Examples of Allusions in The Marrow Thieves Essay Example

Marrow thieves have many connections with Native American culture. Whether it is through the use of elders in their community or through the actions of the group and even the names they give objects. They can all somehow connect with indigenous culture. 

This essay will display how The Marrow Thieves has connected itself to the rich culture inherited by Native Americans and other indigenous groups. Each example will show a different but vital part of the story from characters such as Minerva to the Residential schools and why the characters use that name and even that the group has been on the run and looking to relocate. Each of these examples may seem rather distant but are actually connected in a much larger way than I would have ever believed before reading this book.

One of the best displays of allusions of indigenous culture was through the use of the character Minerva. At first she seemed like a relatively normal old woman. Who then sacrifices herself to save the group. Little did we the readers know that she would somehow hold the key to defeating the recruiters and residential schools. When Minerva was captured we thought little of fit other than the loss to the group but as it turns out all of Minerva's dreams and thought are all in her native tongue and this is the secret to defeating the recruiters as seen in this quote, “that's when she called on her blood memory, her teachings, her ancestors. That’s when she brought the whole thing down”(Dimaline, Cherie. “The Miracle of Minerva.” Marrow Thieves). This quote shows that their culture and heritage is the secret to peace for her people. This is also when we the readers learn that the residential schools aren't using the bone marrow for dreams but instead using the brainwaves of their captives. And that is why Minerva using her native language was able to destroy the entire facility because the machine was not calibrated to translate into english. So in the end the acceptance of this culture with the natives is what will bring down these schools. And that is what Minerva represents, the past as well as tradition. when she called on her teaching and ancestors is the tradition within her going through the ancestors through their teachings.

The next two examples of allusions will focus on the darker past of modern Native American culture. The example I chose to use for this paragraph spans essentially the entire book. But indigenous people have been forced to move many times in their past and in The Marrow Thieves they are forced to leave their homes and resettle elsewhere. In The Marrow Thieves The group has to leave their home and go to Alaska where the government is not looking for them and can live more peacefully. This is seen in the book as their migration moving from place to place. To avoid being hunted down and used for their dreams. But the group needing to live in nature may also connect with the traditional connection with nature that indigenous people have. It's possible that this experience has brought the modern Native back to their traditions with Minerva telling the story of the Rougarou and using the sun to tell time as well as hunting in the traditional ways of their ancestors. 

In The Marrow Thieves There are many connections to real life history despite this book being fiction. One of these connections is in relation to the very real residential schools located in Canada. The “schools” were used to destroy indigenous culture. These schools were open from the 1870s through the 1990s. At these schools countless children died due to the brutal actions of the administrations, Such as physical abuse as well as emotional abuse. This was all done to essentially erase Native culture and replace it with Canadian culture and identity. These residential schools are mentioned in The Marrow Thieves but in this book the meaning behind the word has changed rather than these schools being boarding schools with kids and classes where many were abused. They have become places where all indigenous people are taken regardless of any other factor and their brain waves are used for dreams and their bone marrow is extracted as well to death. The connection between these schools and the ones of Canada's past are not only in name but when They mention the Cardinal and Headmistress in this quote, “It was time for the Headmistress to take over and the Cardinals to Perform the procedure.”(Dimaline, Cherie. “The Miracle of Minerva.” Marrow Thieves). This is one of the biggest connections between the Residential schools in The Marrow Thieves and the schools in real life. With there being a catholic official much like the historical schools did and a headmistress begin the name of a female head of school this is a large connection with the historical significance as well.

The connection between marrow thieves and actual indigenous culture and history may have been difficult to spot but there are many examples. From Minerva bringing back her old traditions and calling upon her ancestors. The darker past of the treatment of Indegeonus people involved the forced movement of their people due to dangers and even the residential schools which remained open until the late 1990s. This book has many more hidden connection with historical and cultural significance and even some that one could miss as a passing reference with the world they are living in and one that they used to live in with the book The Plague and Songs by the band Pearl Jam mentioned indirectly to reflect on the society the indigenous characters of The Marrow Thieves live in or the world they had to live through.