ENGL 2210 World Literature II

"Yellow Woman": Study Guide
  1. Main Issues
    1. Personal identity
    2. Marriage and adultery
    3. Duty and desire
    4. Crossing of moral and social boundaries
    5. Laguna Pueblo spirituality
    6. Relationship between myth and reality
  2. How did the two characters meet?
  3. What kind of an adventure is this? Romantic, purely sexual, mythological?
  4. Why do you think does the narrator follow Silva and accept the role of the Yellow Woman?
  5. Does she resist Silva? Why, or why not?
  6. How does the woman try to assure herself that she is not Yellow Woman?
  7. Does the narrator feel guilty about what has happened?
  8. Do you think the narrator was seduced? What does it mean to be "seduced"?
  9. How does the narrator describe the sexual experience with Silva? What does he find appealing about him?
  10. How is the issue of personal identity dealt with in the story? The narrator is not sure whether she is or is not Yellow Woman.
  11. How does the narrator feel after leaving Silva? Why?
  12. Why do you think the narrator believes that Silva will come back?
  13. Do you think by following Silva the narrator is simply breaking free from social oppression, or is there something more to it?
  14. What story will the narrator tell her family as to what happened to her?
  15. Why does the narrator wish that he grandfather were alive to hear her story?
  16. What do the Yellow Woman stories suggest concerning human desire?
  17. What is the story's view of adultery and of the narrator abandoning her family to follow Silva?
  18. List examples in the story where the narrator suggests that the experience with Silva is purely physical.
  19. List examples in the story where the narrator suggests that the experience with Silva is NOT purely physical.
  20. Why do you think the narrator is unsure if she is "Yellow Woman"?