Understanding “Tony’s Story”

The title  There are many different ways to tell the same story. Most stories have a sequence of events, but it is the way the narrator presents these events that decides how we understand them.  It is the narrator that makes the connections. “Tony’s Story” is written by Leslie Marmon Silko, but it is told by Tony.Leslie Marmon Silko  In fact, the title underlines an important theme in the story – that the world can look very different from different perspectives. The title reminds us before we start reading that we are dealing with one perspective on events.

The drought  First sentences in short stories are often important. In this one it seems at first glance to be fairly straightforward: It happened one summer when the sky was wide and hot and the rains did not come.  The oppressive heat of the drought is referred to several times during the story, and we may think of it as just part of the setting.  But by the end that we realize that how vital the drought is in Tony’s understanding of his own story. The drought has an active influence on events.

The pueblo – and beyond  The story takes place in or near a pueblo, a Native American reservation, where Tony has lived all his life.pueblo  The pueblo is in some ways a world of its own. It has its own administration, its own laws and even its own police force.  But it is also in America, and we are constantly reminded of the larger world outside – the gas station, Grants, Kool-Aid and, not least, the state policeman.Kool-Aid

The start of the conflict  In the very first scene of the story, these two worlds meet head on.  It is San Lorenzo’s Day, a festival which the pueblo celebrates with processions and a funfair. The following day there is to be a ritual Corn Dance. The purpose of this is to help the corn grow.Corn Dance  Tony meets his old friend, Leon, who has been away in the military. Leon is drinking from a hidden wine bottle – drinking alcohol is forbidden in the pueblo.  Suddenly a state cop (i.e. a police officer from outside the pueblo) pushes through the crowd. Without saying a word, he punches Leon in the face, breaking some of his teeth.

Two worlds  Leon’s reaction to the assault surprises Tony, and shows the difference in their outlooks. Leon has been influenced by his period in the military. He has become a “troublemaker”, as Tony puts it, and talks about rights and justice. We can imagine that in the multiethnic environment of the military he has learned a thing or two about standing up for himself.  Tony, on the other hand, has never left the pueblo. His source of wisdom is “the stories that old Teofilo told”.  We don’t know exactly what these stories are, but we can guess that they are old stories, handed down through the generations, perhaps about the spirit world.

The cop and the Corn Dance  Because Leon is the more dominant of the two, it is his viewpoint we hear most clearly. Tony’s understanding of why the state cop is bothering them is never stated clearly.  But there are hints all the way. After the assault on Leon, Tony has a dream in which the state cop takes part in the Corn Dance.  This connection is confirmed later when the cop follows them from the gas station. After describing the drought again, Tony says: and then I knew why the drought had come that summer. He gives no further explanation, but we understand that the cop and the masked figure of the Corn Dance are for him the same thing. They represent something threatening – and non-human.

Worlds collide  In the final, fatal meeting with the policeman, we see more and more clearly that Leon and Tony are taking part in different “stories”.  In Leon’s story they are being harassed by a racist policeman (referred to as he) and Leon has brought a rifle along to defend himself.  In Tony’s story, however, they are dealing with an evil spirit (referred to as it) - and Tony is wearing an arrowhead for protection. As the cop raises his billy club to beat Leon, Tony sees him as masked figure pointing with a human bone, as in his dream.

Reading “backwards”  “Tony’s Story” is one of those short stories that have to be understood “backwards”. The first time you read the story you may have been surprised that it was Tony, and not Leon, who killed the policeman. It is only when you look back that you can make sense of it. (This does not mean that you read the story badly, but that the author was good at covering her tracks!)  That is one of the things a good story can do – surprise us into realizing that the world is not as straightforward as it first appears.  And in case you have decided that Leon’s world is the real one and that Tony’s is just a primitive illusion, then look again at the last line. He actually succeeds in ending the drought!