#1 - Short Reflection on Why I Chose This Novel

("The Marrow Thieves")

The Marrow Thieves is a science fiction novel written by Cherie Dimaline in 2017. It is a captivating book that I loved the first time I read it, and I have gained an even greater appreciation for it the second time through. It’s a book that should be part of the English curriculum as there is a lack of Indigenous education in our mandatory courses. When Indigenous courses are taught, they are often taught with a focus on a timeline of historical events, forcing the memorization of names and dates. This novel, by contrast, is fictional and set in 2050, but it immerses the reader in the frightening experience of being Indigenous and surviving residential schools without including the extraneous details of which dead politician was worst. It focuses on the experiences, emotional effects, and generational trauma of a group of people who have found each other in their quest to escape the "Recruiters" from the Department of Oneirology of the Government of Canada. The events of the book mirror the real events of history, but through the sights and sounds of their traumatic ordeals as the group fights for survival in the woods of Northern Ontario. Many teenagers may not know about or really care about residential schools that closed long before they were born, but the generational trauma suffered from the children of survivors is still very much present, and this is what is most important to understand right now. It’s far more relevant than the specific names of a list of the French and British colonists who started this mess. 

Beyond the connection to historic events, the story offers an additional element. Instead of coming for the land and destroying the Indigenous who are in the way of the natural resources, the Recruiters are coming for their bone marrow. In the future, the non-Indigenous lost the ability to dream, which started to drive people insane. When they found out that the Indigenous ability to dream could be mined from their bone marrow, some Indigenous stepped forward, voluntarily, to donate their marrow. Of course it wasn't enough to satisfy the non-Indigenous, and the kidnappings began. And the escapes. 

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Works Cited:

Dimaline, Cherie. The Marrow Thieves. Manitoba: Cormorant Books Inc., 2018.

Image Cited:

"The Marrow Thieves" Amazon.ca: Books. May 10, 2017. https://www.amazon.ca/Marrow-Thieves-Cherie-Dimaline/dp/1770864865.