Analysis Of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony

Common sense tells us that it is much easier for one to go downhill rather than uphill. This is certainly evident in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, where the protagonist, Tayo, must find his way out of a deep rut of sickness and suffering that has consumed his life. Influenced by a variety of factors including war, identity, and environment, Tayo is left questioning himself and his greater relationship with two conflicting cultures. Tayo embarks on a quest to remedy his sickness using certain ceremonies, which will help him recover both physically and emotionally. Ultimately, Tayo’s sickness is mainly defined by his experiences in war, his racial identity, and the “witchery” that created white people. He takes steps to attempt to heal himself
After Emo insults Tayo at a bar by calling him a half-breed, we learn that Tayo has consistently been ridiculed for being biracial throughout his entire life. Silko describes how “Emo had hated him since the time they had been in grade school together, and the only reason for this hate was that Tayo was part white” (Marmon Silko 52). This proves to be a source of emotional pain for Tayo, as he is strongly attached to Native American culture, yet feels like somewhat of an outsider due to the prejudice he has often experienced, as a result from being half-white. Additionally, Tayo’s green eyes symbolize the very isolation Tayo feels from being biracial––again, a major cause of his emotional suffering. Although on a personal level, issues resulting from war and a perpetual identity crisis plague Tayo, he is also confronted with the pain of a struggle much larger than
To start, Tayo attempts to heal from the atrocities he experienced during the war with the medicine man Ku’oosh. Ku’oosh performs a ritual traditionally used for healing warriors who had killed people during battle. However, due to the nature of the ceremony, both Tayo and Ku’oosh conclude that it is not entirely applicable in terms of the specific sickness Tayo felt as a result of the war. Additionally, Tayo’s encounter with Night Swan serves as a ceremony to help heal his long-felt isolation resulting from his conflicting racial identity. Before leaving, Tayo converses with Night Swan about his eyes. He says, “‘I always wished I had dark eyes like other people’” (Marmon Silko 92). Night Swan decides to counsel him about the concept of difference saying, “‘most people are afraid of change’ . . . ‘They are fools. They blame us, the ones who look different’” (Marmon Silko 92). This assertion helps Tayo realize the importance of difference, and that in reality, he is not truly isolated. According to Night Swan, humans are just afraid of change and its implications, which is certainly a theme of the novel. As aforementioned, Tayo began to realize that his suffering was partially the result of something much greater than himself––the widespread destruction on the part of white culture. His incorporation of an aspect of white culture––spending a night in the uranium