Identities of the father figure in The Surrounded

              In The Surrounded, McNickle comments heavily on cultural ties, but also familial values and the role of the father figure. Archilde and his father Max differ in their patriarchal capacities. Archilde clearly appears to be an empathetic character that actually does care about the well-being and future of his nephews, Mike and Narcisse. On the other hand, Max treats his sons and wife with no respect from the start of the novel. 

            Archilde respects that both Mike and Narcisse want to stay fully tied to their Indian roots and he supports them as they camp out in a makeshift teepee, living off the land. He admits that “Mike and Narcisse taught him something”: they have taugh him that “it did no good to make a fuss about things; just go ahead and do what you liked, and ask only to be left alone” (The Surrounded, 248). Rather than dismissing Mike’s resistance as meaningless, something Max would do, Archilde levels with his nephew as he too “had even less desire to see them sent back to the Fathers than they had to go there” (The Surrounded, 246). Archilde is shown to be less stubborn and more willing to acknowledge the struggle that Mike and Narcisse endure than his father who has come to shun Indian culture and fully embrace White culture. I think that in creating these two drastically different types of masculinities (Max and Archilde), McNickle shows what must be sacrificed to fully emerge into the White culture; there does not seem to be a middle ground with any acceptance for Indian culture.