By themselves, the above readings are a bit reductive. However, if one sees them as interrelated, as part and parcel of each other, then they open up Silko's text and Native American expression to possibility and interpretation in interesting ways. In fact, because Laguna and Dine, people cannot separate the self from animals from nature from cultural history, neither should the reader. Perhaps like the sacred Navajo mountains, the four peaks of this essay will outline a matrix of interpretive interchange between you, Silko, and everything in between.

Source: Dean Rader, in an essay for Poetry for Students, Gale, 2000.