension the future of their culture—whereas Jean is part of Frenchie’s past. Frenchie’s adopted family has been absorbed into the camp: Tree and Zheegwon help with welcoming parties, Slopper oversees cultural engagement for the younger generation, Chi-Boy and Wab are expecting, and with the arrival of Isaac, Miig has also found his family again.
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By Cherie Dimaline
