Literary analytical response

“Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko is a short story that is a representation of the cultural prejudice of Native Americans during westward expansion. Although a fictional story, it captures the true life styles of past Native Americans. As whites began to take over the land, they began forcing their culture upon the Native Americans. Like most Native Americans, Ayah, the main character, was having trouble living in the whites' world by not knowing their language and laws. In a way, Ayah did not want to learn the whites' culture and language to adapt to their lifestyle because the older Native Americans told her it was dangerous to learn. "The old ones always told her about learning their language or any of their ways: it endangered you."(Silko) Knowing the language of the whites would allow Ayah to understand some things, but she would be tricked or persuaded because she wouldn't completely understand certain laws. A Native American that knows the language may be persuaded or tricked to give up land, but one that does not understand is not affected by the language because he or she cannot listen. Ayah's husband, Chato, has learned to speak and write English. Chato had taught Ayah to sign her name in English, and she regretted learning it. The ability to sign her name allowed her to communicate in a way with the whites, leaving her susceptible to being mislead. One day two doctors speaking English came to her house and Chato wasn't there to translate. Ayah couldn't understand them, but she realized they wanted her to sign some papers. "Ayah could see they wanted her to sign the papers, and Chato had taught her to sign her name...she only wanted them to go."(Silko) Even though she did not know the consequence of her signing her name, she signed anyway because she did not understand the how contracts work. In other words, she did not understand the concept of the white culture, and the doctors used it against her in order to get what they wanted. She was able to be mislead because she was a Native American whose land was overrun by whites and their culture, being forced to learn their ways and forget her own culture. Then the men went to take her children, but she grabbed them and ran away. They came back later with a policeman and the papers and had the legal right to take her children and they did so. Native Americans had lived on their own land for centuries, and then whites take it over with the belief that they are better than anybody else and change everything in order to benefit themselves. Whites even forced their language upon them and took advantage of the Native Americans using the "law." The doctors wanted to take the children to bring them to a school. A special school for Native American children to learn English and English culture in order to wipe out the Native American language and culture so that the “dominant” culture is spread. The children came back sometimes to visit, but they were changed. They barely knew their own mother and could not relate to their own rich Native American culture. Ayah talked to her son in the native language, but "when he tried to answer her, he could not seem to remember and he spoke English words mixed with Navajo."(Silko) The children’s inability to remember their own true culture is the example of the depletion of a rich Native American culture. The doctors were purposely trying to erase the children's culture and replacing it with their own, "better" culture. This fictional short story is an accurate representation of Native American assimilation and what happened to them during westward expansion.