Reflection 20

We are getting very close to the end of the book and continued to read and discuss it this week. My first comment on the reading this week was the drawing on page 166. It is the only drawing in the entire book and Tayo seemed to mention a few things about what the drawing is. Specifically on the next page he talks about when he looked up at the sky he saw Old Betonies’ stars. He always refers to the stars that Betonie drew and I think that is significant to his healing because he is remembering Betonie, whom he was very close to. Tayo showed more signs of healing in this reading as well. He has a very intimate connection with Ts’eh. I have a question about a quote. “He ended the prayer with ‘sunrise’ because he knew the Dawn people began and ended all their words with ‘sunrise’,” (Silko 169). I am confused about who the dawn people are, as well as why they say sunrise. I’m sure that it doesn’t literally mean they say sunrise, but I still am not sure about what it means. Later in the reading Tayo talks about when he saw his cattle and the white men had stolen them from him. He keeps talking about how the white men are destroyers by stealing the land from the natives. And then says that the Earth is going to cause destruction in the form of droughts. When he sees the cattle he becomes racist towards the white men. He keeps saying that they stole the cattle from him, as they do from many natives. However he hesitated because he was taught that white men didn’t steal. They have money to buy everything, while “brown-skinned people,” (Silko 177) have to steal everything because they don’t have the money. Tayo was racist towards the white men, but then remembered what other people taught him that was racist. As he was hunting the cattle to try and bring them back to his own land it was really helpful to his healing. He became so focused on trying to get the cattle that he forgot about his past and no longer had dreams from PTSD. Tayo brings up more about racism, classism, and destruction when he talks about his school. He said the teacher used to bring in dead frogs for them to dissect and all of the Navajos left the room because the teacher wasn’t respecting the frogs. The teacher would say that their beliefs are stupid, which shows racism and classism. The teacher doesn’t respect their beliefs; she attempts to say that she is above them and their beliefs are wrong. While herding the cattle out of the fence, Tayo’s horse falls and he blacks out. When he wakes up he sees the blue sky and thinks that he is back on an island in the Pacific, fighting in the war. He forgets that he is trying to herd the cattle and has a flashback from his PTSD.

A new theme pops into the reading in this section, about lies. There is a lie that white people have money and can buy everything they own. However, Tayo claims they are telling a lie. In actuality, the white men stole all of the land from the natives and they claim to own it, but it’s all a lie because they stole it. He says the lie is destroying the white people because they have guilt for stealing everything and know that nothing is actually theirs. Tayo went to Ts’eh house to get his cattle back. While he was there, a hunter walked into the room and the hunter seemed to be living with Ts’eh. I am not sure if the hunter is Ts’eh’s husband, or if they just live together or work together. He also states that the Texas ranchers have no connection to the cattle they are catching. They just ride horses and rope them around the neck until they fall. While natives had to shoot the cattle with bows and it was actually a challenge and connected them to the cattle. Finally, more about Ts’eh is given, however there is no proof that she is real. Every time he talks about her, he says that he saw her in his dreams. There is no proof that she is real, meaning she could just be part of his healing, rather than an actual person. And in the very end, Tayo sees snake tracks and puts yellow pollen in it. Earlier in the reading, he put yellow pollen in mountain lion tracks. I am sure that natives do this as tradition and it is part of their culture because he has done it with all of the animal tracks that he has found.