Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Josiah's beautiful ivory cattle, "speckled brown like a butterfly's wing," are a none-too-subtle symbol of racial mixing and change (X.37). Never one to feel racial prejudice, Josiah gets the idea to breed these special cattle from his Mexican girlfriend, the Night Swan.
Knowing that "those Hereford, white-face cattle" that most American ranchers breed will never survive the New Mexico drought years, Josiah plans to breed a meaty Hereford bull with these rangy, desert-wise cows who won't die off easily (X.23). Apparently happy cows don't come from New Mexico. Josiah thinks this way the cattle will "grow up heavy and covered with meat like Herefords, but tough too, like the Mexican cows, able to withstand hard winters and many dry years" (X.50). In other words, they'll take the best qualities of each breed of cattle and combine the two to make a stronger, more adaptable cow. When Tayo sees that Josiah's plan is actually working, his heart beats faster. Change is happening, and that's a good thing. (XXV.106)
We think this project of Josiah's supports Silko's message that the Laguna Pueblo community needs to accept the fact that the racial makeup of their people is changing. As the son of a Laguna woman and a white man, Tayo represents that change—just like the cattle. Need some more convincing that Tayo is essentially the human version of a spotted cow? At the Night Swan's old apartment, he "picked up a fragment of fallen plaster and drew dusty white stripes across the backs of his hands [ . . . ] he rubbed it carefully across his light brown skin, the stark white gypsum dust making a spotted pattern" (XI.74). Tayo has made himself brown with white spots, just like the cattle. We've always wished we could be cows too. Moo.