Lullaby

Lullaby Summary | Section 1 Summary

The story begins in the middle of winter with the main character, Ayah, standing outside in the snow, wrapped in her son's blanket. She is in Navajo country, reflecting on her life and losses. She is aware of the forces of nature - the sun, the wind and the snow - and this awareness triggers memories of her past.

She remembers that she had been proud when her husband Chato first taught her to sign her name in English. She remembers that it was only later that she realized learning to sign her name meant losing her children, Ella and Danny. A white doctor and policeman had come to her home and told her that her children were sick and that they had to take them away. Ayah had not believed that her children were sick but the white men told her that, because she had signed their papers, they had the right to take her children. Then, she hated her husband for learning the white man's language and for doing nothing to stop the white policemen from taking their children. She remembers that when her son Jimmie was killed in World War II, it was another government white man who had come to tell her of her loss.

Ayah reflects on how safe she felt as a little girl when she watched her mother weave blankets and how connected her people used to be to their environment. She remembers when her people wore their traditional clothing instead of the white man's clothing that they wear now. She ponders what she has lost as a Navajo Indian living and working on a white man's ranch.

Ayah recalls the day Jimmie was born, and how her mother had led her to the birthing stone while everyone else slept. She tries to remember all the details of his birth but realizes that the memories of all her children's births have merged into one.

She remembers when she and her husband were forced to move away from the white man's ranch because they were too old to work any longer, and how surprised her husband was at how quickly they were replaced with a younger couple.