Darkness/Light ... the Underworld Life/the Surface Life

This theme manifests in two ways in many stories in this book. The first is relatively literal; the second is more metaphorical. In terms of the first, there are a number of stories in the book in which Indian people (and animals) literally emerge from darkness into light, leaving an existence in the dark underground to come into a new life on the well-lit surface. For an example, see the first stories in Part 1 Section 2 ("How the Sun Came") and Part 2, Section 1 ("How the People Came to the Middle Place"). These are both examples of creation myths; descriptions of how both natural and living elements came into their living, harmonious relationship. It's important to note that this literal movement, this actual emergence from darkness into light, also carries with it the second, more metaphorical meaning-the emergence from ignorance into knowledge. This...