Looking InDepth at Storytelling by Silko

A detailed Summary of Looking InDepth at Storytelling by Silko

Looking In-Depth at "Storytelling" by Silko

Leslie Marmon Silko is a Laguna Pueblo Indian who has written many novels and poems in her lifetime. One of these poems, "Storytelling," is very interesting to me. This poem excites me because it tells of the impact that storytelling has on people in Laguna culture. I will analyze and explore many parts of this poem. One of these subjects is theme. The theme of "Storytelling" is actually the art of storytelling. Another aspect of the poem I will look at is tension. There is a specific tension between the husband and the wife in this poem. Next, I will explore how imagery helped Silko strengthen her writing. Then, I will look at how the form of "Storytelling" is different from that of other poems. Finally, I will compare "Storytelling" to another poem, written by Luci Tapahonso entitled, "Blue Horses Rush In." All these aspects put together will enable me to do a complete textual analysis of "Storytelling."

To start, I will begin with the theme of "Storytelling." The theme of the poem is the art of storytelling, hence the name.

At the end of the poem the author says, "My husband left after he heard the story and moved back in with his mother. It was my

The form of the poem adds to the imagery. The form is not like that of a normal poem. Instead, paragraphs divide the text like a story. The lines break up the sentences into what appears to be fragments. I think that this enables the writer to emphasize certain words. For example, "left"(Silko 424) is in a line of it's own. This really draws attention to the word. It seems much harsher than, "My husband left.."(Silko 424), all in the same line. The author of "Storytelling" really used form to her advantage to make the story more interesting.

There are many images in "Storytelling" that help set the scene and develop a mood. A couple images that help to set the scene are, "...the sun came over the long red mesa"(Silko 422) and, "She looked into the shallow clear water"(Silko 423). This gives an image of how mystical and magical the scene was when the "Buffalo Man" came to get the woman in the story. This image gives the reader the impression that this is a mysterious event. The images are also calm and soothing which relay those feelings over to the reader. This way the reader can understand what the woman in the poem is feeling at the time. However, I don't think she feels that way for too long. Another image produced later on in the poem sets up a very different scene, "...in a red `56 Ford and the F.B.I. and state police hot on their trail of wine bottles and size 42 panties hanging in the bushes and trees all along the road"(Silko 423). This image is a very graphic one. The wife is using this picture in her story to try to explain to her husband what she went through. When you picture men driving in a `56 Ford with police chasing them with wine bottles all over, it is not a great image. You picture dirty, menacing guys, probably not guys that you would enjoy being with. The wife is trying to get across the point to her husband that this was not a good experience. As you can see, images used in "Storytelling" portray certain types of moods and set explicit scenes.

Other themes in the poem are a

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1372
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English