The most striking thing about this novel is the beautiful first-person narration. The real interest of the story is not its characters or the plot line, but the speaker herself. She is so unsophisticated and straightforward. She has a sense of the beauty of our physical world. She seeks the communion of the spirit, nature and human. Her purity of description and simplicity of storytelling proves that she is a very good storyteller. The calmness in her voice is quite resonating. Silko's motif of storytelling is undoubtedly exemplary. The woman's strength, beauty, oneness towards life and its fragility are all symbolized with her attachment with yellow.
On the other hand, the man is associated with the river willow, a life-giver. His skin is black. He likes blackness. Blue mountain is his home where he lives in a house that is made of black rocks. His horse is also black. His darkness suggests sexuality and violence. Silko quite skillfully handles the relationship between reality and story.
Towards the end, the woman becomes a story creator, who knows both the old and new stories. The setting of the story is specific to the time and place. The only thing the readers are allowed to know is that is was a riverside peaceful place. The auditory and visual imageries are perfectly able to create the setting of the story. The river is a guiding force for her mythical experiences as well as her affair.
