The introduction of the book briefly introduces the author Eva Tulene Watt and gives a short chronology of her life. This is a small preview to the stories that will be read later on in the book and is mostly just an explanation of how the came to be on paper. It also describes how family stories were past down in traditional Apache culture; vocally. In this way the author suggest that the book can be picked at any time and read in any order, as one might have received the stories from family members.
Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You is a very interesting book to read. I feel that, of all the things we have read so far, this is the most informative about what everyday life was like for the Apache at this time in history. At first, I had a hard time with the writing style, which is a lot like listening to someone speak. It was hard for me to follow and I was confused about who the relatives were. However, after reading a bit more, I fell into the rhythm and I am pretty sure that the terms grandpa and grandma are also applied to the siblings of the author’s parents’ parents. Another thing that I was confused about was the notations F-1, F-2, and A-2. One aspect of the writing that I really like are the stories embedded within the other stories. For example, the story for which the book was named after, “Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You,” contains two other stories told by other people inside it. I also like how the age of the story teller at the time that the story occurred, comes through in the observations she makes. In the story “She Used to Hide Me All the Time,” you can get a sense of how young she is by her descriptions of what is happening and by her level of perceived threat of being found. One of the many things that I learned from this text was more about the assimilation schools. I knew that they were generally awful places but I did not realize that they hunted to children, captured them, and just took them to the schools, or that the things they taught them there were dress making and wood chopping. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this reading and found it to be both interesting and educational.
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I to, in the beginning, had to adjust to Eva Tulene Watt’s writing style. It was interesting to read about her life written in her own words. You get a better sense of who she truly is. I felt that you did an excellent job summarizing the main points while adding in your own opinion. I have never heard of assimilation schools before and was horrifies to hear Watt’s recollection. This book is very informative into the life of a true Apache society.
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