Oppression of First Nations People
The oppression visited upon the indigenous First Nations people is a constant force throughout the novel, dictating the lives and experiences of all major Cree characters. The wemistikoshiw consistently exploit, betray, doubt, mock, ridicule, and distrust Cree. Niska’s father is arrested by white men who don’t take time to understand Cree culture or the underlying reasons for his murder of the cannibalistic woman. Later, after her romance with the French hunter, Niska is viciously betrayed and mocked by him. Ultimately she chooses to reject the hateful wemistikoshiw town, retreating into the bush. When she has to meet Xavier at the train station, she is frightened and confused by the relentless rush of the wemistikoshiw culture. For Elijah and Xavier, most of the soldiers around them in the war exhibit repeated racism. Officials doubt their ability, or dehumanize them to nothing but rifles firing at Germans. They must work twice as hard as white soldiers to gain recognition and reach higher rank.
Storytelling and the Power of Words
Storytelling appears throughout the novel as an almost compulsive way for characters to share their experiences, release their emotions, and heal. Niska uses storytelling to anchor Xavier to reality, believing that even as he lies unconscious, her words have an impact on his unsteady condition. Stories were central to Niska’s childhood as well: her father’s storytelling ability enthralled her. As they passed through hard times in the bush, Niska notes on page 33 that “sometimes his stories were all that we had to keep us alive.” Throughout the war, Elijah tells Xavier stories—of his past, of his recent exploits on the battlefield—even when Xavier makes it clear that he doesn’t want to hear them. Much of the tension in Niska and Elijah’s three-day canoe journey centers around Xavier’s inability to reveal a story: the explanation of what happened to Elijah. The ultimate revelation of this story brings Niska and her nephew closer together, symbolizing the profound influence that storytelling has on Xavier, Elijah, and Niska. The power of words is also exhibited through the language barrier that, at least at the beginning of the war, separates Xavier from his fellow soldiers, and contributes to Graves’ death. The miscommunication created by Joseph Netmaker’s letter demonstrates the effects that language can have even beyond the speaker's intentions.
Jealousy
The theme of jealousy manifests itself in several different ways throughout the story. Xavier feels pangs of jealousy when he is overlooked in favor of Elijah—the more gregarious, likable, and talkative of the two friends. Xavier knows that he is a better marksman than his friend, and resents the fact that the officers and fellow soldiers award Elijah with praise and medals, while refusing to acknowledge Xavier’s own accomplishments. Additionally, it's implied that the white military officers doubt and mistrust Xavier and Elijah because they are jealous of the pair’s sniping ability. The French soldiers say that officers won’t verify the Ojibwe sniper Peggy’s kill count because of their jealous and racist refusal to acknowledge his superior skill; this makes Elijah decided to scalp his victims so that his battlefield murders cannot be denied. Peggy himself ultimately serves as an object of envy, since Elijah grows frustrated when he continually hears about snipers who are better than him—this jealousy pushes him even further into his determination to kill no matter the cost.
Survival
Survival is a central theme to both Niska and Xavier’s experiences. Growing up in the bush, Niska endured famine and watched members of the community turn to madness and cannibalism as the harsh conditions took their toll. The lessons in hunting and divining that Niska teaches Xavier in the bush are essential survival skills, geared at making sure Xavier can eke out a living from the unforgiving landscape. The theme of survival carries over from Canada to Europe, as Xavier and Elijah face repeated life-and-death situations on the battlefield. Xavier’s graphic descriptions of the dead bodies and bombed-out towns that he encounters are constant reminders of the difficulty of survival in such an unimaginably hostile arena. The death of almost every member of their original company also exemplifies the scale of the loss of human life that the war inevitably causes. Xavier reconciles the need to kill with his inherent disgust of war by seeing it as a question of survival: shot or be shot. In the end, Xavier’s final desperate act of violence against his best friend is also an act of survival. He and Niska understand that, in conditions of incredible adversity, one must “do what they have to do” in order to survive.
Nature
Themes of nature and natural landscape permeate the novel, both in the Canadian bush and the European battlefields. Xavier repeatedly shares detailed, almost obsessive observations of the war landscape—he notes each dugout and crater, since every twist and blip in the land could pose the difference between survival and injury or death. He also notes with sadness that the fields of Europe have been utterly destroyed by the apparatuses of war: the tanks and soldiers, trenches and bombs. Back in Canada, the landscape is important as well, since the Cree find their livelihood in the forest and the animals that inhabit their surroundings. Xavier and Elijah’s experience with the forest fire demonstrates the terrifying indifference and destructive capability of the natural landscape.
Visions
Visions are important to the novel as the harbingers of both love and battle, destruction and reunion. Elijah’s use of morphine causes him to have out-of-body experiences where he can envision the world around him as if he were floating above it. This phenomenon fuels his continued use of the drug, as he claims the ability to mentally soar above the battlefield gives him an advantage when the fighting begins. Niska has experienced visions since she was a child, bringing her glimpses of the future. As a child, the visions and the violent convulsions that accompanied them were terrifying to Niska. They also marked her as different from the other children her age; except for her sister, these children tended to avoid her. Niska catches glimpses of the war’s astounding intensity in her visions, helping her start to understand the ordeal that Xavier has gone through. Visions can also show a joyful future; Niska dreamed of Xavier before she met him, and the vision of raising Rabbit’s young child inspired her to rescue Xavier from the residential school.
Friendship
An important storyline in the novel follows Xavier and Elijah’s friendship—a caring, complicated, and ultimately destructive union. Like the plot of the book itself, their friendship is circular. Beginning with the establishment of their relationship as “great hunters and best friends,” the ending of their friendship—and Elijah’s life—is characterized by the same phrase. Xavier’s final act of murder cannot be disentangled from the care and love he feels toward his friend any more than it can be separated from his revulsion and desire to end a madness that has gone on for too long. Their relationship is marked by competitiveness, but also mutual respect and protection. Elijah translates for Xavier—both the English language and the often incomprehensible acts of the wemistikoshiw—while Xavier shows him the art of bush survival. At times one is dependent on the other; at times anger and barely contained tension saturate their interactions. The nuances of their complex friendship influence the actions that each man takes throughout the novel.
