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Yellow Woman/Narrator
The narrator meets Silva as he sits by the river bank. He claims to be ka’tsina (a mythical mountain spirit known for seducing native women) and says that he has been waiting for her. The narrator doesn’t know anything about Silva when they first meet and then spend the night together, and he remains a mysterious figure throughout the text. Although the narrator remains skeptical about their mythical identities, Silva regularly and calmly insists that he is ka’tsina and she is Yellow Woman (another character from mythology), and in this way slowly pulls the narrator into a world of half-myth, half-reality. Silva and his connection to the mountains provide the narrator with an opportunity to escape from her ordinary life and to explore her identity as more fluid than she originally thought. Silva only parts with the narrator after they encounter a hostile but unarmed white rancher and Silva orders her to leave. As she rides off, the sound of several gunshots leave the narrator and the reader wondering if Silva has killed the other man. The narrator returns home believing that Silva will one day be waiting for her again, as the Yellow Woman story goes.
Silva/Ka’tsina Quotes in Yellow Woman
The Yellow Woman quotes below are all either spoken by Silva/Ka’tsina or refer to Silva/Ka’tsina. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part One Quotes
“You are coming with me, remember?” He sat up now with his bare dark chest and belly in the sun.
“Where?”
“To my place.”
“And will I come back?”
He pulled his pants on. I walked away from him, feeling him behind me and smelling the willows.
“Yellow Woman,” he said.
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This brief dialogue establishes the premise of this text: the narrator has spent the night with a man, and the next morning, instead of returning to her home, she is pulled into a journey. Here, the man refers to her as “Yellow Woman,” the title character of the text, and by being the first to address her as such, he effectively names her. The narrator’s question demonstrates her attitude of deference to the stranger. By asking whether she will come back, she seems to imply that he has more control over her movements than she does. She also foreshadows that 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
But I only said that you were him and that I was Yellow Woman—I’m not really her—I have my own name and I come from the pueblo on the other side of the mesa. Your name is Silva and you are a stranger I met by the river yesterday afternoon.
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The narrator argues that she cannot possibly be the mythical Yellow Woman because she is a woman from the pueblo with another name. But, because the narrator does not give another name, she remains Yellow Woman to Silva and the reader. She attempts to gain control of the situation by identifying herself and Silva in familiar terms in order to pull herself out of the unknown and back into her familiar reality. Even though she explains that Silva is a stranger she met the day before, she also refers to him vaguely as “him” (probably referring to the ka’tsina spirit), Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incid
I was wondering if Yellow Woman had known who she was—if she knew that she would become part of the stories. Maybe she’d had another name that her husband and relatives called her so that only the ka’tsina from the north and the storytellers would know her as Yellow Woman.
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Though the narrator is thinking about Yellow Woman in the third person, she is describing herself and wondering if she could be both the woman from the pueblo and the mythical Yellow Woman character of the old stories. Her reference to a husband and relatives is the first indication that the narrator might be struggling to explain her disappearance to a waiting spouse and family. Her thoughts also start to explore the possibility of a more fluid identity—that is, the idea that she could exist as one person within her Pueblo community and as another person in the mountains with Dolorem et qua
“I don’t have to go. What they tell in stories was only real then, back in time immemorial, like they say.”
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The narrator argues that since she is an ordinary woman living in the present, she is not bound to that same fate as Yellow Woman—and doesn’t “have to” do what Yellow Woman did. Her understanding of myths is that they happened long ago, and such stories couldn’t happen in modern times. Her description of the mythology as “only real [back] then,” however, suggests that she believes the events described in the Yellow Woman mythology actually did occur at one point, so the disbelief is not in the story itself, but rather, that those same events could happen to her.
I will see someone, eventually I will see someone, and then I will be certain that he is only a man—some man from nearby—and I will be sure that I am not Yellow Woman. Because she is from out of time past and I live now and I’ve been to school and there are highways and pickup trucks that Yellow Woman never saw.
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Again, the narrator struggles to completely dismiss the notion that she and Silva are mythological figures. Wishing for external confirmation of their ordinariness indicates that she feels unable to confirm it for herself. The stream-of-consciousness sentence illustrates how her mind grasps for evidence, for something concrete to root her in a rational and comprehensible present. To her, old stories and their characters cannot exist in modern day because traditional myths and the modern but mundane normalcy seem mutually exclusive. However, the narrator’s inability to come to a resolution on this point suggests that time may not be as linear as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam
Part Two Quotes
“I don’t believe it. Those stories couldn’t happen now,” I said.
He shook his head and said softly, “But someday they will talk about us and they will say, ‘Those two lived long ago when things like that happened.’”
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Still trying to convince herself that the Yellow Woman mythology exists separately and long before her present moment, the narrator struggles to maintain a boundary between myth and reality. But, as Silva argues, stories are not confined by time, and the stories people tell about long-ago times are likely to be repeated in different iterations throughout history. It is unclear whether Silva simply has a loose grasp on reality, or whether he is speaking with a wise understanding of the ways in which history repeats itself. His later encounter with the white rancher, for example, seems to be a modern Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt.
From here I can see the world.
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From his dwelling place on the mountain, Silva claims to have supremely clear vision, which is something the narrator proves to be lacking when she identifies a town in the distance where, in reality, there isn’t one. Perhaps because Silva embraces and exists in the liminal space between mythology and reality, he possesses an insight that is as yet unattainable for people (like the narrator) who endeavor to keep a boundary between the two realms. Silva is repeatedly portrayed by the narrator as someone with access to a kind of preternatural power of perception. This perceptivity is linked to the 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 voluptate
He pulled me around and pinned me down with his arms and chest. “You don’t understand, do you, little Yellow Woman? You will do what I want.”
And again he was all around me with his skin slippery against mine, and I was afraid because I understood that his strength could hurt me. I lay underneath him and I knew that he could destroy me.
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Silva dominates the narrator after she turns away from his caresses, which is the second time during their journey that he becomes forceful with her. In these moments, their relationship seems more like abuse or abduction than a consensual romantic affair. The Yellow Woman of Pueblo mythology is a figure of uninhibited sexuality and empowerment, but the narrator’s experiences with Silva complicate her story as a potential Yellow Woman story because she alternates between feeling sexually liberated and oppressed with Silva. She knows that he could “destroy” her, and although this word choice is particularly powerful, it is unclear exactly 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 au
Silva had come for me; he said he had. I did not decide to go. I just went. Moonflowers blossom in the sand hills before dawn, just as I followed him.
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Since the narrator remains unsure about her identity, and therefore of her place in the narrative, she follows the person who seems sure of his identity, allowing him to take control of events. She presents her journey with Silva as a kind of fate against which she herself is powerless, but in comparing her passivity to flowers blooming, she seems to think of the forces compelling her to leave with him not as nefarious but as natural. By comparing the unfolding of their relationship to the blooming of flowers, the narrator seems to treat the Yellow Woman mythology as a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores
Part Three Quotes
“Where did you get the fresh meat?” the white man asked.
“I’ve been hunting,” Silva said, and when he shifted his weight in the saddle the leather creaked.
“The hell you have, Indian. You’ve been rustling cattle. We’ve been looking for the thief for a long time…Don’t try anything, Indian. Just keep riding to Marquez. We’ll call the state police from there.”
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This dialogue represents the story’s climax, in which Silva and the narrator come into a hostile confrontation with a white rancher. Though the narrator and the reader know that Silva steals cattle, the rancher has no real evidence on which to base his accusation other than the fact that Silva is a Native American man with fresh meat. By addressing Silva with a vague racial epithet, the rancher attempts to assert authority over him, and his reference to the state police gestures to the vestiges of colonial authority that reinforce the rancher’s sense of power over Silva.The white rancher embodies 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 ea
Part Four Quotes
I saw the leaves and I wanted to go back to him—to kiss him and to touch him—but the mountains were too far away now. And I told myself, because I believe it, he will come back sometime and be waiting again by the river.
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The narrator has finally separated from Silva and returned to the place along the river where they first met. She finds the leaves, evidence of their meeting, and experiences an urge to return to him, but the forces compelling her to stay with him seem to have slackened after their confrontation with the white rancher. Now that she is free to return home, it seems that she has embraced her fate as a Yellow Woman figure destined to meet the ka’tsina again. The river serve as a guiding force that led her to Silva, guides her way back home, and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet
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Silva/Ka’tsina Character Timeline in Yellow Woman
The timeline below shows where the character Silva/Ka’tsina appears in Yellow Woman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part One
...like she said but a woman from the pueblo, and he is a stranger named Silva.
(full context)
Silva continues to address the narrator as Yellow Woman, though she argues that they couldn’t possibly...
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...her role as the Yellow Woman of myths. The narrator’s thoughts are again interrupted as Silva pushes her into the river sand.
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...narrator’s thoughts again, and she thinks about how Yellow Woman left to live with the ka’tsina spirit for many years before returning to her home with twin boys. The narrator asks...
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Silva doesn't argue with her but simply says, “Let’s go,” and pulls her along with him....
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Silva and the narrator ride north on horseback and the narrator describes the change of scenery...
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Part Two
Once inside, the narrator takes in Silva’s living quarters that contain only an old stove, enamel coffee pot, worn Navajo blankets, a...
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...has walked through a landscape like this. From there, she cannot see her pueblo, but Silva claims that he can see the entire world. He points out the boundaries of Pueblo,...
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When the narrator asks if he works for the cattle ranches, Silva confesses that he steals from them. They go back inside and the narrator continues pondering...
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They climb under the blankets together and Silva kisses her face. The narrator asks him why he’s laughing and he tells her it’s...
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The narrator wakes the next morning to find that Silva has left. She recognizes this as an opportunity for her to return home but decides...
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...has reacted to her disappearance and knows her deceased grandfather would have understood that a ka’tsina had taken her into the mountain. She thinks about how her family would get along...
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...would tell about her disappearance and remembers that she had never decided to go with Silva—she simply went, just as “moonflowers blossom in the sand hills before dawn.” As she wanders...
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Silva asks her if she is coming with him to sell meat in a town called...
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Part Three
As Silva and the narrator make their way down the mountain, she looks off into the distance...
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A white rancher rides up to Silva and the narrator and demands to know where Silva got the fresh meat. Silva claims...
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Silva turns to the narrator and instructs her to ride back up the mountain. The white...
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Part Four
...drink the river water and sit in the shade. As she rests, she thinks about Silva, feeling sad that she left him. Even so, she still feels confused about him. Eventually...
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