Distinct from the river, the mountains are a mysterious and seemingly mythical place that represent an escape. The ka’tsina is a mountain spirit known for seducing native women, luring them away from their communities, and bringing them into the mountains. The association of the mountains with these seductive spirits makes the mountains seem like a mysterious and intriguing site of liberation. When the narrator stands in the mountains with Silva, she explains, “I was standing in the sky with nothing around me but the wind that came down from the blue mountain peak behind me.” In this statement, the narrator conveys her feelings of freedom. Moreover, the narrator’s thoughts about her family and home life reveal that she feels bored and doesn’t share strong intimate bonds with her family members. The mountain provides her an escape from the familiar and the mundane.
In addition to being physically elevated, the narrator also climbs further into the dreamscape of the mythology as she ascends the mountain. While she’s there, her senses deceive her, leaving her unable to distinguish between reality and mythology, and she wanders within this liminal space. Silva, as the mountain spirit, also offers her an escape from the ordinary. He’s mysterious and offers her the possibility of being someone other than an ordinary woman from the pueblo; with Silva in the mountain, she is the Yellow Woman of legend. In this way, too, the mountain is a site of spiritual elevation, helping characters rise above the ordinary to access a different dimension of experience.
The Mountains Quotes in Yellow Woman
From here I can see the world.
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.
The Mountains Symbol Timeline in Yellow Woman
