Bad Cree

Content Warning This section includes depictions of anti-Indigenous racism and substance misuse.

Crows are one of the novel’s key symbols. They speak to the themes of Processing Grief and Loss to Overcome Isolation and The Affirming Power of Family and Community. They also help the author explore the unknowable, hard-to-parse nature of loss and the difficulty Mackenzie has in processing her grief. Initially, Mackenzie encounters crows in the recurring nightmares she has about her sister, Sabrina. She begins to see crows circling her as she walks to work and perched on the fence outside of her apartment. She interprets the crows, both in her dreams and in her daily life, as ominous messages. She is sure that they mean her harm and that their message is foreboding.

Because she initially interprets her nightmares as a manifestation of unresolved grief over the loss of her sister and her grandmother, the crows suggest haunting. They are the embodiment of her inability to move beyond her loss, but she comes to understand that the crows are protectors. They help her fight and kill the wheetigo, and she realizes that they began to gather around her during her dreams to keep her safe.