Yellow Woman

- A main part of the Laguna Pueblo culture was oral storytelling
- Pueblo story tradition involves creating stories to help oneself and others be strong
- The Yellow Woman was the focus of Female fantasy stories in the Laguna Pueblo Culture- Both heroic and sexual, the Yellow Woman protects the Pueblos with her heroism and her uninhibited sexuality
- Yellow Woman tales embody both male and female qualities: an aggressive sexuality (male) but with a traditional object of female desire.
- A woman courageous in the service of her people and usually achieving success through sexuality rather than destruction

Theory 1
- A characteristic of the Yellow Woman is that she often lives away from the center of the village or behaves differently from the norm.
- This suggests that she is somewhat alienated from her people.
- This has been identified as a possible explanation for why Silko is so attracted to the character of the Yellow Woman.
- It is through the yellow woman’s character that we see a close resemblance of how Silko grew up
- Since her family lived at the edge of the reservation, they were excluded from the Laguna Pueblo rituals and their societies



Theory 2
- Storytelling is the collection of narratives by Silko in which “Yellow Woman” is included
- The collection centers around the theme of liberating female sexuality, often including a scene of encounter between a woman and a mysterious stranger.
- Silko uses the Yellow Woman to represent feminism in her texts
- This includes the union of personal independence, sexual freedom, and heroic endeavor for the community at large
- In the story, the element of transformed sexual transgression into heroism has been lost in the modern texts, leading to the question of whether or not this is a true portrayal of a Yellow Woman.
- This may explain the protagonist’s desire to give greater meaning to her adventure by attaching it to the Yellow Woman story
- This leads to the theme of Yellow Woman as the power which physical sensations and desire have to blot out the thought of home, family, and responsibility
- After the protagonist’s encounter with Silva, she returns to her domestic life without excitement.
- Instead of playing a part in the Yellow Woman myth, she will go back to her family