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The Miracle of Minerva
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Marrow Thieves, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Cyclical Histories, Language, and Indigenous Oppression
Family and Coming of Age
Humans and Nature
Trauma, Identity, and Pride
Summary
Analysis
Frenchie helps Dad to his living space. He lives in a corner of the cave, so two walls are stone and the other two are blankets. Frenchie looks around while Dad changes for bed. He finds Mom's health card and studies her photo. Dad comes out from behind his sheet and invites Frenchie to stay the night. Frenchie declines and tells Dad that Mitch sacrificed himself so he could get away. He says that Mom couldn't handle being alone. Dad hangs his head and agrees that they can talk about Mom and Mitch later.
Dad's unwillingness to talk about Mom and Mitch right now reminds Frenchie that Dad is grieving just as much as he is for the family members they've lost; he's not unfeeling just because he's an adult and chose to leave. Though their journeys have been different in the last six years, they also both share this trauma and, if they choose to, can use this shared experience to get closer to each other.
Themes
Outside, Frenchie's family is around the fire. Slopper is already asleep. Tree and Zheegwon seem surprised and relieved that Frenchie chose to sleep with them, not with Dad, and Frenchie asks Miig if they need to figure things out. Miig agrees that they need a plan, but he's sold on going to get Minerva; Frenchie's instincts are good, and finding his dad is a good sign. Frenchie is somewhat surprised and feels like Miig seems tired and faded. Frenchie presses and asks if they need to discuss that Minerva found the key to beating the residential schools, but Miig insists that Minerva had the key all along—they just needed to listen better. Miig says that they can make a plan with the Council tomorrow and excuses himself to bed. Tree and Zheegwon follow.
Miig's ability to quietly chastise all of them for not taking Minerva seriously and making more of an effort to make sense of the things she said shows that he believes they have a responsibility to take what they learned and do better going forward with other Elders. Miig essentially suggests that they've been dehumanizing Minerva to a degree and because of this, they weren't able to appreciate her full potential, just as the residential schools' dehumanizing treatment of Indigenous people blinds them to the ways that the Indigenous population is equipped to help the earth.
Themes
Frenchie notices that the twins seem more content, and Wab seems to be feeling the same thing. He turns to his tent when Rose asks Frenchie to come to hers for a moment. Rose asks if Frenchie is okay, remarks on how crazy it is that Frenchie found Dad, and says that Miig seems worried about Frenchie, not finding Minerva. She points out that Frenchie has changed and drops her gaze when she says that people change when they find family.
Being around other Indigenous people allows Wab and the twins to feel more at ease than they did out on the run. Here, they can be themselves and admit who they are. This shows that, while there may be safety in being a small group, numbers give people a better opportunity to exchange ideas and celebrate their shared identity.
Themes
Frenchie wants to kiss her and tell her that he'll never leave, but he thinks of his memories of Mom, Dad, and Mitch. In those memories, Frenchie feels like there was always an understanding that his only job was to be himself. Now, he thinks that his job is to hunt and protect his new family, but he's failed at doing that and so is failing at being himself. He wonders if the only way to stay sane is to stay with Dad. Rose scoots in front of Frenchie and he still feels like all he wants to do is kiss her. They kiss, lie down together, and fall asleep.
Frenchie's sense that he failed at being himself shows that, while it may seem like he has everything now, he still feels extremely lost and unmoored. This sets up Frenchie to figure out how he can do things that make him proud of himself, as well as come to a definition and understanding of who and what his family is that makes him feel supported and safe, like he did as a kid.
Themes
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They wake up in the middle of the night, listening to Miig singing and shaking a rattle. His voice moans and sounds pained. Frenchie leaves the tent and watches Miig sitting with a candle and a smudge, singing. When he finishes, he invites Frenchie to him. He asks Frenchie why he's up, and Frenchie nonchalantly says that he hasn't been in his tent yet. He blushes, and Miig kindly says that babies are important for the future and need to be born to families that want them. Frenchie squirms and then asks Miig if he's okay, since he's been strange since they arrived. Miig jokes, sighs, and says he's just tired of missing Isaac. Frenchie thinks of Miig pouring vials into the ground and says that after they get Minerva, they'll shut down the schools. Miig tells Frenchie that he knows he'll do that.
The change in pronouns when Miig and Frenchie talk about shutting down the schools is significant—Frenchie says that they will do it, while Miig shows that he's beginning to give up by taking himself out of the equation. This begins to show one of the consequences of living with such grief: Miig no longer has the drive to try and take down the schools and save people from the fate that Isaac experienced. Miig's comment about babies reminds the reader that, if these characters wish to survive, they need young people to learn the language and customs in order to keep the culture alive.
Themes
