{"id":967,"date":"2017-05-15T12:14:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T12:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/?p=967"},"modified":"2017-05-15T18:12:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T18:12:00","slug":"critical-commentary-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/2017\/05\/15\/critical-commentary-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Struggle Against Darkness<\/i> is a rather short story which seems to combine many elements of other Sanpoil stories<\/a>. \u00a0As a result, Runnels submitted a text that is incredibly encompassing of many Sanpoil stories, and thus has high cultural value. \u00a0There are many possible reasons as to why the story was submitted, and due to a lack of primary sources about Runnels, it is very difficult to know his exact reasoning for inclusion of the text.\u00a0 Regardless, Runnels\u2019 acts as a tribal educator, as the immense cultural value in the text teaches readers about the Sanpoil culture, as well as justify its inclusion in the anthology<\/p>\n

Runnels\u2019 text teaches the readers of The Red Man and Helper<\/i> about the culture of the Sanpoil tribe. \u00a0The introduction to The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Upper Columbia River Book of Legends states that the the legends are \u201cspiritual and religious beliefs that connect [the tribes] with the land\u201d (Confederated Tribes 5). \u00a0In his text, Runnels shows the reader some of the spiritual and religious beliefs of the Sanpoil tribe, such as the existence of the \u201cGreat Spirit.\u201d \u00a0Through this, the reader learns that despite being converted to Roman Catholicism, they still believe in their own deity instead of the one suggested in the Catholic belief. \u00a0However, through doing so, Runnels shows that his tribe\u2019s religious beliefs are similar to many other religions, as he shows that they believe they are being protected and cared for by a higher power. \u00a0Furthermore, the belief in the \u201cGreat Spirit\u201d also demonstrates the belief that the tribe were once seen as animals, and through creation of the sun, became superior beings. \u00a0These two elements of the legend show some of the culture of the tribe.\"\"<\/p>\n

Through his work, Runnels\u2019 creates an anthology that reflects the spiritual and religious beliefs of the tribe, which justifies the text\u2019s inclusion in the anthology. \u00a0As touched upon in the Cultural and Historical Context<\/a>, Runnels\u2019 story has many similarities to elements of other Sanpoil legends. \u00a0Many of these elements represent themes in the Sanpoil tradition, such as the stealing of fire, overcoming \u201cdifficult struggles\u201d, and difficult weather conditions. \u00a0Due to the inclusion of these thematic similarities, Runnels\u2019 text becomes somewhat of an anthology of Sanpoil legends. \u00a0Due to the Sanpoil belief that their legends are more than myths (Confederated Tribes 5), Runnels\u2019 text effectively summarizes important themes in Sanpoil religion, showing its immense cultural value. \u00a0\u00a0This also supports Runnels\u2019 work as a tribal educator, as highlighting key themes of Sanpoil legends would help readers better understand the Sanpoil culture.\"\"<\/p>\n

One could argue that the inclusion of the elements of social evolution suggests that Runnels was an assimilator, rather than a tribal educator, but this is not the case.\u00a0 According to the story, \u201covercoming the forces which had caused the fire to be extinguished\u201d would prove their superiority, which is ultimately accomplished in the end.\u00a0 Thus, it can be assumed that after this story takes place, the tribe considered themselves to be more \u201csocially evolved\u201d than animals. \u00a0This creates an interesting resonance with the Carlisle Indian School, as one of Henry Pratt\u2019s goals was to make the \u201csavages\u201d more \u201ccivilized.\u201d \u00a0However, based upon Runnels\u2019 conduct records, we see that he was always a student of good conduct<\/a>, which suggests that he was actually quite \u201ccivilized\u201d to begin with. \u00a0Furthermore, there is little evidence that suggests that this resonance is a fact, as there are few primary sources that show any sort of struggle in Runnels\u2019 life. \u00a0Thus, it can be assumed that Runnels\u2019 is only a tribal educator, and nothing more.<\/p>\n

The cultural elements provide interesting looks into some religious and spiritual beliefs of the tribe. \u00a0From these elements, it can be assumed that Runnels attempted to educate people who read The Red Man and Helper<\/i>, about the beliefs and views of his tribe. \u00a0\u00a0From his records, we can conclude that he would later move back to Keller, Washington, a town that is incredibly on the Colville reservation. \u00a0It can be assumed that this was to keep him close to family, and would allow him to fully embrace his Sanpoil heritage. \u00a0From his text, we can assume that Runnels\u2019 was attempting to teach readers of The Red Man and Helper<\/i> of Sanpoil culture, which he succeeds in doing, making the text worthy of our anthology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Struggle Against Darkness is a rather short story which seems to combine many elements of other Sanpoil stories. \u00a0As a result, Runnels submitted a text that is incredibly encompassing of many Sanpoil stories, and thus has high cultural value. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141058,141037],"tags":[141400,141153,141439,141161,129597,141072,141425,94206,68895,141118],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-louis-runnels","category-tribal-educators","tag-colville-reservation","tag-cultural-values","tag-educator","tag-fire","tag-religious","tag-sanpoil","tag-social-evolution","tag-spiritual","tag-sun","tag-the-great-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/carlisleindianindustrialschoolwritinganthology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}