Hunting by Stars

The dystopian world of Hunting by Stars is riddled with violence, with the rights of Indigenous peoples taken away and their bodies treated as commodities. Throughout the novel, Dimaline uses recurring images of confinement, torture, and graphic violence to underscore the darkness of the world that surrounds her characters. At the same time, a powerful current of hope runs through the plot, with love and solidarity driving the characters to move forward despite their hardships rather than submitting to their circumstances. The tension between the bleak reality of their world and the hope that propels them forward breathes life into the narrative and emerges as its central theme. Dimaline illustrates this tension through the literary devices of contrast and juxtaposition, for images of hope and resilience are often contextualized with unspeakable circumstances, such as when Wab must give birth to Ishkode while chained in a modified dog crate. Wab is forced to labor in painful conditions, with no access to comfort and medical care. At the same time, her entire family supports her during the birth, breathing with her as one body. When Ishkode is born, French notes, “Even now, our family was growing” (347).