Yellow Woman Story: Linda Hogan\'s \"Aunt Moon\'s

¶ … Yellow Woman Story: Linda Hogan's

"Aunt Moon's Young Man"

Native American literature recounts legends which have meaning for the people for thousands of years. Like stories told around the campfires of any early culture, the telling of tales kept the culture relevant through their maintenance of the group's shared history. Among those tales are the "Yellow Woman" stories of "the Keres of Laguna and the Acoma Pueblos in New Mexico" (Allen 226). These stories were about unconventional women who often did not accept traditional roles. Sometimes "she lives with her grandmother at the edge of the village, for example, or she is in some way atypical, maybe a woman who refuses to marry, one who is known for some particular special talent, or one who is very quick-witted and resourceful" (Allen 226). The tales continue in the writings of modern authors such as Linda Hogan whose short story "Aunt Moon's Young Man" describes the attitudes and journeys of three women who embody three levels of women found in many of the Yellow Woman legends. The story's narrator, her mother, and the title character Aunt Moon (Bess Evening), are all contributors, within the short, of the yellow woman mythos in different ways.

Most yellow woman stories discuss women in two different ways. The traditional woman who works in the home and provides for the young children is contrasted to the yellow woman character who is unconventional. It may seem from this description that the yellow woman would be an outcast or somehow disdained by the tribe, but the opposite truth is often the case. Allen says that "it is often her very difference that makes her special adventures possible, and these adventures often have happy outcomes for the Kochinnenako and for her people" (227). Since the woman is often a wise person or a medicine woman, the people of the tribe will esteem her rather than try to alienate her.

This is the type of woman that the Aunt Moon character is in "Aunt Moon's Young Man." She takes on many of the yellow woman characteristics. She lives outside of the village proper, she lives alone (having never married), and she is revered for her abilities with ancient remedies (Hogan 268). She is thought to have special powers, but, in the end, that is not why she becomes the true yellow woman figure.

The mother of the narrator is the conventional type in the yellow woman stories. She is the strong conventional woman who rules her household and attempts to rein in her daughter's unhealthy passions. The mother offers a contrast, as she should, in the story to Bess Evening. She does not want her daughter to fantasize about a life that is outside of the normal pattern for one from her background. The mother represents the solidity of an entrenched culture that has stood the test of time, and has succeeded despite constant harshness. She sees only ruin in the fancies her daughter and others like Aunt Moon.

The third character in the book is the narrator herself. She is always paying attention to what is going on around her and that is why she seems to cling to Aunt Moon. Bess is something different for the narrator. Besides the mother of the narrator, Bess is also contrasted to the other women in the town (Hogan 269). These women are unsupportive and petty. They are not close to one another, although they will get together and gossip about someone else, and they attack the narrator's favorite person which causes the narrator to have contempt for them (Logan 278).

The narrator is a mixture of the two types exhibited in the yellow woman legends. She is young and does not want to conform to the traditional roles. She sees Bess Evening as an authentic person, but she respects her mother even though she as contempt for what her mother represents. She is drawn to Aunt Moon, and her style of life, not only because it is different, but because it is free. The narrator seems to envy the relationship that Aunt Moon fosters and the life that she lives.

The main stories main plot is about the awakening of a young woman to the possibilities of her womanhood, and that is quickened in the relationship that Bess Evening begins with "her young man." He is a drifter who wanders into town from points unknown and he has the added mystery of being a full blooded Indian. Most of the people in the town are of mixed heritage, so this adds to his intrigue. The town's people watch as Bess forms a relationship with the young man and the gossip that ensues (Hogan 276). In the story, Bess becomes pregnant by the stranger and then he goes away for a long while. Eventually he does return and it is learned that he has escaped from jail. He was there because he was selling illegal herbs (Hogan 279).

This part of the story also has significance to the narrator and to the yellow woman stories. The yellow woman may have been someone who did not take on traditional roles, but that does not mean that she did not eventually lead a conventional life. The fact that Aunt Moon does get pregnant and get married, does not mean that she is still not the yellow woman. The legendary figure is more about the possibilities of the gender, that has been suppressed, than about the letter of the tale. Aunt Moon may accept more traditional roles, but she is still an individual.