Lullaby

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Leslie Marmon Silko grew up on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. Her parents were of white American, Native American, and Mexican descent. Silko’s early life was characterized by racial marginalization, as her Laguna blood quantum level did not meet tribal requirements, meaning she was not allowed to participate in rituals or enroll as an official citizen of the Laguna Pueblo. Despite this, Silko’s grandmother and great-grandmother told her traditional stories of the Laguna people, and she identifies strongly with her Laguna heritage. Much of Silko’s writing grapples with what it means to be neither fully white nor fully Native American. In 1969, she earned a BA in English Literature from the University of New Mexico and went on to pursue a full-time literary career. Early on, Silko’s short story “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Discovery Grant. From 1968 to 1974, Silko wrote many of the short stories and poems featured in her first full-length publication, Laguna Woman. Other notable works include her critically-acclaimed novel Ceremony, about a wounded Laguna World War II veteran who returns home to heal; Storyteller, a collection of poems, stories, and autobiographical essays; and Almanac of the Dead, a novel focusing on the conflict between white and Native Americans.

The Vietnam War was a conflict lasting from 1955 to 1975, fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The North was supported by communist states such as the Soviet Union and China, while the South received aid from the United States and other anti-communist allies. Many Americans opposed U.S. involvement in Vietnam, protesting involuntary drafting procedures and imperialist motives. Approximately 42,000 Native Americans served in the armed forces during the war. Based on the time period in which “Lullaby” was written, it is likely this is the war that killed Ayah’s son, Jimmie. On another note, in 1958, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League of America came together to form the Indian Adoption Project, an initiative promoting the adoption of Native American children by white families. Although the actual numbers of children affected are unknown, some sources have argued that the IAP was responsible for the forced adoption of over 12,000 Native American children between 1961 and 1976. The 1970s also saw the rise of Native American activist groups such as the American Indian Movement, who occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in 1972, demanding renegotiation of treaties and improved living standards for their people who were suffering. Silko’s “Lullaby” showcases many of the injustices suffered by Native communities during this time period and invokes the grief of a mourning mother to condemn them.

Silko is recognized as a significant contributor to the Native American Renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s, during which a surge of indigenous writers published works focused on historical revisionism, heritage reclamation, and a renewed interest in tribal tradition. Author N. Scott Momaday and poet Joy Harjo are other influential figures in this literary movement. Momaday’s 1968 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, House Made of Dawn—widely credited for leading the breakthrough of Native literature into the mainstream—makes moves similar to Silko’s work by exploring the complexities of indigenous identities. Additionally, Joy Harjo’s 1975 chapbook entitled The Last Song grapples with the fragmented history and spiritual experiences of Native Americans, a cultural fracturing that is all too familiar to the characters of “Lullaby.” Silko’s own novel Ceremony, first published in 1977, deals with themes similar to those found in “Lullaby.” The novel tells the story of a wounded World War II veteran who comes home to his impoverished reservation haunted by memories of a cousin who died in the war, similar to Ayah’s traumatic memories of her children. The importance of community, whose absence is central in “Lullaby,” comes into play when the man’s family helps him cope, heal, and reconcile with his trauma. In this way, Silko’s work often circles themes of cultural dissonance and fractured identities, exploring the lives of contemporary indigenous Americans with an eye for nuance.