How we cite our quotes: (Poem.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You see," Josiah had said, [ . . . ] "there are some things worth more than money." He pointed his chin at the springs and around at the narrow canyon. "This is where we come from, see. This sand, this stone, these trees, the vines, all the wildflowers. This earth keeps us going." (VI.32)
Tayo has learned everything he knows about the natural world from his Uncle Josiah. Josiah is a moral authority for Tayo, teaching him that the most important thing in life is the earth and how we relate to it.
Quote #2
He tasted the deep heartrock of the earth, where the water came from, and he thought maybe this wasn't the end after all. (VI.33)
In this story, even rocks have hearts. We love the word Silko uses here—heartrock—to describe the place where the water comes from. It suggests that there's something loving about the way the earth gives the water to Tayo; it's a gift from the rock's "heart."
Quote #3
They sprinkled the cornmeal on the nose and fed the deer's spirit. They had to show their love and respect, their appreciation; otherwise, the deer would be offended, and they would not come to die for them the following year. (VII.9)
The ritual of the deer is significant in the novel. The characters who follow it—Tayo, Josiah, Robert, Ts'eh, and Ts'eh's brother the Hunter—still maintain some sort of relationship with the natural world. Others, like Emo and Rocky, have rejected the ritual for various reasons, and they are disconnected from the natural world…and we know that doesn't turn out so well for those guys.
Quote #4
He repeated the words as he remembered them, not sure if they were the right ones, but feeling they were right, feeling the instant of the dawn was an event which in a single moment gathered all things together—the last stars, the mountaintops, the clouds, and the winds—celebrating this coming. (XXIV.1)
A lot of the rituals Tayo observes come to him intuitively. His relationship with the natural world is very, well…natural.
Quote #5
Tayo got to his knees slowly and held out his hand. "Mountain lion," he whispered, "mountain lion, becoming what you are with each breath, your substance changing with the earth and the sky." (XXIV.38-39)
Though Tayo is worried that the earth might mistake him for one of the destroyers, this mountain lion comes to him in a time of great need. It seems the earth knows that Tayo is one of the good guys after all. The last time weran into a mountain lion was definitely not this uplifting.
Quote #6
But he saw the constellation in the north sky, and the fourth star was directly above him; the pattern of the ceremony was in the stars, and the constellation formed a map of the mountains in the directions he had gone for the ceremony. For each star there was a night and a place; this was the last night and the last place, when the darkness of night and the light of day were balanced. (XXV.224)
Tayo sees the path of his ceremony outlined in the constellation of stars in the sky. That takes his relationship with the natural world to a whole new level, doesn't it?
Quote #7
When he felt the dampness of the river, he started running. The sun was pushing against the gray horizon hills, sending yellow light across the clouds, and the yellow river sand was speckled with the broken shadows of tamaric and river willow. The transition was completed. In the west and in the south too, the clouds with round heavy bellies had gathered for the dawn. It was not necessary, but it was right, and even if the sky had been cloudless the end was the same. (XXVI.32)
In this final scene of Tayo's victory over the witchery, we see a whole lot of good signs: the dampness of the river (water is always a good thing in the desert), the color yellow (definitely a good color in this book), and even rain clouds. Thanks, Mother Earth.
Quote #8
It was a world alive, always changing and moving; and if you knew where to look, you could see it, sometimes almost imperceptible, like the motion of the stars across the sky. (XI.43)
In moments like this, Tayo feels intimately connected to the earth. Notice how the world is described as "always changing and moving"—the theme of the natural world is also connected to the theme of transformation in this novel.
Quote #9
He rode slowly through the groves of dry sunflower stalks left over from better years, and it was then he saw a bright green hummingbird shimmering above the dry sandy ground [ . . . ] Then it was gone. But it left something with him; as long as the hummingbird had not abandoned the land, somewhere there were still flowers, and they could all go on. (XI.44)
Tayo's encounter with the hummingbird is a repetition of the traditional Laguna story about hummingbird, who was fat and healthy during the drought. What's his secret? (VIII)
Quote #10
They started crying
the old men started crying
"A'moo'ooh! A'moo'ooh!"
You have seen her
We will be blessed
again.
(XXVIII)
Hmm, are the priests referring to A'moo'ooh the she-elk Tayo saw in the cave painting up by the spring? Or are they referring to Ts'eh? It seems like some characters have a sort of second, animal identity.