Sight to Behold
The title of the novel derives its meaning from the name of the valley in the Flathead Reservation. The land and scenery are significant to the culture of the Native people on the reservation. The narrative describes the setting in detail for it is a remarkable sight:
“The hill he climbed that day was the high barrier which closed off the southern end of the valley. Northward, the eye traveled up a pleasant valley for fifty miles before haze and a gradually ascending tableland burred on the horizon. A stranger would not have suspected that just beyond lay a great lake, a mirror to the sky for forty miles. But the most startling vision were the mountains. Without foothills, though with curving approaches which spread some distance out upon the valley floor, the mountains raised a magnificent barricade against the eastern sky, the highest jagged crests floating in the morning mist 8000 feet above the valley.”
Bar Fight
Bar fights usually end as fast as they began never allowing the participants or onlookers to observe them. The witness in this bar fight offers the imagery of the events that took place before and during the bloody encounter. The description is as vivid as it gets for it also deciphers the actions of the men involved:
“He has jumped behind the bar at the beginning of the fight; later he plunged in among them and fought like a madman. Heads were split open, blood flowed. Men were afraid to shoot because they might kill their friends. They used their revolvers like clubs. He dodged the blows and for a while held a man in a grip of iron, making a shield of him. My witness tells me that Big Paul enjoyed the fight. He was smiling through it. He began to taunt them because they could not overpower him. He cleared a path through the mob and sang his war song as he went swinging.”
Loss
The narrative focuses on the atrocities that the Native population suffered at the hands of the settlers. Father Grepilloux as an outsider who has lived among the indigenous people has seen the negative outcome of forced assimilation. He explains to Archilde's Spanish father the loss that the Native people undergo for an outsider who does not completely understand:
“You have least to complain of. 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.”
Harvest
Events in the narrative take place on Max’s property upon the return of his son after an extended absence. The pride of the indigenous people is their land and the produce that represents the fruits of their labor and the spirit of their ancestors. The narrator offers a glimpse into the farm activities that define Max’s ranch:
“The grain was being cut on Max Leon’s ranch. In the morning he put on his riding boots and followed the men with their binders into the field. He rode a white mare with a well-shaped head. After an oiling and a last tightening up the first binder was set to work. As the white arms revolved they tossed the tall grain stalks against the flying sickle and on to the moving aprons. A bundle collected at the side, was tied with twine and kicked into the carriage.”
