Yellow Woman

Even though “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko was a straightforward story, I was still confused about the meanings behind all the actions and symbols. The whole tone of the story was mellow and never seemed to rise (at least to me), even when the yellow woman runs away from the white man whom she and Silva confront. Furthermore, the time the story was set felt like it was way in the past—but at one point the narrator mentions “highways and pickup trucks” (1135). The whole story just felt ambiguous. Heck, even the narrator’s character is not clear. She originally tells Silva that she is Yellow Woman, but the day after their little escapade, she tells him she isn’t—but never reveals her true identity. She keeps saying that she isn't the mythical woman whom her grandfather often told stories about; Silva even says he does not believe in the stories. He believes that every generation keeps believing that the story could not possibly happen in present times-- that old stories stay in the past. What's funny is that the yellow woman contributes to the old Yellow Woman stories by telling her family that "some Navajo had kidnapped" her (1140).

It wasn’t that I disliked the story completely—I just didn’t appreciate the characters. The Yellow Woman clearly has a woman back home, but every time she tries to leave Silva, she forgets where she’s going or why she decided to leave in the first place. What is she looking for, exactly? A man who just orders her around? It’s like she’s stuck in an abusive relationship—except she’s barely known him for 48 hours. And Silva—I don’t even know what to think of him. He steals cattle from the Mexicans for a living—he admits it to the narrator—and even steals the yellow woman. Not that I think of women as objects, but I’m pretty sure that Silva views the world as things to be permanently borrowed—as if there are no boundaries between people and things. There is no remorse in his actions; he is not necessarily cold. Just unfeeling. I think it’s interesting that the word “silva” means forest or trees. In the same way, nature tends to take things away—steal them, perhaps—without necessarily being cold. It’s just the way the river flows.

Overall, the story was okay. It wasn’t my favorite of the year. The characters weren’t as unlikable as some; I just wish they were more… defined, I suppose.