The Value of Narrative in Ceremony
The story is the most powerful and most compelling form of human expression in Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony. Stories reside within every part of every thing; they are essentially organic. Stories are embedded with the potential to express the sublime strength of humanity as well as the dark heart and hunger for self destruction. The process of creating and interpreting stories is an ancient, ongoing, arduous, entangled, but ultimately rewarding experience. As Tayo begins to unravel his own troubled story and is led and is led toward this discovery, the reader is also encouraged on a more expansive level to undertake a similar interpretive journey. Each story is inextricably bound to a virtually endless narrative chain. While reaching an epiphanal moment, a moment of complete clarity, l is by no means guaranteed, by presenting Tayo as an example, Silko at least suggests there is fundamental worth in pursuing and creating stories.
Silko counsels that the story's potential for good or ill should not be easily discounted or dismissed. She seems to understand all too well that human beings house both virtuous and vicious impulses; our stories are infused with both the sinister and the sublime. There is a unifying, mythical or archetypal realm which exists just beyond the scope of individual consciousness. Stories are tethered to and wound around this insubstantial place, and the power of each story is firmly rooted in this connection.
The novel, presented as a series of disjointed, possibly problematic, narrative frames, attempts to draw attention to this fact. "...no word exists alone, and the reason for choosing each word had to be explained with a stor...
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...toward the close of the novel that "He had only heard and seen the world as it had always was: no boundaries, only transitions through all distances and time" (246). Ironically, though these transitions, changes in the specific vernacular or ritual may be significant from generation to generation, the underlying theme remains constant: we are inseparable from the universe. "I already heard these stories before... only thing is the names sound different" (260). Within the self imposed boundaries of the text, each story creates new space for thoughts and emotions which are common to the human condition. Perhaps because the story houses the possibility for our ultimate destruction or redemption, Silko describes the story, its creation, its meaning, as the defining moment of humanity.
Work Cited:
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.
Two of these stories specifically, Yellow Woman’s flings with Buffalo and Whirlwind Man, show how her different, and powerful personality results in positive effects for her community as a whole. These stories emphasis how beauty is not necessarily found in physical appearance, but the strength of one’s character. These stories picked by Silko help to convey another message; that a woman’s strong personality adds to her personal beauty and that a powerful personality is not something to be ashamed of, but to embrace, like Yellow Woman does in her
Stories are powerful devices that “are all we have, you see, to fight off illness and death” (Silko 1). Within the novels Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie, stories serve exactly this purpose. Each protagonist, Tayo and Haroun respectively, has an obstacle they must overcome. Tayo is a Native American World War II veteran who suffers from an illness of the mind, which is implied to be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is told that a Ceremony is the only way to cure him. The ceremony mentioned involves stories. Haroun is a young Indian boy who has gone through tragedy at a young age. His mother has left and his father has lost his job as a storyteller. Haroun feels that both of these occurrences are his fault. Stories are how Haroun saves his sad city, his father’s job, and brings his mother back. Both of the protagonists have burdens to carry upon their shoulders. The authors, though from two different cultures, use stories in their novels in similar fashions: as healing devices. This proves that stories are universal elements that can be utilized in the same way no matter what the culture.
The next thing that caught my eye was he waited 15 years to tell his
clearly grieving for her baby but also she seems happy for Vanessa and to be over with
it is proven that a bond between a baby and one who feeds it is very
A local newspaper ad reached out for volunteers to participate in a Psychological study, created by Philip G. Zimbardo and his research team, which sounded interesting for many individuals. Was it the best option to follow through with it? Volunteers were given a promise of being paid fifteen dollars a day of the study. Multiple members probably considered this a once in a life time event that could result in quick, easy money. Many may have heard about the Stanford Prison Experiment, but may not have been aware of the scars that it left upon the participants. Taking a deeper look into the study and the impacted outcomes on individuals will be elaborated on (Stanford Prison Experiment).
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Within the fictional worlds of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the characters realize that stories are not mere entertainment, but are crucial to their lives. Fictional stories are crucial pieces to Rashid Khalifa since he relies on them for a career and brings him enjoyment. They are also important to a politician because storytelling is a critical part of a politician’s survival and livelihood since they rely on the storytellers to persuade and convince people to vote for them. Most importantly they are important to Guppees since they depend on stories to be the source of all there speaking, and the pages of Gup (the army) they depend on stories to help them fight. All in all stories can
Priestley presents the theme of responsibility in his well-made play ‘An Inspector Calls’ by showing the audience that everyone is responsible. The term responsibility is defined as the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. The play was written in 1945, when Britain was in a state of flux. Priestley aimed to educate his audience and for them to reflect on the play which was set in 1912.
the ghost that still haunts him. He tells the story of when he was a
at age 26. He no idea what was involved, what to do and went along
if Pip cannot see what is ahead of him, then where will he end up, and
2. The first reason for this thesis stems from the point of view used in the story. The point of view exemplified is one of third person, more specifically one who is omniscient. The story’s message could not be conveyed from the first person, due to the fact that virtually everyone in the writing at hand is not only unable, but unwilling to figure out the true nature of their surroundings.
At the end of the paper, I would take a look at the changing attitude