Yellow Woman

In “Yellow Woman,” the narrator is the protagonist and focal character. All the action of the story, every moment of ambiguity, every conflict, and every question revolves around her experience of the two days she spends with the mysterious Silva. As a result, she has a profound effect on the way readers interpret this piece of literature.

The central question and the conflict of the story revolve around the actual identity of the narrator. Silva only calls her “Yellow Woman,” a reference to the central character of the Yellow Woman myths and the title of the story. However, the narrator does not embrace this as her primary identity; the ambiguity surrounding her name and identity work together to highlight the Cultural Alienation experienced by many Indigenous Americans in the 20th century.

The uncertain connection between the narrator and Yellow Woman highlights the narrator’s character journey of discovering and choosing an identity. The name itself is specifically addressed: “I was wondering if Yellow Woman had known who she was […] maybe she had another name that her husband and relatives called her” (Paragraph 20). This ties the narrator both to Yellow Woman and to the conflict of identity inherent in the Yellow Woman myth.