[2] The story follows Archilde's internal struggle between Euro-American and American Indian culture, as he attempts to reconcile with his father and find his place in a community while he deals with the death of his brother and his mother's murder of a game warden.

Struggling to reintegrate himself into Salish culture, repair his family bonds, and escape criminal charges, Archilde finds himself trapped in the crossfire as outside forces attempt to decimate his tribe's way of life.

[2] The Surrounded received praise for its ingenuity, and reviewer Louis Owens believes this novel led to an Indigenous literary movement more notable than the Harlem Renaissance.

[4] Reviews by Olive La Farge, J. MacMurrough, and Louis Owens all comment on how McNickle's ability to detect and clearly depict the struggle to coexist in seemingly opposing worlds sets the standard for Indigenous literature.

While little is known about the specifics of McNickle's early life, it is widely accepted that The Surrounded is influenced by the author's own experiences as a person of both Cree and European descent.

[6] McNickle refers to a common practice where white men married Native women in order to claim the land allotted to them under the controversial Dawes Act.

Archilde finds it hard to leave the reservation once he begins to accept his family and the Salish tribe amidst the murder of his brother Louis and the game warden.

When Mike is taken to the Mission boarding school, he suffers several traumatic experiences that ultimately change his personality and cause him to endure nightmares, bed-wetting, and irrational fears.

Elise helps Archilde, Mike, and Narcisse to escape into the mountains to avoid the authorities, but she winds up having to kill Sheriff Quigley when he discovers their camp.

[5] Archilde Leon returns from Portland, where he made a living by playing fiddle in a show house, to his father's ranch in Montana on the Flathead Reservation in the Sniél-emen Valley.

Later, Archilde attends a feast where the elders share traditional Salish stories that alter Achilde's perspective about his culture, and he begins to embrace his community and family.

When they arrive at the ranch, Archilde and Catherine lie to everyone by saying that they found Louis dead in the mountains to avoid suspicion or revealing the game warden's murder.

[5] After Louis's death, the Government Indian Agency takes Archilde into custody to investigate his brother's murder and the disappearance of the game warden.

Father Jerome reveals that he knows the truth about Catherine murdering the game warden and pushes Archilde to report his mother's crimes to the authorities.

[5] After Catherine dies, Archilde and Elise flee into the mountains with Narcisse and Mike to avoid the authorities and sending the boys back to the Mission school.

Kent draws parallels between McNickle's experiences with federally supported assimilatory legislation and the novel's depiction of the Salish people's attempt to preserve their culture and way of life.

Her article suggests that The Surrounded provided McNickle with a platform to highlight the injustice Indigenous people endured at the hands of insufficient federal legislation.

[7] Laird Christensen's “Not Exactly Like Heaven: Theological Imperialism in The Surrounded,” suggests that McNickle's novel illustrates the ideological flaws in attempting to intervene with or "improve" the Salish culture and way of life.

Owens surmises that The Surrounded illustrates that connecting two worlds poses an incredible challenge because opposing cultural values and core beliefs tend to clash rather than coexist.

He critiques Archilde's character for his inability to make decisions in desperate situations leaving Catherine, his mother, and Elise to fight against the encroaching white community and corrupt government officials.

[9] In “D’Arcy McNickle’s Reservation Modernism,” Leif Sorenson's interpretation of The Surrounded illustrates that the novel's major themes highlight the generational trauma indigenous people endured at the hands of colonialism.

Sorenson argues that the novel's trajectory evokes themes of cultural erasure as colonial forces decimate tribal resistance to uphold Eurocentric ideology.

Ultimately, Sorenson concludes that The Surrounded portrays the reality of colonialism's negative impact on Indigenous peoples' lives and cultural survival.

Moreover, he concluded his review by praising McNickle for explaining the social and mental conflict of having a dual heritage while trying to live by European standards without overwhelming the reader.

MacMurrough praised McNickle for clearly highlighting a different struggle through each character and noted that he enjoyed the fact that Catherine returns to her Native practices.