De Castro, David2025-09-222025-09-222025-03-04https://hdl.handle.net/10315/43148This essay won the Department of English’s 1000-level Essay Prize in 2025. The Department of English awards prizes for the best essay written in courses at each of the four year levels. Faculty members may nominate students for this award."The aim of this essay is to compare Patti LaBoucane-Benson's The Outside Circle (2015) and Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves (2017) in the context of Indigenous resilience to showcase how the rediscovery of an interconnected Indigenous identity and the revival of spiritual traditions can become active modes of resistance and transformation. By observing the recurring symbolism of a web and the repetition of smudging that occur within both novels, I examine how the practice of traditional Indigenous ways of knowing and being can become a powerful means of hope for Indigenous peoples to heal integrational wounds and resist colonial erasure."enThe Marrow ThievesThe Outside CircleIndigenousResilienceTraditionsOther