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| Neb English Support Class 12 |
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
GLOSSARY
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
gusts (n): a brief, strong rush of wind
intently (adv.): with earnest and eager attention
luminous (adj.): full of or shedding light; bright or shining, especially in the dark
moccasins (n): soft leather slippers or shoes
shuffling (n): the action of walking without lifting one's feet fully from the ground
venison (n): meat from a deer
ABOUT THE WRITER
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
Name: Leslie Marmon Silko
Date of Birth: March 5, 1948
Nationality: American
She was a native American novelist, poet, and essayist.
Her Notable Works:
Short stories and the poetry collection Laguna Woman (1974).
Her other works:
Ceremony (1977)
Storyteller (1981)
Almanac of the Dead (1991)
Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today (1996).
Most of her works often focus on the incompatibility between American Indian and white cultures.
ABOUT THE STORY
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
"Lullaby" is a short story by a native American writer, Leslie Marmon Silko. This story is about an old woman named Ayah, who reminisces about the tragic events of her life. She recalls how her children were once taken away for education and how they returned to a culture that no longer seemed familiar or comfortable. Ayah is the main character, who doesn't directly tell the story to another person. Her memories are included in the story.
Lullaby Meaning:
Lullaby was a cradle song especially sung to make children sleep.
MAIN THEMES
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
We find various themes here in this story, such as the tradition of storytelling, tradition and change, maternal relationships, death and loss, racial and cultural suppression or oppression, language barriers, etc.
SETTING
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
The story takes place in Navajo country during the winter season.
ABOUT THE STORY
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
The story "Lullaby" is about reminiscence and was written by Leslie Marmon Silko, a native American writer, poet, novelist, and essayist. This story has been extracted from Leslie Marmon Silko's book "Storyteller," which was published in 1981.
This story has been told from the third-person point of view. The main character here in this story is Ayah, an elderly native American tribal woman (Navajo). Here in this story, we find her remembering her past.
MAIN SUMMARY
Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko
This short story, "Lullaby," has been written by a native American writer, Leslie Marmon Silko. The main character here in this story is an elderly Navajo (American tribal woman). Ayah lives in New Mexico with her husband, Chato. When the story starts, we find both husband and wife near the town of Cebolleta. Cebolleta is the place where both Ayah and her husband go every month to receive their welfare check. Ayah's husband, Chato, mostly spends money on drinking alcohol. In the first scene, we find Chato at a bar, drinking alcohol.
Ayah waits for her husband, Chato, near a creek. As she is waiting, she watches the snow fall. She sees a tuft of wool as she sees the snow. She remembers her past life as she sits under a cottonwood tree. She is wrapped in an Army blanket that was provided to her by her now-dead son Jimmie, and she finds herself remembering the blankets that her grandmother and mother taught her to knit. She also remembers Jimmie’s birthplace, a traditional Navajo hogan, and his birth, an event attended by Ayah's mother.
As she keeps on remembering her past, Ayah remembers the day when a representative of the US military came to her home and informed her of her son Jimmie's death. Since Ayah did not know or speak English, her husband Chato had to translate the news for her. Ayah never believes her son Jimmie's death to be entirely real, but she nonetheless senses his absence keenly. She particularly regrets that Jimmie was not there the day some white doctors arrived to inform her that her two young children, Ella and Danny, were to be treated for tuberculosis. Without understanding what the doctor was saying and eager to let them go, Ayah signs her name on the papers that they presented to her.
When Ayah saw that the men wanted to take her children, she fled with the children to the hills. However, the doctors returned with the police the next day and forced them to surrender Ella and Danny. This incident echoes the loss suffered by Ayah when some of her infant children died while they were still very young. Since Chato taught her to sign her name in English, Ayah blamed him for the loss of the children and refused to sleep next to him for years. She slept only on his return, when he was fired by his employer, a white rancher, for being too old. “That had satisfied her. To see how the white man repaid Chato’s years of loyalty and work.”
After her reminiscences, back in the present, Ayah decides to go to Azzie's bar in search of her husband, Chato. When she moves inside, the men inside the bar respond to her presence with suspicion, which reminds her of the woman who twice brought Danny and Ella home to meet. The woman was clearly uncomfortable, and by the second visit, Ella herself had forgotten her mother and looked at her in fear. Danny, although he remembered Ayah, had largely forgotten how to speak Navajo. As the woman left with the children, it was clear that they would not return.
After failing to find her husband, Chato, at the bar, Ayah seeks him outside. She decides to leave Cebolleta and waits to return to her hogan, where they keep some sheep and a fast-drying garden. As she approaches Chato, who is already suffering from dementia, he looks at her as if he can't remember who she is. A storm is approaching, so she requests that he take shelter with her behind a boulder and wraps him in her blanket. As the storm passes, Ayah looks up at the starry sky and feels an overwhelming sense of calm. The sound of the storm reminds her of the Yeibechei (Navajo holy people). Realising that Chato, who has fallen asleep, is dying, Ayah sings a traditional lullaby.
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