Yellow Woman
Essay Preview: Yellow Woman
Report this essay
“I decided to tell them that some Navajo had kidnapped me, but I was sorry that old grandpa wasnt alive to hear my story because it was the Yellow Woman stories he liked to tell best.” Throughout the story, “Yellow Woman”, the yellow woman goes through a phase that has her locked out from her real life. The main conflict in the story would be that she becomes the Yellow Woman not knowing it, and denying that she became part of a story. She is confused throughout the whole story because she is being manipulated by a man she had just met. He treats her bad and counters his actions by showing her the beauty of her surrounding and by feeding her.
In the beginning of the story she appears to be waking up with Silva who tells her that she must go with him. At that point she talks about Yellow Woman, and states, “the old stories about the katsina spirit and Yellow woman cant mean us.” She is clearly denying that she is Yellow Woman and that occurred back in the old days. In a way she doesnt like Silva but enjoys his company. For example, when she leaves with Silva she stopped trying to resist his grip on her wrist because she had felt comfortable and warm with his hand. She ends up liking his company even though he was rude to her.
Little by little, she falls into the footsteps of Yellow Woman. The reason why she becomes Yellow Woman would be, she ask him “Do you always use the same tricks?” She clearly states she knows she is not the first to fall for the old story about “Ðkatsina
Hernandez 2
from the mountainsÐ…Yellow Woman.” She then again neglects she is Yellow Woman and says, “I dont believe it. Those stories couldnt happen now.” She obviously realizes how badly she is being used. He is using not only his strength, but sex as well, as an object of power and is manipulating her with it. He even tells her, “But someday they will talk about us, and they will say ÐThose two lived long ago when things like that happened.” It is funny because he is telling her she is Yellow Woman and that they will be talked about years from now. When they are about to go sleep, she turns her back to Silva after teasing him. He then pins her down and says, “You dont understand Yellow Woman Ð…You will do what I want.” She has no choice but to give in to him because she knew that his strength could hurt her and he can destroy her.
The fact that he feeds her is maybe why she gets so used to him.