River (Symbol)
The river is a very important symbol in Yellow Woman because it represents the narrator's connection with Silva and it is used as a guide throughout her journey. It represents the narrator's connection with Silva because she meets Silva next to the river. The pair make love beside it. At the end of the story, she stands next to the river once more and understands that one day "he will come back sometime and be waiting again by the river" (Silko). Rivers tend to be seen as cycles. The idea that the two will meet "again" next to the river suggest the connection between Silva and the narrator.
The river binds the two and brings them together.The river is presented throughout the story, serving as a guide. Immediately after she wakes up, she follows the path of the river to return to where she and Silva had came from. When Silva states that she will come with him to his place, the two follow the river up to the mountains. However, once the narrator is unable to see the river, she feels unfamiliar with her surroundings. It isn't until she looks into Silva's eyes when she feels comfort again. The river isn't shown much after until she begins her journey back home. Once again, she uses the river as a guide, but this time it is to guide her back from her journey.
The Mountains (Symbol)
The mountains are just as meaningful as the river. Unlike the river, the mountains present an unfamiliar and mythical presence for the narrator. Due to its unfamiliarity and mysticalness, the mountain allows the narrator to feel a sense of freedom as well. The narrator stops to look down at the world below her. She can't see the river anymore and that makes her feel uncertain. As she does this, Silva turns to her. "He touched my hand, not speaking, but always singing softly a mountain song and looking into my eyes" (Silko). Silva uses the "mountain song" to comfort the narrator. It's almost as if he is using the mystical power of the mountain to persuade her to keep going.
In the next passage, the narrator continues to look down at the world below her. "I smelled a mountain smell of pitch and buck brush. I stood there... looking down on the small, dim country we had passed, and I shivered." The man then invites her to his home. The narrator continues to feel uncertain. It is clear that her repeated actions of looking down at the world below her shows how disconnected she feels. It represents the idea that she is unfamiliar with her surroundings and yearns to be down with the river, a part of nature that she is more familiar with.
The mountains represent a sense of freedom as well. Being high up in the mountains is contrasted to her life down at the bottom. In one passage, she wonders what her family would think and is determined they'd say, "'She went walking along the river'" as details for an investigation. She describes what her family would be doing, a sign that they probably, constantly, do those things on a daily. In another passage, she describes her feelings of freedom when she stands on the edge of a narrow trail on the mountains. "I was standing in the sky with nothing around me but the wind that came down from the blue mountain peaks behind me" (Silko). Up in the mountains, the narrator is able to live a kind of life that is uncertain. Unlike her life at home, where she is able to predict what is going on and be certain of what is happening, the mountains create a freedom like presence as well as an unpredictable life.
