2nd SILKO POSTING
Anthony Sichinga (as8356@silver.sdsmt.edu)
Fri, 7 Nov 1997 15:14:10 -0700 (MST)
The passage that strikes me the most is the following one, One night or
nine nights wont do it anymore, the medicine man said; the ceremony isnt
finished yet. He was drawing in the dirt with his finger. Remember these
stars, he said. Ive seen them and Ive seen the spotted cattle; Ive seen a
mountain and Ive seen a woman(page 152). Later on in the reading, Tayo
goes out to look for Josiahs cattle and he does meet a woman and sees the
pattern of stars that old Betonie had mentioned.
Before this passage I was ready to dismiss old Betonie as just an
old wise man, but this passage shows him to possess some kind of
supernatural powers. My first impression of Tayos disease was that it was
due to the distress that he had suffered during the war. But the above
passage revels something else. Tayos love for is uncle Josiah, and his
inability to look after his uncles pride cattle may have been another
cause of his sickness. It is clear that Tayo feels an indebtedness to his
uncle, In the dark he could cry for all the dreams that Rocky had as he
stared out of his graduation picture; he could cry for Josiah and the
spotted cattle, all scattered now, all lost, sucked away in the
dissolution that had taken away everything from him. (page 31)
Will finding the spotted cattle end Tayos sickness?
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