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The Surrounded
As The Surrounded opens, Archilde León has just returned from the big city to his father's ranch on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. The story that unfolds captures the intense and varied conflict that already characterized reservation life in 1936, when this remarkable novel was first published.
Educated at a federal Indian boarding school, Archilde is torn not only between white and Indian cultures but also between love for his Spanish father and his Indian mother, who in her old age is rejecting white culture and religion to return to the ways of her people. Archilde's young contemporaries, meanwhile, are succumbing to the destructive influence of reservation life, growing increasingly uprooted, dissolute, and hopeless. Although Archilde plans to leave the reservation after a brief visit, his entanglements delay his departure until he faces destruction by the white man's law.
In an early review of The Surrounded, Oliver La Farge praised it as "simple, clear, direct, devoid of affectations, and fast-moving." He included it in his "small list of creditable modern novels using the first Americans as theme." Several decades later, long out of print but not forgotten, The Surrounded is still considered one of the best works of fiction by or about Native Americans.
Educated at a federal Indian boarding school, Archilde is torn not only between white and Indian cultures but also between love for his Spanish father and his Indian mother, who in her old age is rejecting white culture and religion to return to the ways of her people. Archilde's young contemporaries, meanwhile, are succumbing to the destructive influence of reservation life, growing increasingly uprooted, dissolute, and hopeless. Although Archilde plans to leave the reservation after a brief visit, his entanglements delay his departure until he faces destruction by the white man's law.
In an early review of The Surrounded, Oliver La Farge praised it as "simple, clear, direct, devoid of affectations, and fast-moving." He included it in his "small list of creditable modern novels using the first Americans as theme." Several decades later, long out of print but not forgotten, The Surrounded is still considered one of the best works of fiction by or about Native Americans.
315 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
November 13, 2022
4.5
v depressing
v depressing
July 1, 2022
Slow-paced and repeatedly heartbreaking. Following every glimmer of hope, we are reminded of the bleak reality of being Indigenous in Montana territory in the 1930s.
This story is well written, and will make your heart ache.
Content Warnings: Settler colonialism, racism, child abuse, violence, death, loss of a loved one, murder.
This story is well written, and will make your heart ache.
Content Warnings: Settler colonialism, racism, child abuse, violence, death, loss of a loved one, murder.
July 9, 2011
Note: What follows is an extensive analysis of The Surrounded, and a portion of an essay I wrote for my college class on multicultural lit. I got an A on this paper, but can not be responsible for your grade if you plagiarize! ;)
Written in 1936 this novel tells the story of Archilde, a young Native American man caught in the clash of cultures typical of early reservation life. Although I read it in a college literature course, the reading level and content are appropriate for any high school language arts class.
Quick impression: Recommended read, 7 out of 10.
In D’Arcy McNickle’s novel The Surrounded the protagonist Archilde Leon is a conflicted character. Through a series of events – some predictable in their consequences, and some a result of unforeseen circumstances – Archilde finds himself in a terrible place by novel’s end.
His problems throughout the story stem largely from his reactions to the real and perceived expectations of his family and friends, cultural norms, and the authority figures he interacts with and how Archilde attempts to deny or fulfill them. What I think we’ll discover as we examine a few of these expectations is that our protagonist, like the reader of McNickle’s insightful novel, is at times both hero and victim; he both rises above his circumstances as well as succumbs to them.
Archilde Leon is the son of a Spanish rancher and an American Indian mother who reside on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. This sets the stage for plenty of family conflict since the father, Max Leon, is a hard man and impatient with his Indian wife and children whom he perceives to be lazy and ungrateful. So from his birth Archilde is a product of a conflicted heritage.
Set (and written) in the 1930s, the location and era also evokes a time of prejudice and paternalism against Native Americans by the ruling ‘white man,’ represented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs which oversees reservation life. Archilde is a product of this conflict of cultures as well. After his education at a federal Indian boarding school, he leaves the reservation and his family, presumably to find himself and develop his own identity.
The story opens as Archilde returns from Portland, Oregon, where he made a passable living playing his fiddle in a show house. While he admits some success out there in the real world, something is evidently missing in his soul and he returns home to get a taste of his former life.
But he realizes immediately that his life had changed. The narrator reminds us, “When you came home to your Indian mother you had to remember that it was a different world.” (McNickle 3) It seems, like many of us who have been away from home yet long for a connection with our past, Archilde wanted to renew his familial and cultural ties. Ultimately, however, he desired to leave the reservation for bigger things.
Yet upon his return, his mother, Catharine, expected him to remain at home. For, “An Indian boy, she thought, belonged with his people.” (McNickle 2) So Archilde decides to extend his stay a few weeks – which turns into months – since Catharine seems to be of ill health and lonely. At first this is a laudable decision but he slowly loses sight of a driving vision for his life.
Which is the complaint of his father. Max Leon is bitter that none of his sons – “Seven sons, they might have been seven dogs!” (McNickle 26) – made anything of themselves. Or more accurately, they didn’t join him in running the ranch. Instead, they all left to go “back to the blanket” (McNickle 25) - a derisive racial slur. In Max’s mind it’s either the lazy reservation Indian or the hardworking ranching Spaniard. And while Archilde is neither lazy nor ungrateful, he does not want to take up the yoke of running the ranch. He responds to his father’s dual expectations in anger and frustration.
Eventually Max is sensitized to Archilde’s conflicted emotions by his old friend Father Grepilloux. So Max encourages his son to talk to the priest about using his musical talent within the context of reservation life. After meeting with Archilde, Father Grepilloux is ecstatic. He believes he has found an Indian of sufficient talent and motivation to serve as a kind of saving representative of the Indian people. Here at last is a shining product of the religious and cultural assimilative process (that had failed when applied to previous generations, but never mind that)!
One can imagine the pressure that Archilde felt to fulfill such a role, even though much of Father Grepilloux’s hopes remained unspoken. So for the sort term, since he is interested in music Archilde does accept the priest’s offer to continue his training. This seems to be a worthy response, but again, Archilde soon loses steam as it’s not a decision that flows out of a life purpose but is rather a reaction to someone else’s expectations.
And so the story proceeds. It's a well written narrative, moves fairly quickly, and has a number of intriguing and fascinating characters, customs, and history to it, but it doesn't seem to get bogged down or lost in its central purpose of showing the internal conflict of the characters being worked out on the external stage.
From these limited examples we’ve seen in Archilde a person much like ourselves. We have interests, hopes, goals, and aspirations. And we often gravitate toward experiences that foster our dreams, as did Archilde. When responding to these various expectations, Archilde considered his life interests, responded in a way that seemed to move that direction, but then ultimately let the circumstances of life dictate his destiny. This is often our story as well.
But in this novel, Archilde’s pattern of timidity and uncertainty eventually result in a desperate situation. I won't spoil the plot, but there is murder involved. And, although innocent of the crime he is accused of, Archilde has so often let others’ expectations decide his fate that unless he takes control of his destiny when the novel ends, he will pay for those expectations with his life.
Written in 1936 this novel tells the story of Archilde, a young Native American man caught in the clash of cultures typical of early reservation life. Although I read it in a college literature course, the reading level and content are appropriate for any high school language arts class.
Quick impression: Recommended read, 7 out of 10.
In D’Arcy McNickle’s novel The Surrounded the protagonist Archilde Leon is a conflicted character. Through a series of events – some predictable in their consequences, and some a result of unforeseen circumstances – Archilde finds himself in a terrible place by novel’s end.
His problems throughout the story stem largely from his reactions to the real and perceived expectations of his family and friends, cultural norms, and the authority figures he interacts with and how Archilde attempts to deny or fulfill them. What I think we’ll discover as we examine a few of these expectations is that our protagonist, like the reader of McNickle’s insightful novel, is at times both hero and victim; he both rises above his circumstances as well as succumbs to them.
Archilde Leon is the son of a Spanish rancher and an American Indian mother who reside on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. This sets the stage for plenty of family conflict since the father, Max Leon, is a hard man and impatient with his Indian wife and children whom he perceives to be lazy and ungrateful. So from his birth Archilde is a product of a conflicted heritage.
Set (and written) in the 1930s, the location and era also evokes a time of prejudice and paternalism against Native Americans by the ruling ‘white man,’ represented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs which oversees reservation life. Archilde is a product of this conflict of cultures as well. After his education at a federal Indian boarding school, he leaves the reservation and his family, presumably to find himself and develop his own identity.
The story opens as Archilde returns from Portland, Oregon, where he made a passable living playing his fiddle in a show house. While he admits some success out there in the real world, something is evidently missing in his soul and he returns home to get a taste of his former life.
He looked toward the mountains in the east, and then upward to the fleckless sky. Nowhere in the world, he imagined, was there a sky of such depth and freshness. He wanted never to forget it, wherever he might be in times to come. Yes, wherever he might be! (McNickle 5)
But he realizes immediately that his life had changed. The narrator reminds us, “When you came home to your Indian mother you had to remember that it was a different world.” (McNickle 3) It seems, like many of us who have been away from home yet long for a connection with our past, Archilde wanted to renew his familial and cultural ties. Ultimately, however, he desired to leave the reservation for bigger things.
Yet upon his return, his mother, Catharine, expected him to remain at home. For, “An Indian boy, she thought, belonged with his people.” (McNickle 2) So Archilde decides to extend his stay a few weeks – which turns into months – since Catharine seems to be of ill health and lonely. At first this is a laudable decision but he slowly loses sight of a driving vision for his life.
Which is the complaint of his father. Max Leon is bitter that none of his sons – “Seven sons, they might have been seven dogs!” (McNickle 26) – made anything of themselves. Or more accurately, they didn’t join him in running the ranch. Instead, they all left to go “back to the blanket” (McNickle 25) - a derisive racial slur. In Max’s mind it’s either the lazy reservation Indian or the hardworking ranching Spaniard. And while Archilde is neither lazy nor ungrateful, he does not want to take up the yoke of running the ranch. He responds to his father’s dual expectations in anger and frustration.
Eventually Max is sensitized to Archilde’s conflicted emotions by his old friend Father Grepilloux. So Max encourages his son to talk to the priest about using his musical talent within the context of reservation life. After meeting with Archilde, Father Grepilloux is ecstatic. He believes he has found an Indian of sufficient talent and motivation to serve as a kind of saving representative of the Indian people. Here at last is a shining product of the religious and cultural assimilative process (that had failed when applied to previous generations, but never mind that)!
One can imagine the pressure that Archilde felt to fulfill such a role, even though much of Father Grepilloux’s hopes remained unspoken. So for the sort term, since he is interested in music Archilde does accept the priest’s offer to continue his training. This seems to be a worthy response, but again, Archilde soon loses steam as it’s not a decision that flows out of a life purpose but is rather a reaction to someone else’s expectations.
And so the story proceeds. It's a well written narrative, moves fairly quickly, and has a number of intriguing and fascinating characters, customs, and history to it, but it doesn't seem to get bogged down or lost in its central purpose of showing the internal conflict of the characters being worked out on the external stage.
From these limited examples we’ve seen in Archilde a person much like ourselves. We have interests, hopes, goals, and aspirations. And we often gravitate toward experiences that foster our dreams, as did Archilde. When responding to these various expectations, Archilde considered his life interests, responded in a way that seemed to move that direction, but then ultimately let the circumstances of life dictate his destiny. This is often our story as well.
But in this novel, Archilde’s pattern of timidity and uncertainty eventually result in a desperate situation. I won't spoil the plot, but there is murder involved. And, although innocent of the crime he is accused of, Archilde has so often let others’ expectations decide his fate that unless he takes control of his destiny when the novel ends, he will pay for those expectations with his life.
July 1, 2025
2.5 STARS
This was the final read for this semester and I had been reading it on and off (mostly off) since May. Somehow I struggled to stay engaged and it was difficult to keep picking the book up until I had no other choice anymore.
I did like getting a glimpse of reservation life with its countless inherent injustices. The composition of characters also really contributed to represent the various issues that persist and it allowed for an interesting examination of the Salish as a surrounded people. This image of the surrounded, which is already invoked in the title, really pervaded the entire book and I liked how it crept up again and again until the very last chapter and scene.
Although I did not enjoy my reading of this book very much, I can still appreciate this for what it is and from an academic viewpoint, I totally understand that this is gold.
This was the final read for this semester and I had been reading it on and off (mostly off) since May. Somehow I struggled to stay engaged and it was difficult to keep picking the book up until I had no other choice anymore.
I did like getting a glimpse of reservation life with its countless inherent injustices. The composition of characters also really contributed to represent the various issues that persist and it allowed for an interesting examination of the Salish as a surrounded people. This image of the surrounded, which is already invoked in the title, really pervaded the entire book and I liked how it crept up again and again until the very last chapter and scene.
Although I did not enjoy my reading of this book very much, I can still appreciate this for what it is and from an academic viewpoint, I totally understand that this is gold.
November 16, 2022
This was beautifully written, but the ending was so upsetting 😭
March 27, 2008
Like John Joseph Mathews' Sundown, D'Arcy McNickle's The Surrounded is, as Louis Owens puts it, "the story of a mixedblood living both in and out of his tribal culture," a story imbued with fatalism and pain at the loss of a culture. Where Sundown is primarily about the attempts of its protagonist to fit into the larger American culture, however, The Surrounded focuses on its protagonist's return to his hometown and the links he forges with his Native American heritage.
The book begins as Archilde Leon returns to his hometown after living and working in Portland as a musician. He intends this return to be a last visit to the land of his childhood before leaving it forever, but things don't work out that way as one complication after another arises, keeping him from leaving. He stays to take music lessons and to try to, for the first time, bond with his father, who has always been distant; he stays to take care of his father's estate after his death; and when he finally makes concrete plans to leave, first his mother's death and then legal troubles surrounding a death in the mountains hold him there.
Just as in Sundown, where Chal Windzer is seen (by his father at least) as a new hope for the future, a challenge to white culture, Archilde is here presented as a potential savior for his people throughout The Surrounded. The old ways are dying or dead and the older people of the community can do little more than mourn that loss. In the words of Father Grepilloux, as he addresses Max, Archilde's Spanish father, "You lose your sons, but these people have lost a way of life, and with it their pride, their dignity, their strength. Men like Jeff Irving have murdered their fathers and their sons with impunity. Gross-natured officials have despoiled them, they are insulted when they present grievances" (59). In the face of this, Archilde represents hope for a new kind of Native American. Father Grepilloux sees in him "the promise of victory after a long wait. . . . [and] the promise of the new day" (97). He says to Max in a later conversation, "It was inevitable that a new age would come. It is beginning now. And your boy [Archilde] is standing there where the road divides. He belongs to a new time. He may not stay in this valley, and it makes no difference whether he does or not; it is what he makes of himself that will count. It will be felt by all" (108). Not only, then, does Archilde have the opportunity to escape the seemingly hopeless life of his brothers and their children (lives marked by thievery and truancy), but his escape could well mark the promise of salvation for an entire people.
Archilde of course sees no such portentous future for himself. He barely sees himself as Indian at the beginning, barely sees that life and even his family as real: "Actually, in the way he was learning the world, neither Modeste nor his mother was important. They were not real people. Buffaloes were not real to him either, yet he could go and look at buffaloes every day if he wished, behind the wire enclosure of the Biological Survey reserve. He knew that buffaloes had been real things to his mother, and to the old people who had come to eat with her tonight. To him they were just fenced up animals that couldn't be shot, though you could take photographs of them" (62). In fact, his primary emotion toward his family is "impatience, irritation, an uneasy feeling in the stomach" (62). Neither the buffalo nor the old people he sees are real because they are limited, contained, surrounded by a foreign culture and its restrictions.
But the longer he remains in this community, the more Archilde sees the value in the old way of life and begins to connect with the community and his Native American heritage. After many experiences during which he feels separate from the other Native Americans around him, he finally feels, while in his mother's tepee during the midsummer dance, an "unaccountable security. It was all quite near, quite a part of him; it was his necessity, for the first time" (222). And he begins to reach out to those living in poverty around him (an old woman, an old mare, poor family and tribe members who come to his mother's death) as he begins to feel a part of the community. He reflects, at his mother's bedside, "People grew into each other, became intertwined, and life was no mere matter of existence, no mere flash of time. . . . People grew together like creeping vines. The root of beginning was hard to find in the many that had come together and spread their foliage in one mass" (258).
But as Archilde's life is more and more closely intertwined with the lives of his mother, his nephews, his lover, his potential as savior diminishes and he loses his chance to escape the same fate that meets the "bad Indians" he is surrounded by. As Mr. Parker, the Agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, says to him in the end, "You had everything, every chance, and this is the best you could do with it! A man gets pretty tired of you and all your kind. . . . It's too damn bad you people never learn that you can't run away. It's pathetic--" (296-97).
So although The Surrounded introduces hope for a new beginning, one that will allow a way for someone like Archilde to move into the broader culture without necessarily completely rejecting his heritage, a way to connect with both American and Native American cultures, the novel ultimately rejects this possibility. The circumstances of law, religion, education, and economics surrounding Native Americans at this time neither allow for a full expression of the old ways nor provide an escape that is other than an absolute rejection of those old ways. To respect and value both simultaeously is an impossibility. After all, in the end, even the hardworking, honest Archilde is just one of "you people," destined for jail or execution.
The book begins as Archilde Leon returns to his hometown after living and working in Portland as a musician. He intends this return to be a last visit to the land of his childhood before leaving it forever, but things don't work out that way as one complication after another arises, keeping him from leaving. He stays to take music lessons and to try to, for the first time, bond with his father, who has always been distant; he stays to take care of his father's estate after his death; and when he finally makes concrete plans to leave, first his mother's death and then legal troubles surrounding a death in the mountains hold him there.
Just as in Sundown, where Chal Windzer is seen (by his father at least) as a new hope for the future, a challenge to white culture, Archilde is here presented as a potential savior for his people throughout The Surrounded. The old ways are dying or dead and the older people of the community can do little more than mourn that loss. In the words of Father Grepilloux, as he addresses Max, Archilde's Spanish father, "You lose your sons, but these people have lost a way of life, and with it their pride, their dignity, their strength. Men like Jeff Irving have murdered their fathers and their sons with impunity. Gross-natured officials have despoiled them, they are insulted when they present grievances" (59). In the face of this, Archilde represents hope for a new kind of Native American. Father Grepilloux sees in him "the promise of victory after a long wait. . . . [and] the promise of the new day" (97). He says to Max in a later conversation, "It was inevitable that a new age would come. It is beginning now. And your boy [Archilde] is standing there where the road divides. He belongs to a new time. He may not stay in this valley, and it makes no difference whether he does or not; it is what he makes of himself that will count. It will be felt by all" (108). Not only, then, does Archilde have the opportunity to escape the seemingly hopeless life of his brothers and their children (lives marked by thievery and truancy), but his escape could well mark the promise of salvation for an entire people.
Archilde of course sees no such portentous future for himself. He barely sees himself as Indian at the beginning, barely sees that life and even his family as real: "Actually, in the way he was learning the world, neither Modeste nor his mother was important. They were not real people. Buffaloes were not real to him either, yet he could go and look at buffaloes every day if he wished, behind the wire enclosure of the Biological Survey reserve. He knew that buffaloes had been real things to his mother, and to the old people who had come to eat with her tonight. To him they were just fenced up animals that couldn't be shot, though you could take photographs of them" (62). In fact, his primary emotion toward his family is "impatience, irritation, an uneasy feeling in the stomach" (62). Neither the buffalo nor the old people he sees are real because they are limited, contained, surrounded by a foreign culture and its restrictions.
But the longer he remains in this community, the more Archilde sees the value in the old way of life and begins to connect with the community and his Native American heritage. After many experiences during which he feels separate from the other Native Americans around him, he finally feels, while in his mother's tepee during the midsummer dance, an "unaccountable security. It was all quite near, quite a part of him; it was his necessity, for the first time" (222). And he begins to reach out to those living in poverty around him (an old woman, an old mare, poor family and tribe members who come to his mother's death) as he begins to feel a part of the community. He reflects, at his mother's bedside, "People grew into each other, became intertwined, and life was no mere matter of existence, no mere flash of time. . . . People grew together like creeping vines. The root of beginning was hard to find in the many that had come together and spread their foliage in one mass" (258).
But as Archilde's life is more and more closely intertwined with the lives of his mother, his nephews, his lover, his potential as savior diminishes and he loses his chance to escape the same fate that meets the "bad Indians" he is surrounded by. As Mr. Parker, the Agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, says to him in the end, "You had everything, every chance, and this is the best you could do with it! A man gets pretty tired of you and all your kind. . . . It's too damn bad you people never learn that you can't run away. It's pathetic--" (296-97).
So although The Surrounded introduces hope for a new beginning, one that will allow a way for someone like Archilde to move into the broader culture without necessarily completely rejecting his heritage, a way to connect with both American and Native American cultures, the novel ultimately rejects this possibility. The circumstances of law, religion, education, and economics surrounding Native Americans at this time neither allow for a full expression of the old ways nor provide an escape that is other than an absolute rejection of those old ways. To respect and value both simultaeously is an impossibility. After all, in the end, even the hardworking, honest Archilde is just one of "you people," destined for jail or execution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2022
review coming soon
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March 1, 2025☹️
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March 4, 2025☹️
October 31, 2018
What would you do if one of your family members committed murder? This is a question that looms over the entire text of The Surrounded by D’Arcy McNickle. This book is both sad and thrilling because of the family dynamics within the Leon family along with a rollercoaster of events that unfold on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana in 1936. There are many themes in this read, but some important ones to remember are death and family. The book focuses around the life of Archilde Leon who comes back home after being away working as a musician for quite some time to his distant family. Father Max Leon, and mother Catherine Leon hold a grudge over their children for not living with them on the reservation. Louis, Archilde’s brother gets into trouble which ends up creating bigger problems for the family as a whole. As the chapters continue Archilde starts making efforts to mend relationships between his father and mother. Due to the aftermath of Louis’s actions, Archilde and his mother end up in a series of events that make things even more difficult, leaving them both with dark secrets. With this guilt, Archilde and his mother have a hard time coming to terms with their realities.Things seem to be looking better when Archilde meets a girl named Elise, who he falls deeply in love with. This couple runs off together which ends in a way that makes the title of the book finally make sense. Anyone can read this and understand the thoughts Archilde had with his family, making it very relatable. For anyone who hasn’t read this book, I highly recommend reading this to gain a better understanding and perspective on reservation life and how lack of sovereignty on the reservation affected Native peoples during this time. With this book, it gives readers clarity to what the Native culture all entails and for anyone who has experienced a death in their family this is a interesting read to be able to connect in a different way with how this culture deals with it.
June 11, 2021
Like the prose of his contemporaries Hemmingway and Steinbeck, McNickle's writing is simple on the surface but in truth hauntingly complex, grounded in modernity's encroachment and attempted erasure of Native American culture and ideologies. Archilde, the protagonist who returns to his Salish reservation after wandering around Oregon for a good part of his early adult life, is the quintessential "lost soul" of the early 30s modernist novel, torn between two cultures he can't seem to identify with, but it becomes clear early on how deep that sense of loss has affected the characters who stayed home as that home is, piece by piece, covertly taken from them right beneath their noses.
If it feels like the writing meanders a bit, it is because the characters meander, and McNickle himself is intentionally looking for ways to organically incorporate Native American oral story traditions and styles into the more marketable (for the 30s) modernist novel.
If it feels like the writing meanders a bit, it is because the characters meander, and McNickle himself is intentionally looking for ways to organically incorporate Native American oral story traditions and styles into the more marketable (for the 30s) modernist novel.
August 20, 2019
Written in 1936, Mr. McNickel captures the difficulty of walking in both the Indian and white world. He tells a story that is fast-paced and deals with serious issues but doesn't make the story about them. The reader becomes enthralled with the issues faced by Archilde Leon and is only passively aware that there is a deeper reality. In his youth on the Flathead (Salish) reservation, D'Arcy McNickel was a mixed-blood and attended an Indian Industrial School where speaking your native language was severely punished, He attended U of Montana, Oxford, and the U of Grenoble. He was an outspoken Native Activist and worked for John Collier when Collier became Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Later, he became a co-founder of The National Congress of American Indians.
January 15, 2023
FOR SCHOOL:
ENG254: Introduction to Indigenous Literatures
An amazing introduction to the course with a compelling classic. The characters were heart wrenching , dimensional, and sympathetic. The tact-fullness of the prose made this an interesting read; I was engaged during the entire experience.
It served as a great foundational text for what I think will be an amazing course. It poses so many questions: what happens when you reach old age and are confronted with a life you know is not genuine? How do you cope with returning home and being forced to see your community in a new light? How far will you go for the people you love?
I look forward to discussing this one in lecture this week.
ENG254: Introduction to Indigenous Literatures
An amazing introduction to the course with a compelling classic. The characters were heart wrenching , dimensional, and sympathetic. The tact-fullness of the prose made this an interesting read; I was engaged during the entire experience.
It served as a great foundational text for what I think will be an amazing course. It poses so many questions: what happens when you reach old age and are confronted with a life you know is not genuine? How do you cope with returning home and being forced to see your community in a new light? How far will you go for the people you love?
I look forward to discussing this one in lecture this week.
November 12, 2020
I've grown to expect a certain amount of sadness in Native American fiction. This story is no exception--though the sadness came at me sideways, in the dark, with a knife. The Boarding School stories are always harrowing and McNickle paints it with a light-handed brush, leaving most of the horror to our unchecked imaginations.
Spoilers.
I knew there could be no happiness for Archilde and Elise and yet, for the briefest of moments, I thought it could happen. My only hope is that Mike and Narce can flee through the forests and never be caught, never to return to the Church or the Boarding Schools--and find a new tree to dance around, forever.
Spoilers.
I knew there could be no happiness for Archilde and Elise and yet, for the briefest of moments, I thought it could happen. My only hope is that Mike and Narce can flee through the forests and never be caught, never to return to the Church or the Boarding Schools--and find a new tree to dance around, forever.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2020
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B+
I enjoyed this more than I expected; it gives the impression of being a lesser known, dry book. But the writing is direct and moving enough, and the plot allows you to soak up poetic stillness just long enough to enjoy it before an often shocking plot turn comes along and throws you for a loop. There are many dramatic and exciting scenes in here, which I won’t spoil, and some great passages on experiences in a church community that resonated with me, especially the clouds shaped like a cross and Archilde’s childhood music lessons.
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B+
I enjoyed this more than I expected; it gives the impression of being a lesser known, dry book. But the writing is direct and moving enough, and the plot allows you to soak up poetic stillness just long enough to enjoy it before an often shocking plot turn comes along and throws you for a loop. There are many dramatic and exciting scenes in here, which I won’t spoil, and some great passages on experiences in a church community that resonated with me, especially the clouds shaped like a cross and Archilde’s childhood music lessons.
February 15, 2018
McNickle is phenomenal at using perspective. He is great at seamlessly transitioning through different third person perspectives. By using this technique, you get to know the characters in an interesting way. I read this for my class on Native American literature, and while the novel does translate the issues of the Indians into a story, it is also a great fiction piece on the coming of age and family.
January 7, 2021
Slow beginning, but incredibly dynamic! McNickle draws you in with the delicate interiority of a wide range of characters, from protagonist Archilde, his gruff Spaniard father, his Salish mother negotiating her Catholicism with her tribal origins, as well as the priest that introduced her faith to her. The first half of the novel grounds the reader in a setting and context both embedded in history and resonant of current political and racial tensions; the second half drives an explosive plot.
April 4, 2023
Had to read this for a Native American History class. It wasn't really my cup of tea. It might have been quite good, however, it's incredible slow moving and the author uses GD entirely too much for my liking. In my opinion, GD only takes away from the story and there are lots of other's words that could be used in its place. This was a pretty big reason along with how incredibly slow it was as to why my rating is only 1 star.
November 22, 2023
1936, the time of this story. It reveals the many conflicts associated with the reservation life at that time.
Archilde, educated at a Federal Indian boarding school is torn between two cultures; his Spanish father and his Indian mother.
Archilde, educated at a Federal Indian boarding school is torn between two cultures; his Spanish father and his Indian mother.
September 11, 2025
Very heavily plotted, which is not always my kind of story, but it does make it an exciting read. Totally heartbreaking and a fascinating rendering of this moment in time for the Salish people in Montana. Wish I could’ve spent some more time reading it.
June 2, 2017
Accurate portrayal of Native American life in Montana 1930's written by a fellow Kootai Native. Well written slow paced yet rivoting plot.
May 3, 2019
Strange
July 8, 2019
Not my style of novel. I read this for a diversity class. I wasn't impressed by the content, but maybe it was because of my experiences in the class, which was not great.
August 15, 2019
Very well written, and very evocative of its time and place. It's probably not a spoiler to say that this is not a happy, feel-good book. But it is a good story told well.
June 27, 2022
Absolutely beautifully written. It was a heartbreaking pleasure to read.
July 25, 2022
A Native storyline and a mixed-blood protagonist who represents the clash of cultures, and the enduring trials of reservation life and conflict with non-Indian authorities
December 29, 2022
A gripping gateway into the US Indigenous experience.
April 13, 2024
A gem of Native American literature. Heartbreaking and necessary to read.
June 6, 2024
1936 Native American book that tracks a bi-racial man who comes back to the reservation. Fascinating cultural analysis and best in the middle third.
October 2, 2024
Profound
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