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Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts
Struggles with native american culture outline essay
Struggles with native american culture outline essay
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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 …show more content…
Rocky deliberately avoided the old time ways … he called it superstition.”(Silko, 51) By showing us how Rocky deliberately avoids the ways of his people, the traditions of his own family, Silko highlights the push for Native Americans to essentially become white. Rocky represents an entire generation that is being told that they need to completely renounce their way of life in order to be accepted by modern society. Part of this acceptance was also promised through participating in World War Two, as shown through the army recruiter “Anyone can fight for America… even you boys. In a time of need anyone can fight for her.”(Silko, 64) Silko uses the recruiter as a voice for opinions in the US, enticing its alienated cultures with a kind of equality. As the audience, we clearly know it is a temporary change, and Silko highlights this by mentioning “In a time of need”, but Rocky, a person already trying to embrace change, sees this as a chance to become equal to the whites. He as well as many others are fooled by the whites into thinking that positive change is happening, ironically, this promise of a better life leads to his fate. In a jungle nowhere near home, participating in a war, having nothing to do with his people, Rocky dies as a white man. By ending Rocky’s life in this way, Silko allows …show more content…
Early on in the novel he is introduced as a fellow veteran and childhood friend of Tayo’s, much like Rocky. Unlike Rocky, however, Harley is no longer striving to leave the reservation and be accepted into the world of the whites, he is trying to relive being in the army, the feelings of equality, of being desirable. “Harley didn’t use to like beer at all… Something was different about him now, after the war. He drank a lot of beer now.” By giving a clear distinction between his prewar and postwar drinking habits, Silko emphasizes the change his character has undergone, the effect war has on these reservation veterans. They use beer as a way to avoid their problems, numb all the pain accumulated from the white man’s war. People such as Harley find themselves pursuing their past, hiding from even the present, such as when he and Leroy were able to obtain a junk pickup truck. They literally run from their issues, spending their time just drinking, sleeping, and driving a pickup they owe money for. Harley’s life ends in this very truck “The old GMC pickup was crushed around them like the shiny metal coffin the Veterans Office bought for each of them… It was not much different than if they had died at Wake Island or Iwo Jima” This similarity is highlighted by Silko as a way to remind us that, although veterans like Harley had survived the war, they never truly lived afterward, because they so heavily dwelled on their
The social, cultural and political history of America as it affects the life course of American citizens became very real to us as the Delany sisters, Sadie and Bessie, recounted their life course spanning a century of living in their book "Having Our Say." The Delany sisters’ lives covered the period of their childhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, after the "Surrender" to their adult lives in Harlem, New York City during the roaring twenties, to a quiet retirement in suburban, New York City, as self-styled "maiden ladies." At the ages of 102 and 104, these ladies have lived long enough to look back over a century of their existence and appreciate the value of a good family life and companionship, also to have the last laugh that in spite of all their struggles with racism, sexism, political and economic changes they triumphed (Having Our Say).
Most times in life we don’t appreciate what we have, but in some rare cases people do appreciate what they have because they don’t realize that there is anything better. In the poem “I Grew Up” by Lenore Keeshig-Tobias that is exactly what she is trying to put forth to the readers. Lenore Keeshig-Tobias is describing her love towards the native reserves and all the great memories she had their as a child. Born in 1950 Wiarton, Ontario, she was the eldest of ten children and a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation on the Bruce Peninsula. Much of Keeshig-Tobias’ work draws upon the realities of native life and
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.
The depiction of Native Americans to the current day youth in the United States is a colorful fantasy used to cover up an unwarranted past. Native people are dressed from head to toe in feathers and paint while dancing around fires. They attempt to make good relations with European settlers but were then taken advantage of their “hippie” ways. However, this dramatized view is particularly portrayed through media and mainstream culture. It is also the one perspective every person remembers because they grew up being taught these views. Yet, Colin Calloway the author of First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, wishes to bring forth contradicting ideas. He doesn’t wish to disprove history; he only wishes to rewrite it.
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.
“Reclaiming Culture and the Land: Motherhood and the Politics of Sustaining Community” is about a mother who is a Native American activist who has two children, she wants them to be raised and go to school in an Indian community. “I put my children in that school because I wanted them to be in the Indian community.” She explains that she is not sure if her children know what she is doing is common, but they know that what she is doing is right. “My children do have the sense that what I do is not necessarily common. Recently my daughter started asking me if I’m famous.” She has fought for her children to have a good life, full of community, ritual, and an understanding of who they are and where they come from.
Throughout the events that transpire in the novel “Ceremony” by Leslie Marmon Silko. We are granted a glimpse into the life of a native American from the Laguna tribe named Tayo. We witness Tayo’s recovery from Battle Fatigue; now known as PTSD, which he contracted while fighting in WW2. throughout the novel, we witness Tayo’s interactions with the people around him, as he tries to cope with his demons. Through these interactions we also get a feel about how Tayo fits in with his community. Tayo may be a damaged man, however there are people, who he becomes close to, that help him work through his problems and enable him to be restored to his former self.
In most American families parents are overjoyed as a result of the happiness and success of their teenage children. Across America teenager are enjoying their “rite of passage”, such as friends, after school activities, sports, vacations with their families and their first car. At the same time, little is known of the extreme poverty and despondency existing within the reservations of the Native American communities. Many Native American families are still struggling with the pain and anguish their ancestors suffered during the ethnic cleansing and forced relocation of the 1800’s such as the Trail of Tears.
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.
In Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, she depicts the life of Tayo, a half-white, half-Native American war veteran, as he struggles to heal from his scarring experiences and to come to terms with his jumbled sense of identity. Tayo, belonging to two different cultures and needing aid in mending his emotional wounds, seeks healing in traditional Native American methods. However, whites have tampered with the long unchanged rituals of the Indians. Silko’s Ceremony describes the conflicts between clashing cultures using the thoughts and interactions of characters, particularly those of mixed-race, and symbolism in order to show the paradox that the Native Americans must persevere to preserve their history while the white
In some of her earlier works, more notably Winds of Change (1992), Smith relies on symbols, reference to nature, patterns and colors, rather than text and recognizable imagery to tell her story. By using traditional native imagery in combination with contemporary native imagery, Smith refers to the fact that modern life does indeed exist on the reservation and it is not constrained to the past. In an interview with Smith she explains QUOTE: “My cultural heritage gives me in-depth and political content, a narrative in my work, a worldview as well as design elements that are based on nature,” Quick-to-See Smith said. “It also helps me to see the flip side of things, a particularly Native way of applying humor, which is part of
To begin with this reflection, I would like to provide an overview of the book Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker. An Ojibwe girl was born tells the story of her great-grandmother. She was also known by a various of other names such as Ni-bo-we-se-gew, Night Flying woman, and Oona. During the time of her great-grandmother, many people encountered hardships. Despite the act of having to move to reservations, Oona continued to focus on the “old ways” that were looked down upon. The need to assimilate to the new culture, in this case, is the white culture.
A ceremony could have many or very little steps, however many steps a ceremony has, it could be stated that the journey through the ceremony is much more important than it’s purpose. Leslie Silko’s novel, Ceremony, is the story of returning to one’s roots. This is done by playing into the bleak reality of the assimilation of Native American tribes and how destructive this assimilation was to the Native American culture. The novel attempts to portray a realistic perspective of the actuality of the Native American life through the eyes of a biracial man, Tayo, who is a half caucasian, half Laguna man, as he struggles to come to terms with the past, while simultaneously grappling with the question of where his life is headed. Tayo embodies the
Oral tradition in Native American culture illustrates the physical history of each tribe, creates origin stories, and reinforces generations of societal values. In particular, the Nez Perce tale, “Red Willow,” encapsulates and preserves many elements of tradition within its narrative as the story is passed down over centuries. Spirituality, death rituals, gender roles, and analysis of their people’s surrounding environment are all essential themes compacted into the brief narrative. The story’s pacing is rapid and simple in order to capture and entrance and educate a young audience while reinforcing the tribe’s traditions and introducing creation tales. Origin stories structured like “Red Willow” have been used throughout Native American cultures