The Mountains within the Novel

The winter made it nearly impossible for tribal members to naviagte the mountains. 

The images provide context for the reader to understand that the reservation and the mission were surrounded in every direction by towering mountains that were impossible to navigate during the winter and extremely dangerous to navigate without an intense understanding of ones surroundings. It is important to note that all of the physical and psycholgical blocks surrounding the reservation were dangerous for the Native American peoples to escape from. Any attempt at escape within the novel was met with swift punishment by the government, the priests, and even the Chief of the Tribe. The mountains stand as symbol for the fate many Native American's experienced after the colonization of their land. 

When Archilde returns home from Oregon, his father, Max Leon, informs him that his brother, Louis, has ran away into the mountains and stole many horses on his way out. His father is an immigrant spaniard who actively denounces and ingnores traditional Native Culture wihtin the reservation. Max Leon develops greatly by the end of the novel but early scenes of Max Leon show his disgust for rebellious Native children. When the officer arrives to inform them of Louis' escape, Max tells gives the officer permission to ,"send 'em up to the pen and hang 'em" (McNickle, 9). Archilde fears his brother will not be able to survive the harsh conditions within the mountain ranges. Archilde understands that his brothers action are an act of rebellion against the Jesuit missionaries within the reservation. In this scene, McNickle highlights the many ways in which Native American children are literally and figuratively "surrounded" and segregated from the rest of the country.

Later in the Novel, he touches upon the tragic reality of Native Children who escaped from the federal boarding schools and ran into the mountains. in a chllling quote McNickle writes, "to get them to school, they had to first be captured. If they had suspected anything they would have dissappeared like scattered rabits and there would be no finding them again; they might hide in the mountains like horse theives" (McNickle, 110).