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Characterization and Symbolism in "Yellow Woman" Essay

Decent Essays

Characterization and Symbolism in “Yellow Woman” In the short story “Yellow Woman”, Leslie Marmon Silko uses characterization and symbolism to address personal and cultural identity. After reading “Yellow Woman”, a sense of mystery is imposed on the reader. Much of the story centers on the identity of the two main characters with issues of duty and desires, social obligations, and the human and spiritual worlds. Taking place in 1970’s New Mexico, the author reveals the aesthetic beauty of a Native American homeland and culture through detail and color. The story begins with an ambiguous protagonist/narrator identified as Yellow Woman who is trapped between a dreamlike world and reality. Her naivety is revealed at the start when …show more content…

Silva’s obscure identity is questioned by Yellow Woman throughout the story. The reader doesn’t exactly know who he really is and he gives Yellow Woman vague answers to her simple questions: “Little Yellow Woman”, he said, “you never give up, do you? I have told you who I am. The Navajo people know me too” (Silko 765). Silva was the one who addressed the narrator as Yellow Woman giving her a sense of identity and confusion because of the myth she remembered her grandfather told her. Silva could possibly be the ka’tsina spirit that lives in the mountains or just a stranger she met, the readers will never know for sure and neither will Yellow Woman. Later in the story, Silva and Yellow Woman both take meat that Silva claimed he stole to sell to the Mexicans. Silva informs Yellow Woman about the limitations and boundaries that are set upon the Native Americans: “The Navajo reservation begins over there”. He pointed to the east. “The Pueblo boundaries are over there”. He looked below us to the south, where the narrow trail seemed to come from. “The Texans have their ranches over there, starting with that valley, the Concho Valley. The Mexicans run some cattle over there too” (Silko 765).
While crossing the valley, a white rancher spots and questions them. Silva tells Yellow Woman to leave him with the white rancher. She does so and rides away, hearing four gun-shots. In

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