Yellow Woman Leslie Marmon Silko\'s

Yellow Woman

Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman

For thousands of years people have passed folktales from generation to generation. The American Heritage dictionary defines a folktale as the traditional beliefs, practices, legends, and tales of uncommon people relayed orally. Many people believe that folktales are a dead media and lessons taught through folktales have no relevance in our current society. Leslie Marmon Silko argues just the opposite however in her work "Yellow Woman," proving that folktales can still be part of our present and future. By selecting the first person point-of-view Silko connect the reader to yellow woman and shows that Native American Folktales can still have relevance in today's world. Silko also places current themes into the short story to relate the reader to the time and place of Yellow Woman. Leslie Marmon Silko revives folktales in her short story Yellow Woman, as explained below.

Using first person narration Silko integrates Pueblo folktale tradition to reinforce her theme. The first word in the opening paragraph Silko uses is "my." "My" is understood as of or relating to "me" or "myself" as possessor, agent or object of an action. Silko uses first person narration as a means of connecting with the narrator. For example, the first line in the opening paragraph starts with, "My thigh clung to his with dampness, and I watched the sun rising through the tamaracks and willows" (495). Silko uses possessive adjectives to explain what the narrators feels and how she feels it Only through first person narration is this possible. The first person also adds a sense of reality to the storing making it more genuine. For example, the narrator constantly says, "I had stopped trying to pull away from him, because his hand felt cool and the sun was high, drying the riverbed In alkali (497). The constant "I" and connection to the human sense of what she sees, hears, and feels makes the story more realistic. The constant similarities from the narrator to real life gives the reader a unique connection. The readers is able to interpret how the narrator feels and connect with the contemporary Yellow Woman so that the reader can relate to the Yellow Woman even in present-day or contemporary society.

Within Leslies Silkos' work the narrator seems confused about her role in the story. The narrator is split minded that she is possible the yellow woman from her grandfathers story and question the stories legitimacy. One way she finds herself connected to the past living story, yet realizes she is in the present and old folktales like yellow woman do not occur anymore.

Another point Silko brings out is the Yellow Woman is unnamed as is the current narrator, leaving the reader with an open opinion. (Explain more here).

Throughout "Yellow Woman," the narrator plays the role of the yellow woman despite her disbeliefs. So why does the narrator lead herself to robbery and intercourse? The narrator is pressured many ways into becoming the yellow woman one including her grandfather. She thinks to herself, "But if grandpa weren't dead he would tell them what happened... She'll come home they usually do" (499). In the paragraph the narrator seems to have much more respect for her grandfather than anybody else. That leads to another reason being she is bored with her life and wants adventure. Many times in the short story she includes her family being fine without her. For example she thinks to herself, "There are enough of them to handle things. My mother and grandmother will raise the baby like they raised me. Al will find somebody else, and they will go on like before." (499). She feels like she is insignificant and now she can have an adventure and break out of her contained life.

In Yellow Woman Silva seems the biggest influence on the narrator. Silva connects the narrator to the story and makes it questionable for the narrator to take the actions she takes. He keeps his identity mysterious so the narrator is unsure whether he is the true Kat'sina spirit. For example, a scene in the hut Silva says, "But someday they will talk about us, and they will say, 'Those two loved long ago when things like that happened." (498). Upon finishing his statement the narrator does not refuse, either she agreed with him or thought of it as truth. Silva's role to adapt to the yellow woman story made it more convincing for the narrator. All of the persuasion the narrator feels is possible in today' time which makes it relevant.

In Yellow Woman Leslie Marmon Silko does an excellent job of combining myth with reality, making the folktale more a reflection of everyday experiences within the context of Native American life. The work shares the story of a Native American woman who is literally swept up in the myth of her Native American people. The detail Silko provides helps or "blur" the distinction that exists between myth and reality by combining Native American everyday existence and experiences with the many myths that permeate and enrich this culture (Napierkowski, 1). They folktale helps the reader separate the Yellow Woman's relationship with the land and spirits within the land, as well as differentiate between fictional stories and every day reality. The tale helps not only "recreate" but also comment "upon the oral traditions that have sustained the Laguna Pueblo community" (Napierkowski, 1). Silko also works to explore "the intersection between traditional stories and individual voice" by using mythological Indian lore (Napierkowski, 2). This is combined with historical facts as "a kind of counterpoint to her special music" writing with "intensity" that helps distinguish her work from traditional stories (Napierkowski, 2).