Analysis Of Michael Dorris A Yellow Raft In Blue Water

Most Minnesotans remember loving Minnesota one month, then the next month absolutely hating it. During the summer and fall months many people love the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, the beautiful colors, and the Great Minnesota Get Together; the State Fair. A few months later when Minnesota’s long, cold, and icy winter sets in, Minnesotans start to feel differently about their state. When things start to melt and the sun comes back out, many people start to love the state again. Just like Minnesota seasons, many things can have both a positive and a negative side. In Michael Dorris’ novel, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, the color yellow is frequently repeated to positively represent security and contentment as well as negatively represent escape

The yellow raft represents many things but it very importantly positively represents security for Rayona. Before Rayona swims to the raft her life has been very chaotic and uncontrolled. Rayona swims through the cold water to the raft and lays herself out in the sun."I pull myself over the side and lie on the sun-warmed dry boards, panting and soaking up the heat. The silence is wide as the sky” (Dorris 59). The raft seems to enlarge her life which has been a lot of racism and chaos in the past. Initially, she feels content and secure on the raft. When father tom arrives, the feeling of content that Rayona was experiencing leaves her immediately. Father Tom experiences a cramp and Rayona saves him. They lie close and father Tom advances onto Rayona, violating her sense of security and her feeling of content that

Rayona tries to deny who she is by saying, "I'm stopped, halfway down the trail, with my eyes fixed on the empty yellow raft floating in the blue waters of Bearpaw Lake. Somewhere in my mind I've decided that if I stare at it hard enough it will launch me out of my present troubles" (Dorris 104). Rayona eventually spills her story to Evelyn, who just happens to be wearing a yellow blouse. Rayona’s security of having a perfect life back at home is broken, but she is knocked out of the illusion of the perfection of Ellen with the yellow raft. Rayona thinks Evelyn will reject her once she tells her the truth, running her job, but in fact, telling the story actually makes it real for Rayona. She is able to gain control of her real life and feel more content with what is really going on. Evelyn in her yellow blouse positively dispels the negative illusion of Rayona’s perfect life which began with the yellow