Yellow Woman And A Beauty Of The Spirit Summary

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Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit” focuses on the ideas of beauty and identity, specifically how her understanding of these ideas changed as she grew older. Throughout the text, Silko’s structure effectively establishes her beliefs and values through her use of flashbacks to integral people and events in her life and her retelling of the stories of her people. This organization not only makes her points clear, but it also makes the text convincing and engaging for the reader.
Flashbacks are a device that Silko takes advantage of in order to display her progress and development as she grows older. By explaining her understanding of the fact that she “looked different from [her] playmates” and how she “sensed immediately …show more content…

As she retells the story of Thought Woman and the Mother Creator, Silko tells her audience that her people believe that “in this universe, there is no absolute good or...bad; there are only balances and harmonies that ebb and flow,” allowing the reader to understand some of the context for the acceptance of her appearance. (Silko, Pg. 64). She goes on to explain that in her culture, “each being or thing is unique and therefore incomparably valuable,” and that uniqueness was a valuable part in the consideration of an individual’s soul as beautiful. (silko, Pg. 64). The set of stories Silko praises most highly are those centered around Kochininako, or Yellow Woman, and “the beauty of her passion, her daring, and her sheer strength to act when catastrophe is imminent.” (Silko, Pg. 70). Silko admires Yellow Woman for these traits, even going so far as to say that she pictures her with similar physical characteristics as herself, and explains that “from Yellow Woman’s adventures…[she] learned to be comfortable with…[her] differences.” (Silko, Pg.

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