The Pathfinder

By Stephanie Snyder

After viewing the movie, The Pathfinder, I found myself wondering how it was that the person who was so valued in their tribes became so feared by the rest of their community. The movie portrayed the first pathfinder as an older man who was capable of wrestling and killing a great bear. He brought it back to the village and that earned him the great respect of all the people. His place was the most esteemed of all the others. It's interesting to see the great deed, or grand gesture, that one must perform in order to hold such a position.

The young boy who was sick but ended up surviving was approached by the older man, the pathfinder. As he feared, respected, and listened to him, I felt that the scene when the rest of the villagers left and the boy was in the tent with the pathfinder, it was a sort of passing of the torch, the challenge to be the next pathfinder.

When the boy surives the cliff scenario where he defeats the agressors, he earns the fear and respect of the village and becomes pathfinder. It is interesting to see that tradition, that role being passed to the village's new generation.