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As one of the first Americans to write fiction from and
about the Native American experience, McNickle often stayed
close to well-established and popular traditions. As he introduced
a diverse reading public to life inside these marginalized
communities, he took care to make that first encounter ingratiating
and amusing, and to give his readers familiar archetypes
as they ventured into mysterious new places and ways of thinking.
Explorations
1. This is a story about a white outsider finally realizing
that the “crazy Indians” he is working with
are cleverer than he is. How far back does this kind of
story go? Think of two or three other tales in which a
complacent intruder receives this kind of rude surprise
and compare the tone and the implications of these stories.
2. Why does McNickle tell the story from the point of view
of Brinder Mather? As a Native American writer, why might
he avoid, in this circumstance, narrating from the point
of view of “his” people?
3. McNickle did much of his best writing
during the 1930s. During that decade, how were Native Americans
being represented
in American popular culture? What can you find out on the
Web about major films and Broadway productions around this
time and how they represented Native American culture and
values? How might we read McNickle’s “Hard
Riding” as responding to that fashion, and those
expectations?
Other Sites to Consult
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A49: Biographical
information and bibliography from the Internet Public Library.
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/natauth.htm#U3: Selection
of McNickle-related links from the Internet School Library
Media Center.
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