- It's set in Texas on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. The land is very dry there because there is drought and it's usually just a dry place. The time is post WWII, but Tayo's memories tend to drift back to the war where he was in a jungle and the hospital he was in after.
- Leslie Marmon Silko is part of the Laguna Pueblo, but she is half Hispanic.
- Tayo: Half-Laguna and half-white. A veteran from WWII who returns to the Laguna Reservation. He searches for his identity as he struggles to find a balance between part white and part Laguna cultures.
- Rocky: Tayo's older cousin who was raised like a brother with Tayo. Rocky was involved in a lot of white culture such as playing football and going to college. He did not engage in many Laguna traditions. Rocky dies during the war.
- Josiah: Tayo's uncle who is calm and gentle. Josiah acted as a father figure to Tayo while he was growing up. He helped Tayo understand Laguna culture by telling him stories. He also had a relationship with a woman named Night Swan before Tayo left for the war.
- Aunty: The sister of Tayo's mother. During Tayo's childhood, Aunty is very unwelcoming towards Tayo and tried to keep him and Rocky apart as much as she could, not wanting Rocky to associate with Tayo.
- Grandma: Aunty and Josiah's mother. She is very wise and some how knows more gossip then everyone else, even though she rarely leaves the house.
- Betonie: A Navjo medicine man that Tayo goes to see to a cure for his illness. Betonie believes that ceremonies need to evolve as times change along with the culture.
- Shush: Betonie's assistant who and is associated with the bear boy of legend. Lived with bears while he was growing up.
- Ts'eh: A mysterious woman who Tayo meets while searching for Josiah's lost cattle. She and Tayo become lovers.
- Emo: Another veteran, and Tayo's rival since childhood. Emo is strongly associated with the evil witchery in the story.
- The story begins with Tayo at home on the reservation, struggling to sleep. He flashes back to during the war where he sees the face of Josiah on a dead enemy soldier, leaving him in shock and Rocky unable to console him. He flashes back again to his time in a veteran's hospital with an extended metaphor comparing him to smoke. During his stay he was disconnected from reality, drifting in and out of communication. The story returns to the present where Tayo's friend Harley shows up on a burro and the two set off on burro and mule to the bar. While they ride, Tayo flashes back to a time when a Laguna medicine man, Ku'oosh, tries to help Tayo to no avail. He then remembers a time when him and Rocky hunt a deer and Rocky avoids the traditions involved. In the present, Tayo and Harley arrive at the bar. Next, he flashes back to a time where Harley, Emo, Pinkie, Leroy, and him were at the bar and Tayo stabs Emo with a broken beer bottle. After this story, the action switches to the time when Tayo and Rocky both signed up to join the army together. The story describes Tayo's relationship with Auntie and how he was treated growing up. She made sure to keep a distance between him and Rocky as she saw him as a disgrace. He then recalls Josiah's cattle breeding venture in which he consults Rocky who swears by modern science. Tayo recalls getting the cattle and branding them. This then leads into an introduction of Night Swan, a Mexican woman who Josiah had an affair with. She is characterized as a mysterious and promiscuous women, who is generally looked down upon. Auntie and Grandma specifically disapprove because she is Mexican. Tayo then recalls a time where he goes to Night Swan to deliver a message for Josiah and then he and her have sex, where pretty much everything in the room is blue. In the present, Rocky leaves a drunk Harley at the bar. Walking through the town, he sees a store he remembers visiting as a child and recalls various fond memories. The store is now empty so he leaves and sleeps in a barn behind Harley's grandpa's house. Tayo returns home, now feeling well enough to help around the house. As Robert takes him through Gallup he sees some homeless Native Americans. An interwoven story begins about an unknown child of a Indian vagrant, who lives in destitution and has to fend for himself. Tayo is left with Betonie, a Navajo medicine man. At first he is frightened and unsure if he is the real deal, but he talks to him about the war and his problems and feels more comfortable. Betonie takes Tayo to begin the ceremony with the help of a strange, young assistant named Shush. He explains to him how white people are only an instrument of greater witchery, and the witches want Native Americans to blame white people. The next day, they relocate to the foothills of the Chuska Mountains for the second part of the ceremony which involves hoops and sticks relating to a traditional Laguna story. Throughout the whole ceremony, Betonie explains many Laguna stories and traditions. Betonie however says the ceremony is not complete. When Tayo leaves, he runs into Leroy and Harley who have a girl named Helen Jean in the car. The four go into the bar which leads to Harley and Leroy getting drunk, and Helen Jean ditching them for another guy. Tayo returns home and he decides to look for Josiah's runaway cattle. On his search he is invited into the house of an unknown woman whom Tayo recognizes as part of the ceremony. The two have sex and Tayo leaves the next day with a refreshed spirit. He sees the cows in a fenced area belonging to a white rancher and he struggles to think they could be stolen. He cuts a hole in the fence but is overcome with fatigue, collapses, and almost gives up all hope. He then encounters a mountain lion who leads him to the cattle. While he is trying to chase the cattle towards the hole he is caught by patrolmen of the rancher while the cattle escape. They eventually decide to leave him to pursue the mountain lion. When Tayo leaves he meets an Indian hunter who takes him to the woman from before's home, where they have been caring for the cattle. Tayo leaves without the cattle and comes back with Robert to retrieve them, and both the people are gone. After awhile, Grandma says that Tayo is "cured" but he keeps having dreams of the woman. He finds her camped out and it is revealed her name is T'seh. He spends the summer with her and then she tells him Emo and white police are looking for him, trying to send him back to the hospital. T'seh has to leave and Tayo hides from place to place, evading the police. Eventually they give up and Tayo gets picked up by Harley and Leroy. He falls asleep in their car but soon finds out they were picking him up to deliver to him to Emo. He runs off to an abandoned uranium mine which he recognizes as the final part of the ceremony. Emo, Pinkie, and Leroy arrive and torture Harley, trying to bait Tayo to come out. He resists the urge to hurt Emo and therefore resists witchery. Emo and the gang eventually leave and Tayo goes home. It is later revealed Harley and Leroy die in a car crash and Emo kills Pinkie and disappear. The story ends with Grandma saying the whole story sounds familiar.
- She uses Tayo to talk about the difficulty and anguish that goes along with being only half Native American, and characters such as Emo to create a tone of anger toward white people for their trespasses against natives. Silko seems to be saying that natives need to reclaim their native culture and learn to use white culture only where it can help them.
Imagery:
- The imagery in this novel is very vivid and usually is describing nature or giving special significance to something. Yellow and blue seem to pop up quite a bit within the novel and are obviously very important to Laguna culture.
- Direction of the Wind - The wind is frequently mentioned with its direction. Silko's exact purpose was a bit unclear to me but each direction represents something in particular that has to do with the scene.
- Storytelling - In Laguna culture stories are used to keep witchery away and evil. These stories are spun by grandmother spider. The storyline of the novel itself comes from Laguna stories, metaphorically.
- Color - The color of Tayo's eyes can be seen again and again, emphasizing his mixed heritage. Skin color is also often talked about to emphasize their race. The color yellow is very significant representing Corn Woman.
- "It seems like I already heard these stories before—only thing is, the names sound different." - This shows the circularity of the novel and history.
- "How did you know I'd be here?" He said, still watching the cattle. She laughed and shook her head, "the way you talk!" she said. "I was here almost a week before you came. How did you know I'd be here? Tell me that first." - It shows that this is fate and is like a story that has been told before.
Theme:
- Native Americans need to reclaim their culture and integrate white culture into the changing times.
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