Since my group members have addressed the white man’s place in the poem thoroughly, I would like to address the witch’s perspective. I’m very confused as to what Silko’s message really is after reading this poem. The easiest way to interpret this poem is to simply side with the speaker’s perspective. Years of reading about racial injustice in the exact same poetic form have led to me forming that bad habit. This perspective gives the white man the antagonist role as the pillage villages in pursuit of a materialistic goal.
However, from my perspective, I think the witches learned what goes around comes around. The perspective above leads to the reader assuming that the evil white man will take and take with no appreciation the life standing in their way. The lines
They fear the world.
They destroy what they fear.
They fear themselves.
really sum up what the white men are all about. However, are the witches no better? Here they are in the middle of a tournament in which they try to commit more gruesome acts than anyone else just out of sport. They don’t even have a very powerful yet flawed reason like the spreading of religion or the need for the “savages” to be civilized for their own good to justify their acts.
For once, I believe we have found a very race driven poem that does not side with any race or religion. Rather, Silko shows that it’s the flaws of man that create evils shown in the story. As a person who has read more short stories and poems about racial injustices than I can count, it’s a unique experience to read a poem that doesn’t single out one race or religion to blame.
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