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An Analysis Of Silva's Yellow Women

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The narrator of “Yellow Women” seems to be caught between two separate worlds one that is spiritual and is mostly referenced in the past in stories that her grandfather told her growing up, and then there is the natural world of the present with all the modern commodities and her family. Yet, she seems to be attached to neither of these two worlds denying the spiritual as a thing of the past that can never happen again while holding no real connection to the present one not even through her husband and child. Because of this she is discontent and never makes any real, conscious choices. In the first part of the story the narrator wakes up at dawn after what seems to be a long night of lovemaking by the river. Feeling hungry she gets up and walks …show more content…

She straddles one of the horses, grabs the other by its lead, and goes back to where she left her sleeping partner. After she wakes him up she tells him that she is leaving, but he has other plans saying,”You are coming with me, remember?”(2543). He then calls her Yellow Women which she seems to disagree with him saying that, “I only said that you were him and that I was Yellow Women… I have my own name… Your name is Silva and you are a stranger I met by the river yesterday afternoon”(2543). They go on like this for a little while until the narrator flashes back to the story her grandfather told her about a girl and a coyote, and the story of the Yellow Women. She tells Silva that she doesn’t have to go with him because that’s what happens in the stories and this isn’t a story. Eh tells her to go with him and she does. They continue to walk until the sun is high in the sky. The narrator tries to

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