Maternal Kinship and Community Theme Analysis

Examples of maternal bonds and female community in Ayah’s culture bookend “Lullaby,” and the loss of such community has profoundly affected Ayah’s life. Early on, Ayah fondly recalls the way her mother and grandmother taught her to weave warm blankets. In another flashback, Ayah’s mother is the first person she goes to for help when giving birth, and her mother in turn “went to call the old woman to help them.” Based on these recollections, it becomes clear that Ayah grew up in a close-knit community where women passed specialized knowledge and skills to one another as a rite of passage. This kind of kinship and community is completely absent in Ayah’s life in the present. Chato, the only family member who is still present in Ayah’s life, consistently fails to stand up for her. Even after 40 years of marriage, Ayah often feels like Chato is a stranger.

Ella, Ayah’s only living daughter, was taken from her at a very young age and barely recognizes her mother during her rare visits. The white woman who looks after Ella has no desire to understand Ayah’s life or customs and makes no effort to return Ayah’s children to her. Though Ayah mourns for all her lost children, these memories of Ella read as particularly painful, as Ayah will never be able to connect with her daughter the way her mother and grandmother did with her. Thinking of Ella near the story’s end, she remembers the titular lullaby, again passed down by the women in her family. She has lost her chance to sing it to Ella, who is now a different person, separated from the community she was born into. By juxtaposing the community Ayah has with the community she has lost, Silko implies that the loss of this maternal kinship spells the end not only of Ayah’s individual family but also of her culture as a whole, with no one left to hear or carry on the lullaby.