Based on the first 45 pages of Silko’s Ceremony it is it evident that the effects that WWII had on its soldier survivors are too much to handle without substance abuse and or the development of a mental illness. We see these effects clearly in the characters of Tayo and Harley. Moreover, many of our own families have seen this situation play out with grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, siblings, and friends.
Within the first 45 pages, Silko also paints a picture of the land and community that Tayo lives in. How does this landscape have an affect on Tayo’s illness and his overall wellbeing when he comes home from the war? If it were not for the drought, do you think Tayo would be able to recover faster as a result of reconnecting with nature in the same way he did when he was a kid with his brother?
Within the first 45 pages of Ceremony, Silko carefully and respectfully identifies the effects of war on one veteran, Tayo. After six years being gone from his reservation, Tayo returns without his brother and is sick from guilt and grief.
Tayo is struck with guilt because of his actions in the war. After a flash flood threatened the lives of his and others around him Tayo, “damned the rain until the words were a chant… He wanted the words to make a cloudless blue sky, pale with summer sun pressing across wide and empty horizons,” turning away from the god that created the rain for the people and nature (Silko, 11). Later when Silko returns home, we see that his land has not seen rain for too long of a time. He blames himself for this because he knew instantly how his actions caused the result. Through Josiah’s words, “the old people used to say that droughts happen when people forget, when people misbehave,” and he is reminded of this fact throughout the first few pages (Silko, 42).
Guilt plays a massive role in how Tayo interacts with others and nature after the war. My question is… Why does he take on the burden of the drought solely because he damned the rain through emotional rage? Does this type of guilt signify some other type of guilt for him, or is the guilt specifically about this instance?
Tayo suffers from what appears to be PTSD, haunted by memories of the war, particularly the death of his cousin Rocky and the time he spent in a Japanese prison camp. Tayo also feels guilt over praying for the rain to stop during the war, as he believes it caused the severe drought in his homeland.
Tayo’s story fluctuates from past to present, with memories of his childhood, his time in the military, and his current struggles with his identity and place within his community. He feels disconnected from both his family and the broader world, a condition worsened by the post-war environment and his physical and emotional suffering.
How do the descriptions of the land, the weather, and Tayo’s relationship to both reflect his internal conflict? In what ways does this suggest that healing might come through reconnecting with the land and traditional practices?
In the first 45 pages of Ceremony, the character Tayo very clearly has deep connections with water. Particularly, the short excerpt about Corn Woman and Reed Woman. Tayo believes that he aggravated these deities, and based on the words, it seems that Reed Woman might be the controller of water. By praying to end the rain, he upset Corn Woman, who in turn got upset with Reed Woman, who ended her baths. This caused rain to end, laying causing drought. By praying, Tayo believes that he caused discourse between these two sisters, interrupting their relationship, and causing water to dry up, and in turn, everything else.
While thinking about this, I began to look in between the lines. Reed Woman went back to the place down below, and all the plants died. Does this mean that Corn Woman died, or at least in Tayo’s eyes? Or is Corn Woman trying to create her own water, but due to not having the Reed Woman, all that she can create is wind?
Early in the book Tayo dreams in a mix of languages and has vivid nightmares of being back in the Philippine jungle during WWII. He has dreams of the dead and tries to calm himself by thinking of a deer spirit. After waking, Tayo can’t shake the nightmares he just had. Tayo’s uncle Josiah lingers in his mind as he stands in the kitchen where his uncle once was. These dreams of his uncle suggest that Tayo feels guilty about leaving his uncle when he enlisted in the war. Tayo’s time at war obviously impacted his mental health and Tayos choice to enlist impacted his hometown environment and family relationships.
Tayo is experiencing a drought in his hometown. The land has been dry for the last six years Tayo has been at war. What could this drought possibly symbolize? How does it relate to the time Tayo has spent away from his family? What is out of balance in Tayos life and the real word?
Within Silko’s Ceremony so far, there is a clear connection between Tayo’s emotions and nature. The guilt Tayo feels from the war manifests itself as the more insidious and eerie aspects of nature. Tayo believes that his role in the war has led to the major drought in his hometown. Tayo’s part in the war has created an instability that ensues after the war ends. Tayo has to deal with this guilt he feels and has a continuous battle with the feelings he had during the war. Specifically, the guilt he feels about not initially blaming the white people. “But they blamed themselves just like they blamed themselves for losing the land the white people took” (Silko 39). White people are the root of this destruction as the culture of modern war diminishes the value of the human life. Is the white fog that surrounds Tayo a representation of white culture suffocating his own cultural identity?
Another aspect of Ceremony I wanted to touch on was the way the natural world is personified. Nature is described with such active detail that it feels like its own character. The main role of nature is the connection between the actions of humans and the way nature reacts to those actions, but the way in which nature reacts also seems important. “The sun was climbing then” (Silko 8) and “the wind whipped the mule’s thin tail between its hind legs” (Silko 23) demonstrate ways in which nature acts with consciousness. I may be misreading, but I feel that the way natural world acts with mindfulness makes it a living participant in the story. Does nature demonstrate a consciousness in the story or is it more of a symbol of a lost connection?
In the first 45 pages of the book “Ceremony”, Silko provides readers with a glance into the lives of WWII soldiers that had returned home and the effects of war that have also come home with them. We were shown in this book that the character Tayo is struggling with his identity because he is a mixed-race man and doesn’t feel fully accepted by his society. Tayo also seems to be struggling with PTSD and guilt stemming from particular actions that he took in the war such as the drought which he believed was caused from him praying for the rain to stop.
How might (is) Tayo’s struggle with PTSD affect his ability to build relationships with individuals in his community?
Could the guilt Tayo feels from his belief that the drought occurred because of his prayer for the rain to stop signify the connection he believes he has with nature?
What does Tayo’s identity struggle illustrate to readers about the struggle of other mixed-race individuals and their struggle of being accepted in a particular society/community?
Silko’s Ceremony is teeming with engaging concepts. One of the concepts that stuck out to me is community. Tayo struggles to find community because he is of mixed race. Among the Pueblo people he is seen as white but among white people he is seen as native. He does not fully belong until he performs whiteness by joining the military. The uniform allows Tayo to become unmarked, “The first day in Oakland he and Rocky walked down the street together and a big Chrysler stopped in the street and an old white woman rolled down the window and said, “God bless you, God bless you,” but it was the uniform, not them, she blessed” (pg. 39). Tayo has this understanding that the privileged treatment he is receiving is not for his valor but for the status provided by the uniform. With this understanding he enjoys the elevated status and belonging until his service comes to an end. Without the uniform he is back to searching for belonging. His compatriots are also struggling, finding their solace in drink. Tayo mourning for them finding their lost fate worse than Rocky’s. While Tayo has much he is grieving, his actions during the war and Rocky’s death, could it be argued he also mourns a sense of belonging?
From my understanding Tayo never fit well with the Pueblo people before going to war. Now that he is home he is even more estranged which we can see physically through his sickness and spiritually through his dreams. The dreams Tayo has are quite powerful as well as informative. The dreams show us Tayo’s deep connection to the land, as the subjects within the dreams appear to have impact on the waking world. The dream about the threads shows us his loss of his Pueblo culture as well as his struggle to connect to it. While the dream about the maize and reed women show the punishment for his forgetfulness during the war. The drought in the dream translates to the waking world experiencing drought. In this story is Tayo more like the Reed or Maize woman?
I feel that Tayo is closer to the Maize woman. While he does run from his home, leaving a drought in his wake, he forgets the importances of differences and struggles to find purpose outside of work, something the Maize woman appears to struggle with.
In the beginning sections of “Ceremony”, Tayo seems to jump from memory to memory regarding flashbacks from World War II, reflecting his deep emotional turmoil. These severely painful memories manifest into physical reactions happening to his body, including episodes of crying, fainting, and vomiting. The flash forwards of his present life presents how he lives in a constant state of sensitivity that won’t go away. His small moments of peace usually appear when he is surrounded by the source, nature.
Silko states “For a long time he had been white smoke” (13). I think this can symbolize Tayo’s feelings of disconnection and invisibility. White smoke represents something fleeting/formless—similar to Tayo’s emotional state after the trauma of war. It conveys feelings of being lost and aimlessly drifting while grappling with his identity in the wake of his experiences. This imagery illustrates Tayo’s path to healing, indicating he has been in a state of uncertainty and vulnerability, but also suggesting the possibility for transformation and renewal, as smoke can eventually disperse, leading to clarity and insight.
In what ways does Tayo’s connection to nature serve as a source of healing amidst his feelings of disconnection and invisibility? What else could this “white smoke” symbolize?
Beginning Ceremony by Leslie Silko, brings to light many facets of life through the perspectives of different individuals. At the forefront of this list of characters is two men by the name of Tayo and Rocky. In the first 45 pages of the text, the life of Tayo is brought to life and examined through stories, his perspective, and the narrators’ perspective. As a person of color with a mixed nationality, Tayo expresses a unique perspective on the world and those around him. This appears to be a key theme within the social dynamics of the text that appears to use social constructs and experiences as a gateway to understand racism. In Tayo’s case his race, nationality, and past history has made him feel outcasted and longing for social acceptance. Tayo’s involvement with fighting in the war and interacting with white people who previously treated him as an invisible being until he joined the armed forces. Has since left him without a social group to call home. In his culture, fighting battles alongside of especially white men is against many social constructs. This is exemplified on page 33 as Tayo wrestles with the effects of fighting and PTSD along with the lack of acceptance of his peers due to his involvement with war. The stories and thoughts of Tayo often give off the impression that he is not in his right mind. Many of these thoughts and excerpts make me believe that we are getting a look into his subconscious thoughts that are depicting the reality of his life experiences. The deeply rooted ancestorial excerpts and poems in the beginning of the text support my theory and lead me to believe that there is still a constant war waging in his head.
Does Tayo and his dreams play a more serious role in the depiction of his life experiences? Or can we assume that these events are largely amplified by the suffering of PTSD?
For a man who has seen so much in his time, at what point does he lose his ability to separate reality and factual occurrences? As readers how do we retain and digest the text if we are constantly having to wonder the true meaning of it?
So for my piece of our reading of silkos ceremony, I wanted to focus on How important Silko points to the art of storytelling being in her poem
“I will tell you something about stories,'[he said]
They aren’t just entertainment.
Don’t be fooled.
They’re 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.but the stories cannot be confused or forgotten.
They would like that.
They would be happy because we would be defenseless then.
[He rubs his belly]
I keep it in here,
[he said]
Here, put your hand on it.See?
It is moving.”
Where she clearly outlines how important stories are to herself and life in general, with her statement that without stories you have nothing it is identified as a source of identity. But also, I think the belly depiction is interesting because the metaphor is obviously drawn to what I originally thought was a baby or a mother carrying a child. So as to paint the picture that humans create the stories they tell and therefore shape life. However, I think it could also symbolize how stories only live on in people, through their ability to tell them. as well as how everyone carries those stories within themselves.In tayos case it could also frame a metaphor for his ptsd from the war. as it shows the dual edge sword of the situation with stories that sometimes they carry information we didn’t want however we gained those experiences so therfore feel compelled to share them not only to lighten our mental load but allow others to learn from them without having to go through the same experience.
I’ve been seeing how society doesn’t value stories as much as they used to and thinks all talk is just talk and that unless a physical project is made from the community coming together, it’s kaput that there is a community or story at all.
Which I believe is driven by the way society created dependency based on trade and resource use, making physical commodities more important than culture.
For students, stories also become akin to grades as we exchange our mental commodities for a degree or to pass a class; it breeds the depreciation and devaluation of those stories and ideas themselves.
Technology connecting us should make these ideas more important, as they allow us to share in a wider space; however, it only discounts us more as we become more ingrained in the systems than each other.
So I’m curious whether others have seen how stories and word of mouth have depreciated in perceived value.
As I write this question I am reading about the first time the medicine man, Ku’oosh, came to heal Toyo. Within this interaction Ku’oosh makes the comment towards the end of their meeting that this cultural practice does not work as well as it once did. On page 35 the medicine man says, “There are some things we can’t cure like we used to…not since the white people came. Others who had the Scalp Ceremony, some of them are not better either.” This stood out to me because it acknowledges that Ku’oosh has doubts. I found it interesting that he communicated his doubts with Toyo in the state that he is in. To me that shows the level of concern coming from a very important figure in their culture. I think this concern builds from the comment Ku’oosh made on page 33 about white warfare. As humans we are not supposed to be able to handle warfare, especially the kind that Toyo experienced which included, “killing across great distances without knowing who or how many had died.” To be able to achieve this level of warfare required a certain dissociation from yourself and the world. This dissociation among other PTSD symptoms is where I think the medicine man originates his concerns from. “I am afraid of what will happen to all of us if you and the others don’t get well.”
Question: Do you think the ceremony will work? (Obviously we will know later in the chapters but what do you think is the significance of including this dialogue about the medicine man questioning the impact of ceremonies since colonization?)
I think this speaks to the generational trauma of colonization and the level of disturbance does not just go away with a veterans check or even time.
Tayo struggles so much with PTSD throughout the start of this book, especially while trying to reconcile his native identity with fighting for the colonial army. He struggles with “white warfare” and how impersonal and cruel it was; having to fight and kill without knowing who he fought is attributed to him and others not getting better when treated with traditional methods. Beyond the struggles that he faces with getting better, Tayo and his friends actively get worse by the “courtesy of the U.S. Government” through their pay from fighting. They get drunk to combat the anger and hurt and the pain of loss that they went through for the benefit of the government that dispossessed and murdered them and their ancestors.
In what way is the impersonality of fighting in WW2 similar to the dispossession of native peoples across the US? How do the two sources of trauma intersect? Can we assume that Tayo’s participation in an American colonial venture is making his mental state even worse given his status as a Native American?
One thing I noticed in the Ceremony, was the common use of spiders and webs throughout the story. Even before the story began, there were a few references to spiders and bugs. Then again, we see in the Thought-Woman poem, we see a mention of spiders.
“He knew at some point the sunlight on the wall would collapse into his thoughts like pale gray cobwebs, clinging to all things within him, and then his stomach would begin to convulse, and he would have to hold himself with both hands to try to hold back the tremor that grew inside.” (Pg. 16-17)
“The word he chose to express “fragile” was filled with the intricacies of a continuing process, and with a strength inherent in spider webs woven across paths through sand hills where early in the morning the sun becomes entangled in each filament of the web. It took a long time to explain the fragility and intricacy because no word exists alone, and the reason for choosing each word had to be explained with a story about why it must be said this certain way.” (Pg. 32)
Personally, I think that the webs and spiders could symbolize a number of things. Firstly, spiders are often associated with fear or disdain but they’re necessary and an integral part of an ecosystem. I think that the mention of spiders could be referencing parts that were scary but needed to continue the story. Secondly, in Sustainable Development, we talk a lot about webs. Things are interconnected and we are taught that from nearly the very first biology class. I have a feeling that Silko is trying to show us that each part in this story is interconnected– even the moments that feel pale and gray or fragile.
This is my question: Did you notice any similar themes that appeared? Do you believe the webs and spiders mean something completely different? How might this appear or influence the story later on? Does it influence the story now and how?
“He had not been able to sleep for a long time—for as long as all things had become tied together like colts in single file when he and Josiah had taken them to the mountain, with the halter rope of one colt tied to the tail of the colt ahead of it, and the lead colt’s rope tied to the wide horn on Josiah’s Mexican saddle.”
“Tayo had to sweat through those nights when thoughts became entangled; he had to sweat to think of something that wasn’t unraveled or tied in knots to the past—something that existed by itself, standing alone like a deer. And if he could hold that image of the deer in his mind long enough, his stomach might shiver less and let him sleep for a while.”
The imagery of entanglement and the fragility of memory profoundly reflect Tayo’s internal conflict and search for identity. The metaphor of tangled threads, as illustrated in the passage where Tayo compares his memories to “colored threads from old Grandma’s wicker sewing basket,” encapsulates the complexity of his emotional landscape. Just as the threads become knotted and difficult to separate, Tayo’s memories intertwine with his present experiences, creating a sense of confusion and distress.
This entanglement is not merely a personal struggle but also reflects broader themes of cultural disconnection. Tayo’s experiences in the war and the subsequent trauma have left him feeling fragmented, disconnected from his heritage and the community that once defined him. The imagery of the colts, tied together and led by Josiah, suggests a yearning for connection and guidance, yet it also highlights the constraints that his past imposes on him. He is caught in a cycle of memories that prevent him from finding peace or a clear sense of identity.
How does the symbolism of the deer in Tayo’s thoughts serves as a poignant contrast to this entangled state? How does the shifting of this tranquil image into memories of hunting and wartime illustrate the impact of trauma on personal identity?
In Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko delves into Tayo’s battles with PTSD, his Native heritage, and his lingering guilt after serving in World War II. Tayo no longer feels close to his community and thinks that his role in the war may have caused the severe drought impacting his homeland. His guilt is deep, it is tied to the shame of initially blaming himself and his people rather than colonial forces. The brutal, impersonal nature of “white warfare” makes it hard for him to recover through traditional Native healing practices. Along with other Native veterans, Tayo turns to alcohol to cope, especially as government pay from their service feels like a hollow reward from the same system that has oppressed their people. Tayo’s mixed heritage and cultural disconnection further complicate his struggles, as his war is completely different from his community’s expectations.
My question is just about how often is this the case of native people’s going to war for their now colonizers? I wonder if this is a very similar feeling that many people face in various countries? Is it ever seen as necessary? Or does it always bring guilt and shame?
In the beginning of the book Tayo has dreams and has nightmares that are almost too real, of being back in the Philippines jungle during world war 2. In these dreams he sees the dead and throughout this nightmare her tries to calm himself as he thinks of the deer spirit. Once Tayo awakes, the nightmare seems to linger as he tries to disregard the nightmare which he just arose from. Josiah, his uncle still caught in his mind as tayo stands in the kitchen that Josiah used to be in.
This dream of Josiah suggest to us the reader that Tayo is feeling guilty about his uncle. Tayo too was in war and during his time this trama has left an impact on his mental health and how his family and hometown relationships see him and how he sees them.
In the book, while Tayo has been away his hometown has been experiencing a devastating drought. He has been gone from his hometown for six years. During this time no rain has fallen while he’s been at war.
What has gone awry and left out of balance in Tayo’s life that both himself and his hometown are experiencing such disastrous situation and what can he do to try and fix and alleviate these issues?
For this week of class, we read the first half of Leslie Marmon Silko’s book, Ceremony. In the first few pages we are introduced to Tayo. A young man who has returned home after being traumatized from World War II. He is also struggling with identity because he is from Laguna Pueblo and Anglo descent.
Returning to the pueblo, he is faced with several challenges including his health, family, and mental wellbeing. He gets no help from western medicine. In fact, it exacerbates his identity crisis and makes him feel like formless white smoke. These challenges point him to the direction of an old Laguna Pueblo medicine man named Ku’oosh. I really liked Ku’oosh. Even though his older traditional way of healing does not work on Tayo, he is a very grounding character for me.
There is a lot of change in the air. I think the setting of the story furthers this theme, with post WW2 being a catalyst for global industrialization and technological innovation. Tayo wants to change his current stage, people in his life are changing, the ceremony has to change, societal norms, culture, land, and tradition are all changing as well. How can all of these things meet Tayo in a productive way in the modern world?
“These dry years you hear some people complaining, you know, about the dust and the wind, and how dry it is. But the wind and the dust, they are part of life too, like the sun and the sky. You don’t swear at them. It’s people, see. They’re the ones. The old people used to say that droughts happen when people forget, when people misbehave.” – Quote by Josiah on page 42.
Is it true that in this drought people have misbehaved and forgotten, as a result of the war and the other things happening in the community? Is this quote by Josiah, someone who meant so much to Tayo, just another phrase that sticks in his head that makes him feel guilt for what has happened to him?
SD 3800 Voices in Sustainable Development 
Based on the first 45 pages of Silko’s Ceremony it is it evident that the effects that WWII had on its soldier survivors are too much to handle without substance abuse and or the development of a mental illness. We see these effects clearly in the characters of Tayo and Harley. Moreover, many of our own families have seen this situation play out with grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, siblings, and friends.
Within the first 45 pages, Silko also paints a picture of the land and community that Tayo lives in. How does this landscape have an affect on Tayo’s illness and his overall wellbeing when he comes home from the war? If it were not for the drought, do you think Tayo would be able to recover faster as a result of reconnecting with nature in the same way he did when he was a kid with his brother?
Cole Tomlin
Within the first 45 pages of Ceremony, Silko carefully and respectfully identifies the effects of war on one veteran, Tayo. After six years being gone from his reservation, Tayo returns without his brother and is sick from guilt and grief.
Tayo is struck with guilt because of his actions in the war. After a flash flood threatened the lives of his and others around him Tayo, “damned the rain until the words were a chant… He wanted the words to make a cloudless blue sky, pale with summer sun pressing across wide and empty horizons,” turning away from the god that created the rain for the people and nature (Silko, 11). Later when Silko returns home, we see that his land has not seen rain for too long of a time. He blames himself for this because he knew instantly how his actions caused the result. Through Josiah’s words, “the old people used to say that droughts happen when people forget, when people misbehave,” and he is reminded of this fact throughout the first few pages (Silko, 42).
Guilt plays a massive role in how Tayo interacts with others and nature after the war. My question is… Why does he take on the burden of the drought solely because he damned the rain through emotional rage? Does this type of guilt signify some other type of guilt for him, or is the guilt specifically about this instance?
Alaina Case
Tayo suffers from what appears to be PTSD, haunted by memories of the war, particularly the death of his cousin Rocky and the time he spent in a Japanese prison camp. Tayo also feels guilt over praying for the rain to stop during the war, as he believes it caused the severe drought in his homeland.
Tayo’s story fluctuates from past to present, with memories of his childhood, his time in the military, and his current struggles with his identity and place within his community. He feels disconnected from both his family and the broader world, a condition worsened by the post-war environment and his physical and emotional suffering.
How do the descriptions of the land, the weather, and Tayo’s relationship to both reflect his internal conflict? In what ways does this suggest that healing might come through reconnecting with the land and traditional practices?
In the first 45 pages of Ceremony, the character Tayo very clearly has deep connections with water. Particularly, the short excerpt about Corn Woman and Reed Woman. Tayo believes that he aggravated these deities, and based on the words, it seems that Reed Woman might be the controller of water. By praying to end the rain, he upset Corn Woman, who in turn got upset with Reed Woman, who ended her baths. This caused rain to end, laying causing drought. By praying, Tayo believes that he caused discourse between these two sisters, interrupting their relationship, and causing water to dry up, and in turn, everything else.
While thinking about this, I began to look in between the lines. Reed Woman went back to the place down below, and all the plants died. Does this mean that Corn Woman died, or at least in Tayo’s eyes? Or is Corn Woman trying to create her own water, but due to not having the Reed Woman, all that she can create is wind?
Ben Watson
Early in the book Tayo dreams in a mix of languages and has vivid nightmares of being back in the Philippine jungle during WWII. He has dreams of the dead and tries to calm himself by thinking of a deer spirit. After waking, Tayo can’t shake the nightmares he just had. Tayo’s uncle Josiah lingers in his mind as he stands in the kitchen where his uncle once was. These dreams of his uncle suggest that Tayo feels guilty about leaving his uncle when he enlisted in the war. Tayo’s time at war obviously impacted his mental health and Tayos choice to enlist impacted his hometown environment and family relationships.
Tayo is experiencing a drought in his hometown. The land has been dry for the last six years Tayo has been at war. What could this drought possibly symbolize? How does it relate to the time Tayo has spent away from his family? What is out of balance in Tayos life and the real word?
Maddy Gartland
Hanna Cowles
Within Silko’s Ceremony so far, there is a clear connection between Tayo’s emotions and nature. The guilt Tayo feels from the war manifests itself as the more insidious and eerie aspects of nature. Tayo believes that his role in the war has led to the major drought in his hometown. Tayo’s part in the war has created an instability that ensues after the war ends. Tayo has to deal with this guilt he feels and has a continuous battle with the feelings he had during the war. Specifically, the guilt he feels about not initially blaming the white people. “But they blamed themselves just like they blamed themselves for losing the land the white people took” (Silko 39). White people are the root of this destruction as the culture of modern war diminishes the value of the human life. Is the white fog that surrounds Tayo a representation of white culture suffocating his own cultural identity?
Another aspect of Ceremony I wanted to touch on was the way the natural world is personified. Nature is described with such active detail that it feels like its own character. The main role of nature is the connection between the actions of humans and the way nature reacts to those actions, but the way in which nature reacts also seems important. “The sun was climbing then” (Silko 8) and “the wind whipped the mule’s thin tail between its hind legs” (Silko 23) demonstrate ways in which nature acts with consciousness. I may be misreading, but I feel that the way natural world acts with mindfulness makes it a living participant in the story. Does nature demonstrate a consciousness in the story or is it more of a symbol of a lost connection?
In the first 45 pages of the book “Ceremony”, Silko provides readers with a glance into the lives of WWII soldiers that had returned home and the effects of war that have also come home with them. We were shown in this book that the character Tayo is struggling with his identity because he is a mixed-race man and doesn’t feel fully accepted by his society. Tayo also seems to be struggling with PTSD and guilt stemming from particular actions that he took in the war such as the drought which he believed was caused from him praying for the rain to stop.
Perry Daughtry
Anna Harrison:
Silko’s Ceremony is teeming with engaging concepts. One of the concepts that stuck out to me is community. Tayo struggles to find community because he is of mixed race. Among the Pueblo people he is seen as white but among white people he is seen as native. He does not fully belong until he performs whiteness by joining the military. The uniform allows Tayo to become unmarked, “The first day in Oakland he and Rocky walked down the street together and a big Chrysler stopped in the street and an old white woman rolled down the window and said, “God bless you, God bless you,” but it was the uniform, not them, she blessed” (pg. 39). Tayo has this understanding that the privileged treatment he is receiving is not for his valor but for the status provided by the uniform. With this understanding he enjoys the elevated status and belonging until his service comes to an end. Without the uniform he is back to searching for belonging. His compatriots are also struggling, finding their solace in drink. Tayo mourning for them finding their lost fate worse than Rocky’s. While Tayo has much he is grieving, his actions during the war and Rocky’s death, could it be argued he also mourns a sense of belonging?
From my understanding Tayo never fit well with the Pueblo people before going to war. Now that he is home he is even more estranged which we can see physically through his sickness and spiritually through his dreams. The dreams Tayo has are quite powerful as well as informative. The dreams show us Tayo’s deep connection to the land, as the subjects within the dreams appear to have impact on the waking world. The dream about the threads shows us his loss of his Pueblo culture as well as his struggle to connect to it. While the dream about the maize and reed women show the punishment for his forgetfulness during the war. The drought in the dream translates to the waking world experiencing drought. In this story is Tayo more like the Reed or Maize woman?
I feel that Tayo is closer to the Maize woman. While he does run from his home, leaving a drought in his wake, he forgets the importances of differences and struggles to find purpose outside of work, something the Maize woman appears to struggle with.
In the beginning sections of “Ceremony”, Tayo seems to jump from memory to memory regarding flashbacks from World War II, reflecting his deep emotional turmoil. These severely painful memories manifest into physical reactions happening to his body, including episodes of crying, fainting, and vomiting. The flash forwards of his present life presents how he lives in a constant state of sensitivity that won’t go away. His small moments of peace usually appear when he is surrounded by the source, nature.
Silko states “For a long time he had been white smoke” (13). I think this can symbolize Tayo’s feelings of disconnection and invisibility. White smoke represents something fleeting/formless—similar to Tayo’s emotional state after the trauma of war. It conveys feelings of being lost and aimlessly drifting while grappling with his identity in the wake of his experiences. This imagery illustrates Tayo’s path to healing, indicating he has been in a state of uncertainty and vulnerability, but also suggesting the possibility for transformation and renewal, as smoke can eventually disperse, leading to clarity and insight.
In what ways does Tayo’s connection to nature serve as a source of healing amidst his feelings of disconnection and invisibility? What else could this “white smoke” symbolize?
-Michelle Hood
Week five Response: Cooper White
Beginning Ceremony by Leslie Silko, brings to light many facets of life through the perspectives of different individuals. At the forefront of this list of characters is two men by the name of Tayo and Rocky. In the first 45 pages of the text, the life of Tayo is brought to life and examined through stories, his perspective, and the narrators’ perspective. As a person of color with a mixed nationality, Tayo expresses a unique perspective on the world and those around him. This appears to be a key theme within the social dynamics of the text that appears to use social constructs and experiences as a gateway to understand racism. In Tayo’s case his race, nationality, and past history has made him feel outcasted and longing for social acceptance. Tayo’s involvement with fighting in the war and interacting with white people who previously treated him as an invisible being until he joined the armed forces. Has since left him without a social group to call home. In his culture, fighting battles alongside of especially white men is against many social constructs. This is exemplified on page 33 as Tayo wrestles with the effects of fighting and PTSD along with the lack of acceptance of his peers due to his involvement with war. The stories and thoughts of Tayo often give off the impression that he is not in his right mind. Many of these thoughts and excerpts make me believe that we are getting a look into his subconscious thoughts that are depicting the reality of his life experiences. The deeply rooted ancestorial excerpts and poems in the beginning of the text support my theory and lead me to believe that there is still a constant war waging in his head.
Does Tayo and his dreams play a more serious role in the depiction of his life experiences? Or can we assume that these events are largely amplified by the suffering of PTSD?
For a man who has seen so much in his time, at what point does he lose his ability to separate reality and factual occurrences? As readers how do we retain and digest the text if we are constantly having to wonder the true meaning of it?
Megan Langlois
So for my piece of our reading of silkos ceremony, I wanted to focus on How important Silko points to the art of storytelling being in her poem
“I will tell you something about stories,'[he said]
They aren’t just entertainment.
Don’t be fooled.
They’re 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.but the stories cannot be confused or forgotten.
They would like that.
They would be happy because we would be defenseless then.
[He rubs his belly]
I keep it in here,
[he said]
Here, put your hand on it.See?
It is moving.”
Where she clearly outlines how important stories are to herself and life in general, with her statement that without stories you have nothing it is identified as a source of identity. But also, I think the belly depiction is interesting because the metaphor is obviously drawn to what I originally thought was a baby or a mother carrying a child. So as to paint the picture that humans create the stories they tell and therefore shape life. However, I think it could also symbolize how stories only live on in people, through their ability to tell them. as well as how everyone carries those stories within themselves.In tayos case it could also frame a metaphor for his ptsd from the war. as it shows the dual edge sword of the situation with stories that sometimes they carry information we didn’t want however we gained those experiences so therfore feel compelled to share them not only to lighten our mental load but allow others to learn from them without having to go through the same experience.
I’ve been seeing how society doesn’t value stories as much as they used to and thinks all talk is just talk and that unless a physical project is made from the community coming together, it’s kaput that there is a community or story at all.
Which I believe is driven by the way society created dependency based on trade and resource use, making physical commodities more important than culture.
For students, stories also become akin to grades as we exchange our mental commodities for a degree or to pass a class; it breeds the depreciation and devaluation of those stories and ideas themselves.
Technology connecting us should make these ideas more important, as they allow us to share in a wider space; however, it only discounts us more as we become more ingrained in the systems than each other.
So I’m curious whether others have seen how stories and word of mouth have depreciated in perceived value.
As I write this question I am reading about the first time the medicine man, Ku’oosh, came to heal Toyo. Within this interaction Ku’oosh makes the comment towards the end of their meeting that this cultural practice does not work as well as it once did. On page 35 the medicine man says, “There are some things we can’t cure like we used to…not since the white people came. Others who had the Scalp Ceremony, some of them are not better either.” This stood out to me because it acknowledges that Ku’oosh has doubts. I found it interesting that he communicated his doubts with Toyo in the state that he is in. To me that shows the level of concern coming from a very important figure in their culture. I think this concern builds from the comment Ku’oosh made on page 33 about white warfare. As humans we are not supposed to be able to handle warfare, especially the kind that Toyo experienced which included, “killing across great distances without knowing who or how many had died.” To be able to achieve this level of warfare required a certain dissociation from yourself and the world. This dissociation among other PTSD symptoms is where I think the medicine man originates his concerns from. “I am afraid of what will happen to all of us if you and the others don’t get well.”
Question: Do you think the ceremony will work? (Obviously we will know later in the chapters but what do you think is the significance of including this dialogue about the medicine man questioning the impact of ceremonies since colonization?)
I think this speaks to the generational trauma of colonization and the level of disturbance does not just go away with a veterans check or even time.
Dez
Tayo struggles so much with PTSD throughout the start of this book, especially while trying to reconcile his native identity with fighting for the colonial army. He struggles with “white warfare” and how impersonal and cruel it was; having to fight and kill without knowing who he fought is attributed to him and others not getting better when treated with traditional methods. Beyond the struggles that he faces with getting better, Tayo and his friends actively get worse by the “courtesy of the U.S. Government” through their pay from fighting. They get drunk to combat the anger and hurt and the pain of loss that they went through for the benefit of the government that dispossessed and murdered them and their ancestors.
In what way is the impersonality of fighting in WW2 similar to the dispossession of native peoples across the US? How do the two sources of trauma intersect? Can we assume that Tayo’s participation in an American colonial venture is making his mental state even worse given his status as a Native American?
Anna Gardner
One thing I noticed in the Ceremony, was the common use of spiders and webs throughout the story. Even before the story began, there were a few references to spiders and bugs. Then again, we see in the Thought-Woman poem, we see a mention of spiders.
“He knew at some point the sunlight on the wall would collapse into his thoughts like pale gray cobwebs, clinging to all things within him, and then his stomach would begin to convulse, and he would have to hold himself with both hands to try to hold back the tremor that grew inside.” (Pg. 16-17)
“The word he chose to express “fragile” was filled with the intricacies of a continuing process, and with a strength inherent in spider webs woven across paths through sand hills where early in the morning the sun becomes entangled in each filament of the web. It took a long time to explain the fragility and intricacy because no word exists alone, and the reason for choosing each word had to be explained with a story about why it must be said this certain way.” (Pg. 32)
Personally, I think that the webs and spiders could symbolize a number of things. Firstly, spiders are often associated with fear or disdain but they’re necessary and an integral part of an ecosystem. I think that the mention of spiders could be referencing parts that were scary but needed to continue the story. Secondly, in Sustainable Development, we talk a lot about webs. Things are interconnected and we are taught that from nearly the very first biology class. I have a feeling that Silko is trying to show us that each part in this story is interconnected– even the moments that feel pale and gray or fragile.
This is my question: Did you notice any similar themes that appeared? Do you believe the webs and spiders mean something completely different? How might this appear or influence the story later on? Does it influence the story now and how?
“He had not been able to sleep for a long time—for as long as all things had become tied together like colts in single file when he and Josiah had taken them to the mountain, with the halter rope of one colt tied to the tail of the colt ahead of it, and the lead colt’s rope tied to the wide horn on Josiah’s Mexican saddle.”
“Tayo had to sweat through those nights when thoughts became
entangled; he had to sweat to think of something that wasn’t
unraveled or tied in knots to the past—something that existed by
itself, standing alone like a deer. And if he could hold that image of
the deer in his mind long enough, his stomach might shiver less and
let him sleep for a while.”
The imagery of entanglement and the fragility of memory profoundly reflect Tayo’s internal conflict and search for identity. The metaphor of tangled threads, as illustrated in the passage where Tayo compares his memories to “colored threads from old Grandma’s wicker sewing basket,” encapsulates the complexity of his emotional landscape. Just as the threads become knotted and difficult to separate, Tayo’s memories intertwine with his present experiences, creating a sense of confusion and distress.
This entanglement is not merely a personal struggle but also reflects broader themes of cultural disconnection. Tayo’s experiences in the war and the subsequent trauma have left him feeling fragmented, disconnected from his heritage and the community that once defined him. The imagery of the colts, tied together and led by Josiah, suggests a yearning for connection and guidance, yet it also highlights the constraints that his past imposes on him. He is caught in a cycle of memories that prevent him from finding peace or a clear sense of identity.
How does the symbolism of the deer in Tayo’s thoughts serves as a poignant contrast to this entangled state? How does the shifting of this tranquil image into memories of hunting and wartime illustrate the impact of trauma on personal identity?
Aaron Batty
Jonathan Phillips
In Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko delves into Tayo’s battles with PTSD, his Native heritage, and his lingering guilt after serving in World War II. Tayo no longer feels close to his community and thinks that his role in the war may have caused the severe drought impacting his homeland. His guilt is deep, it is tied to the shame of initially blaming himself and his people rather than colonial forces. The brutal, impersonal nature of “white warfare” makes it hard for him to recover through traditional Native healing practices. Along with other Native veterans, Tayo turns to alcohol to cope, especially as government pay from their service feels like a hollow reward from the same system that has oppressed their people. Tayo’s mixed heritage and cultural disconnection further complicate his struggles, as his war is completely different from his community’s expectations.
My question is just about how often is this the case of native people’s going to war for their now colonizers? I wonder if this is a very similar feeling that many people face in various countries? Is it ever seen as necessary? Or does it always bring guilt and shame?
In the beginning of the book Tayo has dreams and has nightmares that are almost too real, of being back in the Philippines jungle during world war 2. In these dreams he sees the dead and throughout this nightmare her tries to calm himself as he thinks of the deer spirit. Once Tayo awakes, the nightmare seems to linger as he tries to disregard the nightmare which he just arose from. Josiah, his uncle still caught in his mind as tayo stands in the kitchen that Josiah used to be in.
This dream of Josiah suggest to us the reader that Tayo is feeling guilty about his uncle. Tayo too was in war and during his time this trama has left an impact on his mental health and how his family and hometown relationships see him and how he sees them.
In the book, while Tayo has been away his hometown has been experiencing a devastating drought. He has been gone from his hometown for six years. During this time no rain has fallen while he’s been at war.
What has gone awry and left out of balance in Tayo’s life that both himself and his hometown are experiencing such disastrous situation and what can he do to try and fix and alleviate these issues?
Grady
Isaacs
For this week of class, we read the first half of Leslie Marmon Silko’s book, Ceremony. In the first few pages we are introduced to Tayo. A young man who has returned home after being traumatized from World War II. He is also struggling with identity because he is from Laguna Pueblo and Anglo descent.
Returning to the pueblo, he is faced with several challenges including his health, family, and mental wellbeing. He gets no help from western medicine. In fact, it exacerbates his identity crisis and makes him feel like formless white smoke. These challenges point him to the direction of an old Laguna Pueblo medicine man named Ku’oosh. I really liked Ku’oosh. Even though his older traditional way of healing does not work on Tayo, he is a very grounding character for me.
There is a lot of change in the air. I think the setting of the story furthers this theme, with post WW2 being a catalyst for global industrialization and technological innovation. Tayo wants to change his current stage, people in his life are changing, the ceremony has to change, societal norms, culture, land, and tradition are all changing as well. How can all of these things meet Tayo in a productive way in the modern world?
Cecilia Roche
Em Morris
“These dry years you hear some people complaining, you know, about the dust and the wind, and how dry it is. But the wind and the dust, they are part of life too, like the sun and the sky. You don’t swear at them. It’s people, see. They’re the ones. The old people used to say that droughts happen when people forget, when people misbehave.” – Quote by Josiah on page 42.
Is it true that in this drought people have misbehaved and forgotten, as a result of the war and the other things happening in the community? Is this quote by Josiah, someone who meant so much to Tayo, just another phrase that sticks in his head that makes him feel guilt for what has happened to him?