Why does Frenchie keep his hair long and wear it in braids?

Frenchie's hair is a way of preserving Indigenous culture. French and the other youths he travels with long to connect with the cultural identity that most of them have lost. One way this is expressed is through braiding their hair as their ancestors did. Braiding thus becomes a powerful symbol of the effort to preserve their lineage, as Frenchie says that he braids his hair to “remind myself of things I couldn’t quite remember, but that, nevertheless, I knew to be true.”