The Canyon

Name: The Canyon
Rating: 3.94 (239 reviews)

by Jack Schaefer

First published 1953

Amazon

3.8(239)

Little Bear is a Cheyenne warrior whose reluctance to seek war places him at odds with the expectations of his community. His private conviction is not simple fear: he must decide how an individual can remain true to himself while accepting obligations to family, ceremony and tribal life. A crisis forces him to act and gives him a way to reconcile personal conscience with communal responsibility.

Based on a Cheyenne legend, the novel combines adventure with an account of ritual, social authority and life on the Great Plains. Schaefer presents Little Bear's dilemma as a conflict within a living culture rather than a choice between civilisation and wilderness. The result is a compact coming-of-age story about belonging, moral courage and the meanings a community attaches to bravery.