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Leslie silko ceremony analysis
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In Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, the often-unexamined history of Pueblo Native Americans is widely displayed for wandering and curious eyes alike to gawk at a world of ceremonies, struggles, and perseverance. Whether this history has simply been forgotten by the masses or has been intentionally stifled from those whom it does not concern, is up for debate. However, with this exclusive look at an otherwise unattainable world deserves to be studied for as long as it is available. Silko paints many bleak scenes of despair, hopelessness, and confusion within her prose, but an even deeper and complex story lies within the poems between the prose. Often thrown into the narrative without warning or introduction, the poems almost work as some kind of alternate version to the main …show more content…
narrative. As Kasey Gardner explains, “throughout the novel, Tayo’s own difficulties are being mirrored by those of the characters in the poems.” Silko sets the narrative tone in the first few pages with the following passage: I will tell you something about stories, [he said] They aren't just for entertainment. Don't be fooled They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death. You don't have anything if you don't have the stories. Their evil is mighty but it can't stand up to our stories. So they try to destroy the stories let the stories be confused or forgotten They would like that They would be happy Because we would be defenseless then. He rubbed his belly. I keep them here [he said] Here, put your hand on it See, it is moving There is life here for the people. And in the belly of this story the ritual and the ceremony are still growing. This poem emphasizes the important role that storytelling plays within the novel. As Silko reveals in Ceremony, the years from World War II to the present have presented many new threats to the Pueblos, which must be fought if the Pueblo culture is to continue. In order to explain fully the threats the modern world poses to the ceremonial life of the Pueblos, it is first necessary to present a background of the Pueblo geography, basic mythology, and its corresponding ritual. Pueblo Indians is a term used to refer to the many native peoples of the Pueblo crescent located in the Southwestern United States. This area stretches from Taos in north central New Mexico to the Hopi mesas of northeastern Arizona. The setting for Silko's novel is the Laguna Reservation, located outside Los Alamos, Arizona, where the first atomic bomb was developed. The three most important figures in Pueblo mythology are Thought Woman, Corn Mother, and Sun Father. While all three beings are extremely powerful, they are also interdependent. Thought Woman is attributed with the creation of the universe. Silko addresses one version of the creation myth is as follows: Ts' its' tsi' nako, Thought-Woman, is sitting in her room and what ever she thinks about appears. She thought of her sisters, Nau' ts' ity' i and I' tcs' i, and together they created the Universe this world and the four worlds below. Thought-Woman, the spider, named things and as she named them they appeared. She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now I'm telling you the story she is thinking. This myth explains the Pueblo construction of the world, which consists of the human world and the “four worlds below.” Second, it reveals the crucial function that storytelling serves in the novel. As stated in the first excerpt, storytelling is not just for entertainment; it is also a ceremony that acts as a link between the fantastic myths and the people themselves, whose ritual life is based on those sacred myths. Corn Mother, also called Corn Woman, is perhaps the most important deity in Pueblo mythology. She is synonymous with Mother Earth, and represents growth, life, and the feminine aspects of this world. Prayer sticks representing individual petitions are also offered to Corn Mother, and in Ceremony, Silko mentions the regular offering of blue and yellow pollen, which can be viewed as symbolizing fertility, to Corn Mother's altar. Silko expresses the necessity of making these sacrifices as to stress that if the proper ceremonial offerings to Corn Mother are not made, the earth's life processes will not operate as they should: He struck the middle of the north wall He took a piece of flint and he struck the middle of the north wall Water poured out of the wall and flowed down toward the south. He said “What does that look like? Is that magic power?” He struck the middle of the west wall and from the east wall a bear came out. “What do you call this?” he said again. “Yes, it looks like magic alright,” Ma’see’wi said. So it was finished and Ma’see’wi and Ou’yu’ye’wi and all the people were fooled by that Ck’o’yo medicine man, Pa’caya’nyi. From that time on they were so busy playing around with that Ck’o’yo magic they neglected the mother corn alter. They thought they didn’t have to worry about anything. They thought this magic could give life to plants and animals. They didn’t know it was all just a trick. Our mother Nau’ts’ityi was very angry over this over the way all of then=m even Ma’see’wi and Ou’yu’ye’wi fooled around with this magic. “I’ve had enough of that,” she said, “If they like that magic so much let them live off it.” Sos he took the plants and grass from them. No baby animals were born. She took the rainclouds with her. Sun Father stands opposite to Corn Mother, and is the most powerful creative force in the universe. He represents masculinity and light. Cornmeal is offered to Sun Father, which demonstrates the interdependent relationship he has with Corn Mother. He also is connected with Thought Woman, as can be seen in another myth told by Silko in Ceremony. In this myth, a Ck' 'o' yo magician tricked not only the people with his magic, but the storm clouds as well, and took both the people and the clouds as prisoners. Sun Father went to wake the storm clouds up one morning and could not find them. Because they could not release their rain over the earth, the land began drying up, and the people and animals starved. Sun Father took blue and yellow pollen, tobacco, and coral beads to Thought Woman, asking for her help. In the novel, she gave Sun Father a magic medicine that allowed him to trick the magician and free the clouds. The relationships between the Pueblo people and their deities are reciprocal: if the ceremonial offerings are done properly, then their needs are met. If they are not properly carried out, then the people are not fully cared for, as the myth about neglecting the corn altar suggests. Reciprocity can also be seen in the relationship between the Pueblos and the spirits of the animals they hunt. Silko describes the tradition of sprinkling a killed deer with cornmeal in order to free its spirit. This is a sign of appreciation to the deer for giving up its life for the people, and if it is not done, deer will not return the next year to provide for them. Throughout history, however, the Pueblos have been faced with certain evils that the concept of reciprocity cannot explain. For example, sometimes the ceremonial offerings had been properly carried out, yet there was still a drought, a serious illness, or an unexplainable death. The Pueblos solved this problem by attributing unexplainable evils to witchery. The responsibility for challenging the power of witchery falls upon the shoulders of the medicine man, so when the arrival of the whites to the Pueblo region brought a host of previously unknown diseases, as well as an exploitation of power that was inconceivable to the natives, the medicine man was challenged as never before. In Ceremony, Silko portrays the endangered state of the Laguna reservation following World War II. The land has been damaged by runoff from the uranium mine on the nearby Cebolleta land grant, and a generation of young Pueblo men has been destroyed by the war. These young men originally enlisted in the army because they sought an escape from their feelings of inferiority and the poverty of reservation life, and because the army promised them the opportunity to see the world and to be accepted into mainstream America. Tayo, Rocky, and Emo, three typical young Pueblo, believe they have finally found access to the white world when the army recruiter tells them, "Anyone can fight for America, even you boys." Rather than giving the men a new life, World War II destroys them. Rocky is killed fighting the Japanese, Emo becomes an alcoholic, and Tayo returns with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder that white medicine has been unable to cure. In his search for healing, Tayo first turns to drinking with Emo and the other Indian veterans. But becoming part of a pattern of drinking and violence never before witnessed among Indian veterans only makes Tayo sicker. Rather than telling traditional stories about the people's relationship with the earth and the deities, the Indian veterans tell stories about the witchery of the modern world, which has tricked them into believing it is good, just as the Ck' o' yo magician tricked the Pueblos into believing his magic was enough to sustain life. The distortion the witchery has produced in ritual storytelling can be seen in the following myth, which Emo tells: We went into this bar on 4th Ave., see, me and O'Shay, this crazy Irishman. We had a few drinks, then I saw these two white women sitting all alone. One was kind of fat She had dark hair. But this other one, man, she had big tits and real blonde hair. I said to him "Hey buddy, that's the one I want. Over there." He said, "Go get 'em, Chief." He was my best drinking buddy, that guy He'd watch me see how good I'd score with each one. “I’m an Italian tonight.” “Oh a Wop!” He laughed and hollered so loud both of those girls were watching us then. I smiled at both of them, see, so they’d both think I was friendly. But I gave my “special look” to the blonde. So she’d know, see. That’s how I’d do it. Then I went up to the bar and I told the bartender I wanted two more of whatever the ladies over there was drinking, and I went over. They took the drinks and the fat one asked me to sit down. I sat down close to the blonde and told them my name. Tayo next seeks a cure from Ku'oosh, the old medicine man, who tries to heal him with the old ceremony. He chants in the native language, and explains to Tayo that his curing is important not only for his own sake, but the entire world that is under the spell of witchery. But Tayo vomits before Ku'oosh gets very far in the ceremony, and Ku'oosh realizes that he cannot heal him because, "Some things we can't cure like we used to . . . not since the white people came." But if neither entering the white world like the other veterans nor returning to the old ways can heal Tayo and the Pueblo people he represents, then what can? Silko's answer to this question is revealed by the two people who manage to save Tayo from the witchery of the world. The first of these is Montano, a woman whom Tayo discovers living on the rim rock. She lives in close contact with nature, and teaches Tayo the traditional ceremonies of ritual offering and the healing power of many plants and other natural objects. A symbol of the Corn Mother herself, Montano not only loves Tayo as he has never been loved, but gives him a power "emanating from the mesas and arroyos. . . [replacing] the rhythm that had been interrupted long ago." While the return to the old ways helps Tayo, something else is needed to complete his healing ceremony. This is where Betonie, a new kind of medicine man, comes in. Betonie still wears the traditional clothes of a medicine man, creates the curative sand paintings, and uses the old medicine man's paraphernalia, such as prayer sticks, gourd rattles, leather pouches, and herbs and roots. But Betonie also counts modern items among his healing devices. These include coke bottles, phone books, and calendars with pictures of Indians on them, all common objects on the reservation. When Tayo questions the use of such non-traditional items for his ceremonies, Betonie responds, "In the old days it was simple. A medicine person could get by without all these things. But nowadays. . . ." Betonie is also a new kind of healer because he is half-Mexican like Tayo, which was previously unheard of in a medicine man. The Indians are suspicious of Betonie and the ceremonial changes he represents. But as he explains to Tayo, although the new ceremonies are different from the old ones, they are not any less complete. The effects white contact have had upon the Pueblos cannot be ignored if the witchery of the modern world is to be combated successfully. Betonie, who integrates the current realities of Indian life into traditional ritual, demonstrates ritual's potential for reflexivity. Betonie's new ceremonies not only reflect changes in the Pueblo culture, but are also a means for endorsing these changes. Silko argues for the necessity of cultural change in another way: the transfer of traditional oral myths into written form. Although it has been argued that the introduction of written form causes myths to stagnate, Silko demonstrates how literacy can help ceremonial life to grow. From the ancient myths she has recorded, new myths, like the novel itself, and new rituals, such as Tayo's healing ceremony, can and should be developed. Silko's belief in the importance of allowing myth and ritual to evolve to meet the needs of present circumstances can best be understood in the words of Betonie: At one time, the ceremonies as they had been performed were enough for the way the world was then.
But after the white people came, elements in this world began to shift; and it became necessary to create new ceremonies. I have made changes in the rituals. The people mistrust this greatly, but only the growth keeps the ceremonies strong. Although the Pueblo Indians managed to survive the repeated attempts of early white conquerors to destroy their ceremonial lifestyle, in the twentieth century they have faced circumstances that threaten their culture as never before. The key to survival, as Silko demonstrates in Ceremony, is found in allowing native ceremonies to change to meet the present-day realities of reservation life. It is in this fusion that the Pueblos can find the healing they need after suffering. Through each poem presented in Ceremony… “Both are struggling with drought, loss, and a disconnect between the way things are and the way they should be, which is the source of all the problems, and both learn to heal these problems by rediscovering their roots and participating in ceremonies that are designed to reconnect them to the truths that they have lost sight of.”
References Austgen, Suzanne M. "Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony and the Effects of White Contact on Pueblo Myth and Ritual." Lislie Marmon Silko's Ceremony. Hanover College, Spring 1993. Web. Dec. 2014. Gardner, Kasey. "Leslie Marmon Silko - Ceremony." Indigenous Religious Traditions. Colorado College, n.d. Web. Dec. 2014. Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
In the text “Seeing Red: American Indian Women Speaking about their Religious and Cultural Perspectives” by Inés Talamantez, the author discusses the role of ceremonies and ancestral spirituality in various Native American cultures, and elaborates on the injustices native women face because of their oppressors.
The novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko follows a young man, Tayo through his journey beginning when he returns home to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, from World War Two; and is very ill. During the narrative Silko introduces us to Tayo's life before the war, which gives insight to reasons of why Tayo is ill. Through out his illness Tayo goes through many ceremonies both literally and metaphorically to try to cure his ailment. One of the ceremonies that is performed, is lead by Old Ku'oosh, the medicine man, where he performs a cleansing ceremony for someone who has killed someone in battle, even though Tayo doesn't recall killing anyone. However, he adds that this ceremony, which he has been performing for many of the returning war soldiers, has not worked for all of them. He then recommends another medicine man with the tools to cure and perform ceremonies, for the old ceremonies, since the white man had arrived, have not been able to cure the new diseases. Along with the medicine man ceremonies he also goes to American "white" doctors, which also acts as some what of a cleansing for him. In his case vomiting is can also be used as a ceremony for Tayo because he uses it to cleanse his body of the poisons and evil, both physical illness and mental illness. The ceremonies that Tayo goes through whether traditional through a medicine man or contemporary like visits to the psychiatrist and stays in the hospital, all add to his recovery, either through physical or mental cleansing.
Cutchins, Dennis. " `So That the Nations May Become Genuine Indian': Nativism and Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony." Journal of American Culture 22.4 (1999) : 77-89.
of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform,” American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1
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
The inherent desire to belong to a group is one that is fundamental to human nature. In his article “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict,” Edward O. Wilson writes, “A person’s membership in his group – his tribe – is a large part of his identity.” Wilson explores multilevel group selection and the proclivity for people to define themselves based on their belonging to the group. He goes on to say that people often form these groups with those who look like them and belong to the same culture or ethnic group. In the novels Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, the identities of the protagonist are predominantly shaped by the ethnicities and heritages that they identify with. The identity of Tayo, the protagonist of the novel Ceremony is largely shaped by his ethnicity as both a Native American and part white. Tayo’s background leads directly to his own identity as an outsider and is central to the storyline. In the novel The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, the title character Puttermesser’s identity and subsequently her story is also influenced by her Jewish heritage.
Change is one of the tallest hurdles we all must face growing up. We all must watch our relatives die or grow old, our pets do the same, change school or employment, and take responsibility for our own lives one way or another. Change is what shapes our personalities, it molds us as we journey through life, for some people, change is what breaks us. Watching everything you once knew as your reality wither away into nothing but memory and photographs is tough, and the most difficult part is continuing on with your life. In the novel Ceremony, author Leslie Silko explores how change impacted the entirety of Native American people, and the continual battle to keep up with an evolving world while still holding onto their past. Through Silko’s
There are consistent patterns or themes regarding Native American world views and the differentiation of cultural elements and society. Native Americans retained control of institutional and cultural orders against the assimilation effort because all aspects of Native American societies are interrelated, guided by the broader cultural world views. Each cultural or institutional element is, in fact, overlapped with other elements, so change in one element inevitably affects the broader cultural and social complex. While adopting to a new environment and small changes was possible in the West, where social and cultural elements are separate from each other, Native Americans were faced with conflicts and a potential, large disruption of the existing social orders.
Leslie Marmon Silko was born on March 5, 1948 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Leland (Lee) Howard Marmon and Mary Virginia Leslie. She is Pueblo Laguna, Mexican and Euro-American heritage. Silko grew up near the Laguna Pueblo Indian Reservation in Southwest New Mexico. She attended both BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) schools and parochial schools. Her Native American family made sure she had an understanding of Native American traditions which included storytelling, and a deep appreciation of the land and customs of Native people from her grandmother and aunts (Hunter, 2006). Each tribe may have variations in style depending the particular tribe, however they all share common themes. The themes of the stories describe their passion to honor the earth, awareness of spiritual influences, the significance of ceremony and ritual traditions and the “the power to teach, heal and reflect” (PBS, 2004). The stories also include myth, healers and interconnect spiritual and practical issues (Hunter, 2006). They believe their storytelling tradition provides direction in life. “Many Indians believe that language is an incarnation of reality and that words themselves have the power to create” (Draper, Giroux and Lazzari, 1993, p 440).
takes the form of a “revision” of history for the purpose of removing the Western influence and
In our day and age where our youth are becoming more aware of the history of the country and the people who inhabit it, the culture of Native Americans has become more accessible and sparks an interest in many people young and old. Recent events, like the Dakota Access Pipeline, grab the attention of people, both protesters and supporters, as the Sioux tribe and their allies refuse to stay quiet and fight to protect their land and their water. Many Native people are unashamed of their heritage, proud of their culture and their ancestors. There is pride in being Native, and their connection with their culture may be just as important today as it was in the 1800’s and before, proving that the boarding school’s ultimate goal of complete Native assimilation to western culture has
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The colonization of civilizations has changed the world’s history forever. From the French, Spaniard, and down to the English, have changed cultures, traditions, religions, and livelihoods of other societies. The Native Americans, for example, were one of the many civilizations that were conquered by the English. The result was their ways of life based on nature changed into the more “civilized” ways of the colonists of the English people. Many Native Americans have lost their old ways and were pulled into the new “civilized” ways. Today only a small amount of Native American nations or tribes exist in remote areas surviving following their traditions. In the book Ceremony, a story of a man named Tayo, did not know himself and the world around him but in the end found out and opened his eyes to the truth. However the Ceremony’s main message is related not only to one man but also to everything and everyone in the world. It is a book with the message that the realization of oneself will open the eyes to see what is truth and false which will consequently turn to freedom.
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.