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Essay on tribal culture
Essay on tribal culture
Essay on tribal culture
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The interpretative richness of Silko’s Ceremony
Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony is the extraordinary tale of Tayo, a mixed-blood Native
American in his long quest to cure the suffering that afflicts him and his people. The novel is
complex enough that it can be interpreted in the context of starkly different paradigms, each
highlighting important facets of the story. For instance, in the article “Feminine perspectives at
Laguna Pueblo: Silko’s Ceremony,” Edith Swan offers a (symbolic) analysis of the plethora of
important female characters in the novel that is based on a deliberately unicultural, Laguna
worldview on the grounds that “[...] western presumptions must be set aside so that they do not
adversely bias or manipulate tribal structures of meaning. Native premises must be allowed to
stand on their own terms” (309). On the other hand, Dennis Cutchins, in his article “‘So that the
nations may become genuine Indian’: Nativism and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony”
advocates a politico-historical interpretation of the novel as a reaction against the overwhelming
influence of Western civilization on Native American culture. This reaction, Cutchins argues,
takes the form of a “revision” of history for the purpose of removing the Western influence and
adapting ancient traditions to better serve the needs of the present, thus resolving the conflict
between the two cultures. Cutchins’ interpretation therefore, is multicultural, focussing on the
historical relationship between Western and Native American cultures and providing a paradigm
(namely, nativism) that helps put it all in perspective. By utilizing divergent paradigms in
interpreting Ceremony, Swan and Cutchins both succeed in highlighting the many fascinating...
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...nse in the context of the outside world and the history of the
Native American people. The differing theses however, do not contradict each other. Rather,
they complement each other by providing a more complete picture through the simultaneous
consideration of socio-cultural as well as politico-historical perspectives of the novel.
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Works Cited
Cutchins, Dennis. “‘So that the nations may become genuine Indian’: Nativism and Leslie
Marmon Silko’s Ceremony.” Journal of American Culture 22.4 (1 Dec. 1999): not
paginated.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Penguin, 1977.
Swan, Edith. “Feminine Perspectives at Laguna Pueblo: Silko’s Ceremony.” Tulsa Studies in
Women’s Literature 11.2 (Autumn, 1992): 309-328.
Work cited from within Swan, Edith:
Allen, Paula Gunn. “The Psychological Landscape of Ceremony.” American Indian Quarterly.
5.1 (1979): 12.
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Leslie Marmon Silko uses the idea of being speckled and/or spotless in her book Ceremony. To try to be spotless is the Laguna people trying to become a part of white society, hence, becoming separated from the Earth and from the roots, tradition, beliefs, rituals and customs of the Native American way. It is letting in white society with the belief that it can somehow improve you. It is destructive change that takes a person away from the Earth. It is change that specifies and names possessions and makes you question your own beliefs.
Eder, Richard. "Pain on the Face of Middle America." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Daniel G. Marowski. Detroit: Gale Research Publishing, Inc., 1986. 103.
Geoffrey C. Ward, Not For Ourselves Alone. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999) : 65. 7 Ward, 67. -. 8 Dubois, 75-79. pp.
In Ceremony, Leslie Silko brilliantly crosses racial styles of humor in order to cure the foolish delusions readers may have, if we think we are superior to Indians or inferior to whites, or perhaps superior to whites or inferior to Indians. Silko plays off affectionate Pueblo humor against the black humor so prominent in 20th-century white culture. This comic strategy has the end-result of opening our eyes to our general foolishness, and also to the possibility of combining the merits of all races. Joseph Campbell wrote in The Inner Reaches of Outer Space of the change in mythologies away from the local and tribal toward a mythology that will arise from "this unified earth as of one harmonious being." Ceremony is a work that changes local mythologies in that more inclusive spirit.
Haisla family living in a North American society. The main perspective of the novel is told
We must not isolate ourselves from what we think we know, but instead allow ourselves to comprehend. Bibliography:.. PERRINE'S STORY AND STRUCTUE 9TH ED. ARE, THOMAS R. 1998, HARCOURT-BRACE COLLEGE PUBLISHERS. FORT WORTH, TX -.
The central conflict of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony is Tayo's struggle to gain psychological wholeness in the face of various traumatic experiences, ranging from a troubled childhood to cultural marginalization and combat experiences during World War II. Throughout the novel, the key to Tayo's psychological recovery is his rediscovery of Native American cultural practices.
The symbols that encompass the novel underscore the theme that the American Dream, corrupt and unjust, eventually concludes in anguish. Money, greed, and lust overtake everything in their lives to the point of nothing else being of importance. The characters in this novel lost themselves to a fruitless dream that eventually brought and end to the “holocaust” that embodied their lives (162).
Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the past. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.
...'s bias towards this novel's hero is central to the critique of belief in the 'American Dream'." The English Review 17.3 (2007): 9+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
"Revisionism means nothing more or less than the effort to correct the historical record in the light of a more complete collection of historical facts, a more calm political atmosphere, and a more objective attitude." (2)
Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View. New York: Ballantine, 1993. Print.
Changes occur within societies, cultures, religions, or livelihood, people lose their sense of importance towards their roots and sense of being therefore redefining the meaning of humanity. However, as Ceremony teaches, being in touch with one’s roots and sense of being will bring about understanding of what is true or what is false. An individual should realize the meaning of their essence and in turn would bring the understanding towards the world. Ceremony’s world application evaluates and serves as a guide of how humanity should open their eyes and look at everything in a different a perspective to see it in the way of the ceremony: the way of life. The ceremony should be practiced and adapted throughout all the time, no matter the race, religion, culture or livelihood.
An American Tragedy is an intriguing, frighteningly realistic journey into the mind of a murderer. It is a biography of its era. And, it is also historical fiction. But what makes this novel a classic? While society has changed dramatically since 1925, Dreiser's novel, which shows the futility of "The American Dream" and the tragedies that trying to live it can cause, accurately summarizes social mores of this and any time period.
All throughout history, we see this dichotomy between tradition and modernity. On one hand, we have tradition, the force living perpetually in the past and refusing to change. On the other hand, modernity leaves tradition behind in favor of progress. These two concepts, much like oil and water, dare to divide but coexist as a debatable founding solution. Not only are the themes Western ideas, but they have been present and are found in literature all around the world, from China to Africa.