Waterless Mountain belongs to the universal literary tradition of the ritesof-passage story that traces an adolescent's acquisition of knowledge about himself or herself and the world. In Waterless Mountain, the rites-of-passage motif fuses with the journey motif, during which the questing hero or heroine experiences a separation, a series of adventures, and a return.

Younger Brother's separation occurs when he begins his journey in quest of the Turquoise Woman. During his journey, he experiences different adventures—his meeting with the white boy during the sand storm, his encounter with the renegade Cut Finger, the tragic flood at the camp called Beautiful Under the Cottonwoods, and the strange, marvelous inventions in the white man's twentieth-century world. When he returns from his quest, he has matured and gained knowledge about himself and Navajo traditions. Complementing these exciting adventures are the Navajo legends that Armer weaves into the...