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Themes
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lullaby, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
“Lullaby” is largely made up of the flashbacks of an elderly Navajo woman named Ayah, and nearly all of them center on some loss that Ayah continues to carry with her in the present. As an old woman now, Ayah’s “life ha[s] become memories,” and these recollections are triggered by actions as simple as wrapping herself in her son Jimmie’s old army blanket. Although she initially tries not to think of Jimmie, turning instead to pleasant memories of her mother and grandmother, she eventually ends up dwelling on his death. This loss is intertwined with even more painful memories: if Jimmie had not died, he could have worked for his father when Chato was injured on the job, and if he had been present when the doctors came for Ayah’s two younger children—Danny and Ella—he would have stopped Ayah from signing away her right to keep them. In this way, Ayah’s memories flow into one another and create a torrent of grief—mainly grief for the children she has lost.
Despite the painful nature of these memories, Ayah continues to dwell on them, and the story suggests a profound reason for this: the memories bring comfort as well as pain. Recalling the time after Danny and Ella were taken away, Ayah describes the pain as “worse than if they had died.” She has lost even more children than the three who are named in the story, and she buried the others in the nearby hills. Though they are dead, they are close to her physically, and Ayah takes comfort in that closeness. Unlike these children, Ayah was never able to bury Jimmie’s body, and this distance makes his memory less comforting to her than the memory of her other dead children. Similarly, at the end of the story, the grief triggered by the memory of tucking Ella beneath a blanket coincides with a “rush so big inside her heart” of intense love and longing. At the heart of this story, then, Silko points to the contradictory nature of grief, emphasizing how the memory of loss can bring comfort as well as sorrow.
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Memory, Loss, and Grief ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Memory, Loss, and Grief appears in each chapter of Lullaby. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Chapter
Lullaby
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Memory, Loss, and Grief Quotes in Lullaby
Below you will find the important quotes in Lullaby related to the theme of Memory, Loss, and Grief.
Lullaby Quotes
Ayah reached out for it like her own babies had, and she smiled when she remembered how she had laughed at them. She was an old woman now, and her life had become memories.
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This passage comes near the beginning of the story, when Ayah is wandering through heavy snow and remembering the way her children liked to play in it. As an elderly woman, the days when her children were babies are long past. This quote firmly situates Ayah in the end stages of her life, when memories are all that she has left. Early on, the story connects elements of nature to family and memory, all of which are central themes. The snowstorm that surrounds Ayah in the present symbolizes that she is nearing the end of her life’s journey and is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium
She did not want to think about Jimmie. So she thought about the weaving and the way her mother had done it. On the tall wooden loom set into the sand under a tamarack tree for shade. She could see it clearly. She had been only a little girl when her grandma gave her the wooden combs to pull the twigs and burrs from the raw, freshly washed wool.
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In this passage, Ayah takes shelter from the storm beneath Jimmie’s old army blanket. Based on her direct avoidance of remembering Jimmie, the reader can infer that Ayah associates him with pain. Returning to recollections brought on by the woolly snow, she turns instead to happy memories of weaving blankets with her mother and grandmother. This moment provides a glimpse into Ayah’s birth community through the skills and knowledge passed down to her by the women who raised her. This focus on female kinship figures heavily in the rest of the story, as it is one of the most significant Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis co
She felt peaceful remembering. She didn’t feel cold any more. Jimmie’s blanket seemed warmer than it had ever been. And she could remember the morning he was born. She could remember whispering to her mother, who was sleeping on the other side of the hogan, to tell her it was time now. […] The morning was already warm even before dawn and Ayah smelled the bee flowers blooming and the young willow growing at the springs.
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In this passage, Ayah remembers Jimmie’s birth despite her efforts not to think about him. The memory warms her, perhaps because it took place in summer. That her mother was present to offer her support during this formative moment again emphasizes the close-knit familial connections Ayah experienced in her youth. In this scene, Ayah’s memories seem to directly affect her physical state. They warm her, despite the cold. The summer sun as she remembers it on the day Jimmie was born is symbolic of a happy pinnacle in her life, a personal season of contentment. Here again, the story connects Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor as
It wasn’t like Jimmie died. He just never came back, and one day a dark blue sedan with white writing on its doors pulled up in front of the boxcar shack where the rancher let the Indians live. A man in a khaki uniform trimmed in gold gave them a yellow piece of paper and told them that Jimmie was dead. He said the Army would try to get the body back and then it would be shipped to them; but it wasn’t likely because the helicopter had burned after it crashed. All of this was told to Chato because he could understand English.
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In this passage, Ayah falls into the memory of Jimmie’s death that she has been trying to avoid. The grief she feels is intense and complex; the fact that his body hasn’t been brought back amplifies the distance between mother and son, adding an extra layer of separation. Later, she will feel similarly about Danny and Ella, who—though still alive—exist so far away from her that it is worse than if they were dead. Here, too, is the first example of the power dynamics present in the discriminatory and oppressive system in which Ayah and her family live. The line Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut.
The sun warmth relaxed her and took the fear and anger away. She lay back on the rock and watched the sky. It seemed to her that she could walk into the sky, stepping through clouds endlessly. Danny played with little pebbles and stones, pretending they were birds eggs and then little rabbits. Ella sat at her feet and dropped fistfuls of dirt into the breeze, watching the dust and particles of sand intently.
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This scene takes place after Ayah, Danny, and Ella flee into the nearby hills to hide from the white doctors. Being surrounded by the natural world calms Ayah’s heightened emotions and brings her peace. Danny and Ella, like their mother, seem to enjoy being in the natural world. This scene strengthens the connection between nature and familial identity by showing that the serenity Ayah attains in nature has already been passed on to her young children. For Ayah, home is a specific place existing in conjunction with the physical nearness of one’s family; she has buried other lost children in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint ape
It was worse than if they had died: to lose children and to know that somewhere, in a place called Colorado, in a place full of sick and dying strangers, her children were without her. There had been babies that died soon after they were born, and one that died before he could walk. She had carried them herself, up to the boulders and great pieces of the cliff that long ago crashed down from Long Mesa; she laid them in the crevices of sandstone and buried them in fine brown sand with round quartz pebbles that washed down the hills in the rain. She had endured it because they had been with her.
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This passage comes after the white doctors take Danny and Ella away from Ayah and Chato, claiming that the children have inherited an unspecified disease. Recalling her other children, who died young, Ayah was able to bear those losses because she buried the bodies near her, taking comfort in the fact that they were close. This is not so with Danny and Ella, and the separation, for Ayah, is worse than death. This passage brings to mind Jimmie’s death, made worse by his lack of a proper burial. The burial of these unnamed children is intimate and as comforting as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Per
Ayah watched the government car disappear down the road and she knew they were already being weaned from these lava hills and from this sky.
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This moment takes place after Danny and Ella are brought to visit Ayah and Chato for the first time since their removal. Her children already seem distant, and they are not allowed to stay for long. Afterward, Ayah can sense that these visits are not part of a process to bring her children back to her, but rather to separate them permanently. The use of the word “wean” in this passage calls to mind maternal images of breastfeeding and parental care. Its presence here is intentionally ironic: instead of their mother weaning them from her breast, Danny and Ella are Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde
She tucked the blanket around him, remembering how it was when Ella had been with her; and she felt the rush so big inside her heart for the babies. And she sang the only song she knew to sing for babies. She could not remember if she had ever sung it to her children, but she knew that her grandmother had sung it and her mother hand sung it:
The earth is your mother,
she holds you,
The sky is your father,
he protects you.
[…]
We are together always
There was never a time
when this
was not so.
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This passage ends the story, with Ayah tucking Chato in the way she used to do for Ella, knowing that he will soon be gone from this world. The lullaby she sings was sung to her as a child, though she cannot remember singing it to her own children and now will never get the chance. The lullaby’s words hammer home the connection between nature and family, emphasizing togetherness as an essential and natural state of being. Moving through this passage, the reader touches on many of the themes that are central to the story. The grief Ayah feels remembering Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas
