Reaction to "The Yellow Woman"

“The Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko often surprised and confused me. Once again, the narrator is left nameless, only known by the “pet” name “Yellow Woman.” I think that the narrator’s reluctance to admit her own name, background, and pretty much everything in her life adds to the dream-like, mystical mood behind the short story. This mood is reflected in parts of the plot as well. At first, I was somewhat confused that the narrator continues to return to Silva, even though she has a life and family at home and sets off to return to them. I think she feels somehow connected and attracted to Silva. After he refers to her as “Little Yellow Woman” she suddenly desires to actually be the yellow woman, although she denies any possibility of connection constantly. She follows the mystical feel of the short story and wants to mentally abandon her family for as long as she can in order to act out the stories of the yellow woman, and feel like a part of the ancient stories she had been told. She goes back to her husband after Silva shoots the man he has been stealing from, when she feels like she doesn’t really have a choice anymore and he ruined the dream for her. The shock of reality finally shakes the narrator out of her daydream and leads to her return to normalcy.
A huge part of my shock came from the scene where the two spend the night together. Silva essentially rapes her, telling the narrator that he could hurt her as she feels his power under his skin. I thought that this would be the end of her dreams and she would finally give up her fascination with Silva, but it seems their forced physical relationship only made their connection stronger. The narrator even leans over and kisses him at the end of what I believed to be a rape scene, and the next day she seems fine with following Silva anywhere.
Also, the timing of the story confused me. From the beginning of the story, I pictured the work taking place some time ago. I was surprised to see that she mentions jets; I had imagined the story being set before modern technology.
The entire story somewhat confused me, but I did enjoy the differences between the two worlds of present day reality and old-fashioned folk lore and spiritual trances.