Beginning on page 105, Tayo and Robert meet the 2nd medicine man, Betonie. Tayo sees where he lives, and sees modern items present in his home and begins to become weary of Betonie and doubt his healing abilities. Also, Tayo notices that he is mixed race and is even more hesitant and wants to leave. Betonie then gives explanation, that he lives there because he truly belongs to this land, despite it’s current conditions, including post-tourism. He has these items like newspapers and coke boxes because he is well traveled and these are items he has collected, but that doesn’t discount his abilities, and he is trying to convey to Tayo that times and traditions have changed, and choosing to accommodate and comply with modern times only strengthens his abilities and knowledge of today’s culture for healing purposes.
Since Betonie presents himself very differently compared to Ku’oosh, but is able to prove himself as trustworthy and skilled, do you think that due to the notable differences between the two medicine men, do you think Tayo should or could start to form a different opinion of Ku’oosh and his traditional ways after meeting Betonie?
“Tayo’s voice was shaking : he could feel the tears pushing into his eyes”. Pg 114. From this page it seems like Rocky has been left in the woods from World War II. Tayo is unfortunately going through PTSD when it comes to Rocky. Which I think is interesting even though Rocky and Tayo both disagreed when it came to their cultural linkages. With Tayo favoring his indenougoues side and Roacky having a proximity towards whiteness. Later in the story Tayo begins to interact with cattle and since he was searching for them he later interacted with a mountain lion instead of being afraid they have mutual respect for each other when he does find the cattle he runs into white officers and ranchers. It turns out that the cattle had wandered on private property owned by white rancers. Tayo has to think of a strategic plant and cut the barbed wire to free them. It kinda sounds symbolic with the cows representing (Indigenous land) and the white ranchers being the colonizers. To me it reinforces the idea that it is possible Indigenous people to get their land back?
How does the interconnectedness of all living things and the land help individuals discover and embrace their true identity? “He would take the cattle home again, and they would follow the plans Josiah had made and raise a new breed of cattle that could live in spite of drought and hard weather”. Tayo is a bit of a lost soul after having gone through trauma from the war. However, Tayo wanting to set the cattle free and bring them to a life without suffering represents how Tayo wants to bee reconnected with his land and culture. Making this connection with the cattle just brings Tayo one step closer to being able to move on from his past and rejoin his ancestors in their shared culture and land. By immersing himself in the natural world and embracing who he is, Tayo is able to see himself as part of a larger existence than the one he is stuck on. This connection he made has revealed that his identity exists in and is deeply rooted in relationships of all forms.
As Tayo searches for Josiah’s cattle in the mountains, he cultivates a new spiritual perspective. Along the way, he faces tests that include mental, environmental, physical, and spiritual challenges he must overcome. As he rides, the story explores traditional Laguna Pueblo narratives, emphasizing the cyclical nature of healing. Tayo rides through the landscape and begins to feel more attuned to nature. He notices subtle details in the land that he would have once ignored. Also, as he grounds himself with nature, he cultivates feelings of belonging, which were stripped from him during his trauma. Overall, this marks a shift in his perception and connection to his ancestral roots.
Colonialism is a recurring theme in sustainable development, which is highlighted throughout some of the pages. Tayo realizes that Josiah’s cattle have wandered onto land owned by white ranchers, and retrieving them will require defying the laws of property ownership imposed by white settlers. As night falls, Tayo decides to camp in the mountains, where he gained clarity and the interconnectedness of all things (spirituality). He comes to realize that solitude is a path to wisdom, which I greatly believe. What happens if solitude is taken too far? How will time treat the individual in an extended period of solitude? Why is solitude so important?
In this section of “Ceremony”, Tayo begins to understand that coping with the effects of the war has just as much about what is happening right in front of him as it is about the actual war. In meeting other characters that deeply traumatized by the war, he finds the loss of sense of self and culture disturbing. He finds that many people of his tribe have completely lost this culture and identity, it’s here he realizes that he’s different then the others and may still be able to reclaim what it means to be himself even after the war and loss of culture. This reflects what the second ceremony recommends and Betonie lives by in that all past solutions will not totally heal Tayo, and he must seek out his own form of healing.
That leads me to my question. How can Tayo branch out and reassert his identity when himself, and his peers around him have seemed to have lost it. Will it take a ceremony past what western medicine gives, or is rejecting the cultural ways of the past in the quest for his own self preservation possible/even justifiable?
I thought the story beginning on page 122 was really interesting, it tells the tale of how white people and colonialism came into existence from the indigenous perspective. The story explains that a group of witch people came together to show off, but one particular witch had the story that brought the white people and their devastating actions to life. Even the other witch people were frightened and they asked for the story to be called back, but the one witch said it was already coming into fruition. This quote is used to describe the white people that the witch brought to life: “The world is a dead thing for them, the trees and rivers are not alive, the mountains and stones are not alive. The deer and bear are objects, They see no life,” (Silko 125).
The story is told after Betonie tells Tayo that the white people “are only tools that the witchery manipulates… [we can deal with white people] because we invented white people,” (Silko 122). How does a belief like this help Tayo in his journey of healing? And what is your opinion on the indigenous take of colonialism?
In this section we meet the character Betonie who is a medicine man like Ku’oosh, however unlike Ku’oosh who lives in what can be considered a traditional Laguna home, Betonie lives in a hogan however it is different in the sense that it is filled with a mix of more modern day objects like coke bottles alongside traditional objects. Betonie is also a resident (if you can really call him that) of a white town called Gallup. In what ways aside from being mixed race native americans could we compare and contrast Betonie and Tayo? Both of which being characters who are living in both the traditional and modern world. What similarities are there? What differences? How do they parallel each other’s experiences?
The poem on pages 118-120 showcases one little boy’s extreme connection to nature, and similarly, Tayo’s “wellbeing” is deeply rooted in his connection to his culture. This similarity highlights the importance of interconnectedness of spirit, community, nature, and all things in indigenous cultures. While seemingly in an identity crisis, how does Tayo find himself as an individual when he requires such a strong connection to other people and domains such as nature and his culture? Or is detaching himself from the idea of self the seeming goal in mind?
For this week’s reflection I want to focus on an excerpt from Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony on page 169. In a moment of peace watching the sunrise, Tayo recalls to himself a poem, “Sunrise! We come at sunrise to greet you. We call you at sunrise. Father of the clouds you are beautiful at sunrise. Sunrise!” After the poem Tayo continues his train of thought. The narrative explains, “The power of each day spills over the hills in great silence. Sunrise. He ended the prayer with sunrise because he knew the Dawn people began and ended all their words with sunrise.” This antidote from Tayo is reflected in the unique structure Silko chooses to present the multiple stories woven non-linearly throughout Ceremony. After the three opening poems Silko opens the first narrative section with, “Sunrise” writen on a single page. The end of the book follows this strucure with a final sunrise poem.
Does this brief moment of reflection from Tayo with in his story provide greater context to the Ceremony narrative? Does this anecdote of Native American story-telling techniques from Tayo help locate Ceremony’s interwoven stories inside a greater narrative crafted by Spider-women, as suggested at the beginning of the book?
During this section of Ceremony, Tayo is deeply struggling with sickness and the differences between American and Native culture. He battles with these contrasting thoughts and memories of war while undergoing the ceremony. He begins to connect more and more with his Native side while his brother gravitates toward the Western mindset, causing Tayo to feel alienated from his brother’s way of thinking. Tayo is traumatized from the war and connects the trauma he feels from the violence he faced in war to the struggles of his people. In this section, Tayo realizes that the way to heal from his PTSD is to connect deeper and deeper to his Native side that values the natural world in a way far different from how Westernization has put a valuation on nature. By embracing the Indigenous way of life and accepting and following their view of the earth, land, plants, and animals, Tayo can begin healing internally. He connects his struggle to points of nature and the struggle the land has faced. Through this newfound ideological acceptance, Tayo begins being an active participant in his healing journey rather than feeling like a victim. This shift changes the trajectory of his healing journey. On page 115, Tayo and Betonie have a deep discussion about the need for this active participation in the healing process: “‘This has been going on for a long long time. They will try to stop you from completing the ceremony.’ [Betonie]. The hollow inside him was suddenly too small for the anger. ‘Look,’ Tayo said through clenched teeth, ‘I’ve been sick, and half the time I don’t know if I’m still crazy or not. I don’t know anything about ceremonies or these things you talk about. I don’t know how long anything has been going on. I just need help.’ The words made his body shake as if they had an intensity of their own, which was released as he spoke. ‘We all have been waiting for help a long time. But it never has been easy. The people must do it. You must do it.’ [Betonie] (Silko, 115). These words of wisdom from Betonie and the contrasting thoughts spoken by Tayo explain that no one can save him but himself. People help Tayo along the way in his healing journey, providing strength, comfort, and Native knowledge, but Tayo is the only person who can truly help himself. Betonie’s words say that people have begged for help for a long time, but it is he who must help himself (115), and I find this very poetic. How can we utilize this mindset in our lives? How has the American culture pushed us away from this mindset?
This section of Ceremony continues to explore Tayo’s path towards healing and self-realization. Tayo is exposed to the wisdom and ceremonies of Betonie, a Navajo medicine man of mixed ancestry, like Tayo. His ceremony seems to signal the start of Tayo’s recovery, and a continuation of some of the books broader themes. We see the origin of white coloniality through the eyes of indigenous culture, in which white people are a creation of witches that do not respect nature and life. This is contrasted with the imagrey used to describe the indigenous connection to the natural world and the ceremony Tayo is experiencing.
How do colonial and indigenous ideas about their relation to nature inform their culture and societies? How does this connection to the natural world inform Tayo’s journey for healing?
In this section, Tayo is undergoing a healing journey, a ceremony by an unconventional medicine man Betonie. Throughout his healing process he struggles with his self-identity. Betonie is also mixed race, which makes Tayo much more skeptical of his abilities, than his collections had before. As he continues on he realizes that he is much more connected to his native identity and culture than he initially thought. This is in contrast to his brother Rocky who had fully embraced white culture.
How does Tayo’s journey challenge the idea that Native identity and Western identity are mutually exclusive?
For this week’s forum post, I wanted to explore more deeply a quote that stood out to me. Silko writes,
‘“But you know, grandson, this world is fragile.” 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 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. That was the responsibility that went with being human, old Ku’oosh said, the story behind each word must be told so there could be no mistake in the meaning of what had been said; and this demanded great patience and love.” (Page 57, Kindle edition)
As someone very interested in languages and the meanings that we give to words, I took special note of this quote when I was reading. In our environmental humanities class that I took last semester, I remember we read a book called Wisdom Sits in Places, that discussed Apache place names. A prominent part of this discussion was that these palace names had special meanings and important stories behind them. When one says the names, they are repeating the speech of the Apache ancestors who created the name. There is a history and stories behind these names; stories that are brought to life when the names are spoken. This quote from Ceremony reminded me of this idea of history and the importance of words. Words hold so much meaning and power within them, and we as humans have the ability to use them in many ways. But it is our responsibility to respect the meaning and use them with love. There is great patience and love in taking the time to understand someone and to carefully choose your own words.
This idea of fragility can also relate back to how Indigenous languages, cultures, and ways of life are fragile, just as our natural world is fragile and in danger. How does all of this contrast with Western views on language, meaning, storytelling, history, and our environment?
This section of the book offers insight as to how Tayo processes things in his mind and builds on the depth of his character. We get a taste of what sort of repercussions Tayo has experienced mentally and physically as consequences of going to war. Compounded with general PTSD, Tayo begins struggling with how to cope with his Native culture and how the rest of the country treats Native peoples. He wants to continue practicing Native traditions and adhere to that culture, while he notices some of those around him straying from Native ways and towards those of the white man, including his brother. I think in the back of his mind he probably knows that members of his tribe are allowing themselves to become Westernized in an attempt to advance in society, and Tayo grapples with the weight of potentially a better live versus holding true to the culture he was brought up in.
My question to the class would be this: Are there any other instances, in modern day or in the past, where one might have to struggle with these same trade-offs that Tayo is dealing with? What might those instances be?
This section of the book covers part of Tayo’s healing journey because of the two medicine men’s involvement. We are exposed to the ways that trauma and PTSD has reeked havoc on Tayo but also how the experiences of both non-Native vs Native wars within Tayo himself. We can see him wrestling with the idea of non-Western life and practices, especially throughout his stay and conversations with Betonie in his hogan. Ku’oosh helps Tayo be able to sleep again and help process the immensely difficult time away fighting the Japanese while Betonie helps him with that and his reconnection to his Native identity and to nature.
My question is this: what are our Western perceptions of medicine men? How does this book change your own perception of what a medicine man is?
“He could feel it inside his skull—the tension of little threads being pulled and how it was with the deer: no beginning or end, just the deer and himself and the mountains.” seems to pair nicely with, “…it became necessary to create new ceremonies. I have made changes in the rituals. The people mistrust this greatly, but only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong.” There should not be a considered end or beginning it is all connected through out, only the ceremony itself that spans time and space. People have a hard time trusting what they do not understand and within change, within something that has no beginning or end people cannot identify where they should stand on it and its interpretation. We need defined borders of separation to make sense, the ceremony itself needs to change, it needs to connect to something different and heal different parts of the world as things change with the rise of the white man, things die so new things must grow in its place. The ceremony itself will always be there.
So the question is what do you mistrust within your own life due to how much it changes? and what would help with that mistrust?
In this section, Tayo is on a healing journey to find different ways of bringing people together. The poems in this section are based on bringing people together and Tayo’s role of bringing people together as the medicine man. This section of the book also talks about new and different ceremonies that Tayo is exploring, too. Tayo goes on this journey and this section talks about how his different experiences have led to him deciding to go on this healing journey.
My question: is there other ways that Tayo’s journey of healing have taught him more about his job as the medicine man?
Starting on page 69, Silko wrote about how Tayo, Josiah, and Rocky while they were discussing a scientific book that was meant to instruct individuals about raising and breeding cattle. Josiah was making fun of the book, written by a white scientist, and Tayo and Robert were joking around with him. During this scene, Rocky was in disagreement. Silko stated, “Tayo and Robert laughed with him, but Rocky was quiet. He looked up from his books. ‘Those books are written by scientists. They know everything there is to know about beef cattle. That’s the trouble with the way the people around here have always done things–they never knew what they were doing.’ He went back to reading his book. He did not hesitate to speak like that…because the subject was books and scientific knowledge–those things that Rocky had learned to believe in…He was becoming what she had always wanted: someone who could not only make sense of the outside world but become part of it.” (Silko 69-70).
Keeping this quote in mind, along with the scene as a whole, I am wondering if Silko was offering commentary on the erasure of Native American culture. As Rocky shifts his beliefs and critiques the traditions of his people in order to fit in with the ideal, white American, he is losing the core of who he is as a person. My question is: How could Tayo, or anyone else in the story, have attempted to prevent Rocky’s ideals from changing? Could it have even been possible to change Rocky’s mind?
For this week’s reflection question I want to focus on an excerpt from Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony on page 169. In a moment of peacefulness watching the sunrise, Tayo recalls to himself a poem, “Sunrise! We come at sunrise to greet you. We call you at sunrise. Father of the clouds you are beautiful at sunrise. Sunrise!” After the poem Tayo continues his train of thought, explaining, “The power of each day spills over the hills in great silence. Sunrise. He ended the prayer with sunrise because he knew the Dawn people began and ended all their words with sunrise.” This antidote from Tayo is reflected in the unique structure Silko chooses to present the multiple stories woven non linearly throughout Ceremony. After the first three opening poems Silko opens the first narrative section with, “Sunrise.”
Does this brief moment of reflection from Tayo situated in his story provide greater context to the Ceremony narrative? Does this anecdote of Native American story-telling techniques help locate the interwoven stories inside a greater narrative crafted by Spider-women, as suggested at the beginning of the book?
What is the best way of going through life when there are many cultural influences?
Tayo has been in the world of the white man and has experienced what they believe in, things like science and medicine. They make him do all of these things that they believe to be the right way of doing things, like taking medicines. The native medicine man was completely different when it came to how things needed to be treated for Tayo and the others. The various ceremonies, such as the first one, somewhat worked for Tayo because they started to bring back some of his Native roots. Being pulled between two different lifestyles must be confusing for a young person because with Tayo, he is trying to be a good person in this world, but feels lost. He has been taught how to live his life the best that he can, but is there more for him to belong to and for him to go through the world finding belonging?
The commodification of the Indian culture has been made for white people to be involved with the culture. They are being shown off as a roadside attraction for the entertainment of people. The native people who have a rich culture with many layers have been sent to live in poor conditions and still have to use what they have to survive. Tayo is confused why the medicine man can look down on the new houses that have been built because that was once the native lands. He lives in the town because this was a place long before the white people and will still live there even if there are intruders to the land. The medicine man is also mixed blood like Tayo, so he allows connection between the two and shows why he would not mind being intertwined with the other people. Just because there are people in your home does not mean that you cannot make it your own, still with “The old man pointed to the back of the circular room. “The west side is built into the hill in the old-style way. Sand and dirt for a roof, just about halfway underground. You can feel it, can’t you?” This creates a situation that Tayo needs to take a step back and realize why he should not leave vs why he should leave. There is a teaching moment for Tayo because he has been taught that the West has taken the land and made it theirs because it was stolen land. Betonie says that it does not matter because there is still the land that you can connect to and belong to. After all, nobody can take that from you. The Western ideas of property have influenced how Tayo is thinking about this situation.
Betonie, unlike the traditional medicine man, takes new elements that have been introduced by the arrival of white people for what they are, and strives to keep American Indian culture alive. Although he is not happy about it, Betonie believes that change is inevitable and to fight it is counterproductive. Betonie recognizes that by placing limitations on their traditions they are doing exactly what their colonizers want. Betonie tries to get Tayo to understand that the situation is not as simple as good and evil, and knows that chasing the perceived riches of the white man will never result in progress.
Why did Betonie refuse to take Tayo’s money as payment for the ceremony?
The sequence occurring on page 120-121 discussing the calendars was a scene the I believe spoke to the overall message of Tayos journey. Silko writes “I remember those two”… “that gives me some place to start” (Silko 121). The calendars which depict native American heritage remember the stories and keep the culture alive as explained by Betonie. This sequence is followed by the witch’s poem around 10 pages later which acts as an alteration to Tayos understanding of Native American mistreatment. I believe these two sequences are intimately tied together as the Calendars are depicted as forgotten Silko writes “A few showed January, as if the months on the underlying pages had never been torn away”. This scene is important because it shows that although there is love for these calendars which depict the culture, they have been somewhat discarded and forgotten. Thus, can the same be said for the Native American culture in Tayos mind? Has Tayo been overtly distracted by the events occurring within his past that he has seemingly forgotten his own culture and discarded the past essentially never wishing to uncover the truth that the witch’s poem eventually explains?
This section of the book introduces Tayo to Betonie, a Navajo medicine man who combines traditional elements of his culture with modern influences. Betonie embraces change rather than rejecting it, as many traditional medicine men do. He demonstrates how indigenous cultures can adapt while maintaining their essence, as well as the importance of embracing both the past and the present. Betonie’s wisdom changes Tayo’s perspective on life, as he was suffering from PTSD and the effects of being of mixed heritage, and Betonie, who is also of mixed heritage, serves as a mirror for Tayo. It reminds Tayo that being a family or belonging to a culture doesn’t require you to be full-blooded; it’s about connection, understanding, and shared traditions. Betonie’s teachings help Tayo understand that healing comes from embracing both cultures rather than being torn between them.
How does Betonie’s approach to tradition and change challenge conventional notions of cultural identity, and how does this affect Tayo’s journey to healing and self-acceptance?
On page 122, Silko says, “We can because we invented white people; it was Indian witchery that made white people in the first place.” Following this quote was the witch poem, about white people and how they see no life and only see things as objects and that they will kill all things that they fear. What does this poem mean regarding the relationship between Indigenous people and white colonizers? If white people were invented through Indian witchery, why might they have been created, despite the harm they later cause?” Why is it important that this was the story chosen to be told about how white people came about?
Ceremony’s storytelling is deeply entrenched in indigenous oral tradition. The way the story weaves in and out of different points in Tayo’s life, as well as stories based on indigenous myth is indicative of this. It creates a rich tapestry of life and myth, and positions Tayo’s story within a greater context of indigenous experience. Simultaneously, Silko’s poetic and freeform writing writing leaps through time and space abruptly. This could play into the subjective and experiential nature of memory. Memories can often pop-up and play in our heads at seemingly random moments, although they might connect to our current experience in some abstract way. What can Ceremony’s storytelling tell us about the nature of grief, healing, and memory?
In class this week, we discussed the role of the cave in Tayo’s life. Sneaking off to visit it as a child, Silko explains that Tayo would observe snakes gathering on the warm black rock of the cave to heat up at the turn of spring. He was told to stay away from the snakes as they are obviously dangerous. In the midst of his war-induced illness later on in his life, Tayo remembers his relationship with the cave, in a time where he remembers hardly anything but the war. I suggested that, perhaps, Tayo was similar to the snakes in that the cave is a place where he comes alive, or is rejuvenated or maybe even rebirthed. Using the snakes, Silko may be notioning to the danger that Tayo poses to himself. How do you interpret Silko’s emphasis on the cave in Tayo’s life? Are there other scenes that act as odes to the indigenous relationship to the land or wildlife? Other indigenous ways of being? How does the story emphasize indigenous ways of being especially through Tayo’s complicated identity?
In Ceremony, during this section, Tayo struggles deeply with PTSD and the trauma from the war, feeling torn between his Native American heritage and Western cultural values. As Tayo undergoes the ceremony with Betonie, he begins to realize that healing requires active participation in his recovery, something tied to his Native traditions. Unlike the Western approach that separates people from nature, Tayo starts to understand that reconnecting with the earth and his people is essential to his healing process. This realization is emphasized in a later section when Tayo and Betonie have a critical conversation. Betonie tells Tayo, “The people must do it. You must do it.” (Silko, 115). In this moment, Tayo learns that no one else can heal him; he must take responsibility for his own recovery. While others can offer guidance, it is ultimately up to him to engage in the healing process. From this section, Tayo’s shift becomes clear: healing is not a passive experience but an active one, requiring Tayo to embrace his cultural roots and the land. This understanding contrasts with the American mindset, which often encourages looking outward for solutions. Through this realization, Tayo’s path toward healing becomes one of self-empowerment, showing that true healing comes from within and through deep connection to nature and community. How does Tayo’s realization that “the people must do it. You must do it” (Silko, 115) reflect the central theme of active participation in healing, and how does this contrast with Western approaches to trauma recovery? How might this shift in mindset challenge the way we view healing in our own lives?
The section we read delves into Tayo’s inner thoughts and begins to reveal the deeper complexities of his character. We are given a glimpse of the mental and physical wellbeing and the lasting effects of war, while also showing us the consequences of his life experiences. We are also shown the general struggle of PTSD and how war changes people, Tayo also has a whole other set of conflict as he attempts to reconcile with his native heritage that has been viewed in a negative light due to society. Tayo shows us that he wants to stay within his native traditions but in contrast those around him such as his brother, are shown to be moving away in favor of white cultural norms and ideas. Tayo faces challenge between the possibility of a more “comfortable life” in western ideals, or staying true to his culture and in deity that he was raised in.
In these chapters of Ceremony, Tayo is struggling with his PTSD and his conflicting values of American and Native cultures. He continues to be haunted by his time at war and finds himself being increasingly drawn to his Indigenous culture, however, his brother becomes closer to Western ideals. This contrast further deepens Tayo’s sense of isolation. As Tayo is put through the ceremony, he realizes that true healing comes from reconnecting with his native heritage and the environment. Tayo’s healing begins when he aligns himself spiritually with the earth, animals, and plants, finding similarities between his own suffering and the land’s destruction. My question: What can we learn from Indigenous culture to better understand the responsibility of our own healing?
In this section of Ceremony by Leslie Marmom Silko, the reader is taken on Tayo’s journey through the mountains in search of Josiah’s cattle. There he undergoes spiritual transformations that reconnects him with his ancestral roots. Facing emotional, physical, and spiritual trials, Tayo begins to observe and appreciate the details in the natural world that he once overlooked. This attunement to the land reflects a key theme in Ceremony: healing through reconnection with indigenous values and the environment. Tayo’s isolation in the mountains evolves into a space for reflection, clarity, and spiritual grounding. However, this solitude also places him at odds with the legal and cultural systems imposed by colonial forces, especially when he finds the cattle on white-owned land. His experiences suggest that true healing requires stepping outside of Western structures and embracing a holistic approach to identity and wellness. It also raises a deeper question about the balance between solitude and connection, how time alone can lead to self knowledge but also risks detachment if taken too far.
How does Tayo’s time in solitude help him reconnect with himself and his culture, and what are the potential risks or limitations of solitude as a path to healing?
SD 3800 Voices in Sustainable Development 
Beginning on page 105, Tayo and Robert meet the 2nd medicine man, Betonie. Tayo sees where he lives, and sees modern items present in his home and begins to become weary of Betonie and doubt his healing abilities. Also, Tayo notices that he is mixed race and is even more hesitant and wants to leave. Betonie then gives explanation, that he lives there because he truly belongs to this land, despite it’s current conditions, including post-tourism. He has these items like newspapers and coke boxes because he is well traveled and these are items he has collected, but that doesn’t discount his abilities, and he is trying to convey to Tayo that times and traditions have changed, and choosing to accommodate and comply with modern times only strengthens his abilities and knowledge of today’s culture for healing purposes.
Since Betonie presents himself very differently compared to Ku’oosh, but is able to prove himself as trustworthy and skilled, do you think that due to the notable differences between the two medicine men, do you think Tayo should or could start to form a different opinion of Ku’oosh and his traditional ways after meeting Betonie?
Abbey Smith
“Tayo’s voice was shaking : he could feel the tears pushing into his eyes”. Pg 114. From this page it seems like Rocky has been left in the woods from World War II. Tayo is unfortunately going through PTSD when it comes to Rocky. Which I think is interesting even though Rocky and Tayo both disagreed when it came to their cultural linkages. With Tayo favoring his indenougoues side and Roacky having a proximity towards whiteness. Later in the story Tayo begins to interact with cattle and since he was searching for them he later interacted with a mountain lion instead of being afraid they have mutual respect for each other when he does find the cattle he runs into white officers and ranchers. It turns out that the cattle had wandered on private property owned by white rancers. Tayo has to think of a strategic plant and cut the barbed wire to free them. It kinda sounds symbolic with the cows representing (Indigenous land) and the white ranchers being the colonizers. To me it reinforces the idea that it is possible Indigenous people to get their land back?
Kye
How does the interconnectedness of all living things and the land help individuals discover and embrace their true identity? “He would take the cattle home again, and they would follow the plans Josiah had made and raise a new breed of cattle that could live in spite of drought and hard weather”. Tayo is a bit of a lost soul after having gone through trauma from the war. However, Tayo wanting to set the cattle free and bring them to a life without suffering represents how Tayo wants to bee reconnected with his land and culture. Making this connection with the cattle just brings Tayo one step closer to being able to move on from his past and rejoin his ancestors in their shared culture and land. By immersing himself in the natural world and embracing who he is, Tayo is able to see himself as part of a larger existence than the one he is stuck on. This connection he made has revealed that his identity exists in and is deeply rooted in relationships of all forms.
Parker Williamson
As Tayo searches for Josiah’s cattle in the mountains, he cultivates a new spiritual perspective. Along the way, he faces tests that include mental, environmental, physical, and spiritual challenges he must overcome. As he rides, the story explores traditional Laguna Pueblo narratives, emphasizing the cyclical nature of healing. Tayo rides through the landscape and begins to feel more attuned to nature. He notices subtle details in the land that he would have once ignored. Also, as he grounds himself with nature, he cultivates feelings of belonging, which were stripped from him during his trauma. Overall, this marks a shift in his perception and connection to his ancestral roots.
Colonialism is a recurring theme in sustainable development, which is highlighted throughout some of the pages. Tayo realizes that Josiah’s cattle have wandered onto land owned by white ranchers, and retrieving them will require defying the laws of property ownership imposed by white settlers. As night falls, Tayo decides to camp in the mountains, where he gained clarity and the interconnectedness of all things (spirituality). He comes to realize that solitude is a path to wisdom, which I greatly believe. What happens if solitude is taken too far? How will time treat the individual in an extended period of solitude? Why is solitude so important?
In this section of “Ceremony”, Tayo begins to understand that coping with the effects of the war has just as much about what is happening right in front of him as it is about the actual war. In meeting other characters that deeply traumatized by the war, he finds the loss of sense of self and culture disturbing. He finds that many people of his tribe have completely lost this culture and identity, it’s here he realizes that he’s different then the others and may still be able to reclaim what it means to be himself even after the war and loss of culture. This reflects what the second ceremony recommends and Betonie lives by in that all past solutions will not totally heal Tayo, and he must seek out his own form of healing.
That leads me to my question. How can Tayo branch out and reassert his identity when himself, and his peers around him have seemed to have lost it. Will it take a ceremony past what western medicine gives, or is rejecting the cultural ways of the past in the quest for his own self preservation possible/even justifiable?
-Tyler Nece
I thought the story beginning on page 122 was really interesting, it tells the tale of how white people and colonialism came into existence from the indigenous perspective. The story explains that a group of witch people came together to show off, but one particular witch had the story that brought the white people and their devastating actions to life. Even the other witch people were frightened and they asked for the story to be called back, but the one witch said it was already coming into fruition. This quote is used to describe the white people that the witch brought to life: “The world is a dead thing for them, the trees and rivers are not alive, the mountains and stones are not alive. The deer and bear are objects, They see no life,” (Silko 125).
The story is told after Betonie tells Tayo that the white people “are only tools that the witchery manipulates… [we can deal with white people] because we invented white people,” (Silko 122). How does a belief like this help Tayo in his journey of healing? And what is your opinion on the indigenous take of colonialism?
Ella Holmes
In this section we meet the character Betonie who is a medicine man like Ku’oosh, however unlike Ku’oosh who lives in what can be considered a traditional Laguna home, Betonie lives in a hogan however it is different in the sense that it is filled with a mix of more modern day objects like coke bottles alongside traditional objects. Betonie is also a resident (if you can really call him that) of a white town called Gallup. In what ways aside from being mixed race native americans could we compare and contrast Betonie and Tayo? Both of which being characters who are living in both the traditional and modern world. What similarities are there? What differences? How do they parallel each other’s experiences?
-Connor Kuharcik
The poem on pages 118-120 showcases one little boy’s extreme connection to nature, and similarly, Tayo’s “wellbeing” is deeply rooted in his connection to his culture. This similarity highlights the importance of interconnectedness of spirit, community, nature, and all things in indigenous cultures. While seemingly in an identity crisis, how does Tayo find himself as an individual when he requires such a strong connection to other people and domains such as nature and his culture? Or is detaching himself from the idea of self the seeming goal in mind?
-Jack Brion
For this week’s reflection I want to focus on an excerpt from Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony on page 169. In a moment of peace watching the sunrise, Tayo recalls to himself a poem, “Sunrise! We come at sunrise to greet you. We call you at sunrise. Father of the clouds you are beautiful at sunrise. Sunrise!” After the poem Tayo continues his train of thought. The narrative explains, “The power of each day spills over the hills in great silence. Sunrise. He ended the prayer with sunrise because he knew the Dawn people began and ended all their words with sunrise.” This antidote from Tayo is reflected in the unique structure Silko chooses to present the multiple stories woven non-linearly throughout Ceremony. After the three opening poems Silko opens the first narrative section with, “Sunrise” writen on a single page. The end of the book follows this strucure with a final sunrise poem.
Does this brief moment of reflection from Tayo with in his story provide greater context to the Ceremony narrative? Does this anecdote of Native American story-telling techniques from Tayo help locate Ceremony’s interwoven stories inside a greater narrative crafted by Spider-women, as suggested at the beginning of the book?
During this section of Ceremony, Tayo is deeply struggling with sickness and the differences between American and Native culture. He battles with these contrasting thoughts and memories of war while undergoing the ceremony. He begins to connect more and more with his Native side while his brother gravitates toward the Western mindset, causing Tayo to feel alienated from his brother’s way of thinking. Tayo is traumatized from the war and connects the trauma he feels from the violence he faced in war to the struggles of his people. In this section, Tayo realizes that the way to heal from his PTSD is to connect deeper and deeper to his Native side that values the natural world in a way far different from how Westernization has put a valuation on nature. By embracing the Indigenous way of life and accepting and following their view of the earth, land, plants, and animals, Tayo can begin healing internally. He connects his struggle to points of nature and the struggle the land has faced. Through this newfound ideological acceptance, Tayo begins being an active participant in his healing journey rather than feeling like a victim. This shift changes the trajectory of his healing journey. On page 115, Tayo and Betonie have a deep discussion about the need for this active participation in the healing process: “‘This has been going on for a long long time. They will try to stop you from completing the ceremony.’ [Betonie]. The hollow inside him was suddenly too small for the anger. ‘Look,’ Tayo said through clenched teeth, ‘I’ve been sick, and half the time I don’t know if I’m still crazy or not. I don’t know anything about ceremonies or these things you talk about. I don’t know how long anything has been going on. I just need help.’ The words made his body shake as if they had an intensity of their own, which was released as he spoke. ‘We all have been waiting for help a long time. But it never has been easy. The people must do it. You must do it.’ [Betonie] (Silko, 115). These words of wisdom from Betonie and the contrasting thoughts spoken by Tayo explain that no one can save him but himself. People help Tayo along the way in his healing journey, providing strength, comfort, and Native knowledge, but Tayo is the only person who can truly help himself. Betonie’s words say that people have begged for help for a long time, but it is he who must help himself (115), and I find this very poetic. How can we utilize this mindset in our lives? How has the American culture pushed us away from this mindset?
Caroline Laschinger
This section of Ceremony continues to explore Tayo’s path towards healing and self-realization. Tayo is exposed to the wisdom and ceremonies of Betonie, a Navajo medicine man of mixed ancestry, like Tayo. His ceremony seems to signal the start of Tayo’s recovery, and a continuation of some of the books broader themes. We see the origin of white coloniality through the eyes of indigenous culture, in which white people are a creation of witches that do not respect nature and life. This is contrasted with the imagrey used to describe the indigenous connection to the natural world and the ceremony Tayo is experiencing.
How do colonial and indigenous ideas about their relation to nature inform their culture and societies? How does this connection to the natural world inform Tayo’s journey for healing?
-Max Lawrence
In this section, Tayo is undergoing a healing journey, a ceremony by an unconventional medicine man Betonie. Throughout his healing process he struggles with his self-identity. Betonie is also mixed race, which makes Tayo much more skeptical of his abilities, than his collections had before. As he continues on he realizes that he is much more connected to his native identity and culture than he initially thought. This is in contrast to his brother Rocky who had fully embraced white culture.
How does Tayo’s journey challenge the idea that Native identity and Western identity are mutually exclusive?
-Kendall Nerenberg
For this week’s forum post, I wanted to explore more deeply a quote that stood out to me. Silko writes,
‘“But you know, grandson, this world is fragile.” 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 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. That was the responsibility that went with being human, old Ku’oosh said, the story behind each word must be told so there could be no mistake in the meaning of what had been said; and this demanded great patience and love.” (Page 57, Kindle edition)
As someone very interested in languages and the meanings that we give to words, I took special note of this quote when I was reading. In our environmental humanities class that I took last semester, I remember we read a book called Wisdom Sits in Places, that discussed Apache place names. A prominent part of this discussion was that these palace names had special meanings and important stories behind them. When one says the names, they are repeating the speech of the Apache ancestors who created the name. There is a history and stories behind these names; stories that are brought to life when the names are spoken. This quote from Ceremony reminded me of this idea of history and the importance of words. Words hold so much meaning and power within them, and we as humans have the ability to use them in many ways. But it is our responsibility to respect the meaning and use them with love. There is great patience and love in taking the time to understand someone and to carefully choose your own words.
This idea of fragility can also relate back to how Indigenous languages, cultures, and ways of life are fragile, just as our natural world is fragile and in danger. How does all of this contrast with Western views on language, meaning, storytelling, history, and our environment?
This section of the book offers insight as to how Tayo processes things in his mind and builds on the depth of his character. We get a taste of what sort of repercussions Tayo has experienced mentally and physically as consequences of going to war. Compounded with general PTSD, Tayo begins struggling with how to cope with his Native culture and how the rest of the country treats Native peoples. He wants to continue practicing Native traditions and adhere to that culture, while he notices some of those around him straying from Native ways and towards those of the white man, including his brother. I think in the back of his mind he probably knows that members of his tribe are allowing themselves to become Westernized in an attempt to advance in society, and Tayo grapples with the weight of potentially a better live versus holding true to the culture he was brought up in.
My question to the class would be this: Are there any other instances, in modern day or in the past, where one might have to struggle with these same trade-offs that Tayo is dealing with? What might those instances be?
This section of the book covers part of Tayo’s healing journey because of the two medicine men’s involvement. We are exposed to the ways that trauma and PTSD has reeked havoc on Tayo but also how the experiences of both non-Native vs Native wars within Tayo himself. We can see him wrestling with the idea of non-Western life and practices, especially throughout his stay and conversations with Betonie in his hogan. Ku’oosh helps Tayo be able to sleep again and help process the immensely difficult time away fighting the Japanese while Betonie helps him with that and his reconnection to his Native identity and to nature.
My question is this: what are our Western perceptions of medicine men? How does this book change your own perception of what a medicine man is?
“He could feel it inside his skull—the tension of little threads being pulled and how it was with the deer: no beginning or end, just the deer and himself and the mountains.” seems to pair nicely with, “…it became necessary to create new ceremonies. I have made changes in the rituals. The people mistrust this greatly, but only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong.” There should not be a considered end or beginning it is all connected through out, only the ceremony itself that spans time and space. People have a hard time trusting what they do not understand and within change, within something that has no beginning or end people cannot identify where they should stand on it and its interpretation. We need defined borders of separation to make sense, the ceremony itself needs to change, it needs to connect to something different and heal different parts of the world as things change with the rise of the white man, things die so new things must grow in its place. The ceremony itself will always be there.
So the question is what do you mistrust within your own life due to how much it changes? and what would help with that mistrust?
-elan
In this section, Tayo is on a healing journey to find different ways of bringing people together. The poems in this section are based on bringing people together and Tayo’s role of bringing people together as the medicine man. This section of the book also talks about new and different ceremonies that Tayo is exploring, too. Tayo goes on this journey and this section talks about how his different experiences have led to him deciding to go on this healing journey.
My question: is there other ways that Tayo’s journey of healing have taught him more about his job as the medicine man?
Ciara Gurganus
Starting on page 69, Silko wrote about how Tayo, Josiah, and Rocky while they were discussing a scientific book that was meant to instruct individuals about raising and breeding cattle. Josiah was making fun of the book, written by a white scientist, and Tayo and Robert were joking around with him. During this scene, Rocky was in disagreement. Silko stated, “Tayo and Robert laughed with him, but Rocky was quiet. He looked up from his books. ‘Those books are written by scientists. They know everything there is to know about beef cattle. That’s the trouble with the way the people around here have always done things–they never knew what they were doing.’ He went back to reading his book. He did not hesitate to speak like that…because the subject was books and scientific knowledge–those things that Rocky had learned to believe in…He was becoming what she had always wanted: someone who could not only make sense of the outside world but become part of it.” (Silko 69-70).
Keeping this quote in mind, along with the scene as a whole, I am wondering if Silko was offering commentary on the erasure of Native American culture. As Rocky shifts his beliefs and critiques the traditions of his people in order to fit in with the ideal, white American, he is losing the core of who he is as a person. My question is: How could Tayo, or anyone else in the story, have attempted to prevent Rocky’s ideals from changing? Could it have even been possible to change Rocky’s mind?
– Hadley Tavernier
For this week’s reflection question I want to focus on an excerpt from Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony on page 169. In a moment of peacefulness watching the sunrise, Tayo recalls to himself a poem, “Sunrise! We come at sunrise to greet you. We call you at sunrise. Father of the clouds you are beautiful at sunrise. Sunrise!” After the poem Tayo continues his train of thought, explaining, “The power of each day spills over the hills in great silence. Sunrise. He ended the prayer with sunrise because he knew the Dawn people began and ended all their words with sunrise.” This antidote from Tayo is reflected in the unique structure Silko chooses to present the multiple stories woven non linearly throughout Ceremony. After the first three opening poems Silko opens the first narrative section with, “Sunrise.”
Does this brief moment of reflection from Tayo situated in his story provide greater context to the Ceremony narrative? Does this anecdote of Native American story-telling techniques help locate the interwoven stories inside a greater narrative crafted by Spider-women, as suggested at the beginning of the book?
Clara NeSmith
What is the best way of going through life when there are many cultural influences?
Tayo has been in the world of the white man and has experienced what they believe in, things like science and medicine. They make him do all of these things that they believe to be the right way of doing things, like taking medicines. The native medicine man was completely different when it came to how things needed to be treated for Tayo and the others. The various ceremonies, such as the first one, somewhat worked for Tayo because they started to bring back some of his Native roots. Being pulled between two different lifestyles must be confusing for a young person because with Tayo, he is trying to be a good person in this world, but feels lost. He has been taught how to live his life the best that he can, but is there more for him to belong to and for him to go through the world finding belonging?
The commodification of the Indian culture has been made for white people to be involved with the culture. They are being shown off as a roadside attraction for the entertainment of people. The native people who have a rich culture with many layers have been sent to live in poor conditions and still have to use what they have to survive. Tayo is confused why the medicine man can look down on the new houses that have been built because that was once the native lands. He lives in the town because this was a place long before the white people and will still live there even if there are intruders to the land. The medicine man is also mixed blood like Tayo, so he allows connection between the two and shows why he would not mind being intertwined with the other people. Just because there are people in your home does not mean that you cannot make it your own, still with “The old man pointed to the back of the circular room. “The west side is built into the hill in the old-style way. Sand and dirt for a roof, just about halfway underground. You can feel it, can’t you?” This creates a situation that Tayo needs to take a step back and realize why he should not leave vs why he should leave. There is a teaching moment for Tayo because he has been taught that the West has taken the land and made it theirs because it was stolen land. Betonie says that it does not matter because there is still the land that you can connect to and belong to. After all, nobody can take that from you. The Western ideas of property have influenced how Tayo is thinking about this situation.
-Vincent Spinelli
Betonie, unlike the traditional medicine man, takes new elements that have been introduced by the arrival of white people for what they are, and strives to keep American Indian culture alive. Although he is not happy about it, Betonie believes that change is inevitable and to fight it is counterproductive. Betonie recognizes that by placing limitations on their traditions they are doing exactly what their colonizers want. Betonie tries to get Tayo to understand that the situation is not as simple as good and evil, and knows that chasing the perceived riches of the white man will never result in progress.
Why did Betonie refuse to take Tayo’s money as payment for the ceremony?
Landon Dancy
The sequence occurring on page 120-121 discussing the calendars was a scene the I believe spoke to the overall message of Tayos journey. Silko writes “I remember those two”… “that gives me some place to start” (Silko 121). The calendars which depict native American heritage remember the stories and keep the culture alive as explained by Betonie. This sequence is followed by the witch’s poem around 10 pages later which acts as an alteration to Tayos understanding of Native American mistreatment. I believe these two sequences are intimately tied together as the Calendars are depicted as forgotten Silko writes “A few showed January, as if the months on the underlying pages had never been torn away”. This scene is important because it shows that although there is love for these calendars which depict the culture, they have been somewhat discarded and forgotten. Thus, can the same be said for the Native American culture in Tayos mind? Has Tayo been overtly distracted by the events occurring within his past that he has seemingly forgotten his own culture and discarded the past essentially never wishing to uncover the truth that the witch’s poem eventually explains?
This section of the book introduces Tayo to Betonie, a Navajo medicine man who combines traditional elements of his culture with modern influences. Betonie embraces change rather than rejecting it, as many traditional medicine men do. He demonstrates how indigenous cultures can adapt while maintaining their essence, as well as the importance of embracing both the past and the present. Betonie’s wisdom changes Tayo’s perspective on life, as he was suffering from PTSD and the effects of being of mixed heritage, and Betonie, who is also of mixed heritage, serves as a mirror for Tayo. It reminds Tayo that being a family or belonging to a culture doesn’t require you to be full-blooded; it’s about connection, understanding, and shared traditions. Betonie’s teachings help Tayo understand that healing comes from embracing both cultures rather than being torn between them.
How does Betonie’s approach to tradition and change challenge conventional notions of cultural identity, and how does this affect Tayo’s journey to healing and self-acceptance?
-Aura Cochran
On page 122, Silko says, “We can because we invented white people; it was Indian witchery that made white people in the first place.” Following this quote was the witch poem, about white people and how they see no life and only see things as objects and that they will kill all things that they fear. What does this poem mean regarding the relationship between Indigenous people and white colonizers? If white people were invented through Indian witchery, why might they have been created, despite the harm they later cause?” Why is it important that this was the story chosen to be told about how white people came about?
Margo Smith
f
The first comment was a mistake
Ceremony’s storytelling is deeply entrenched in indigenous oral tradition. The way the story weaves in and out of different points in Tayo’s life, as well as stories based on indigenous myth is indicative of this. It creates a rich tapestry of life and myth, and positions Tayo’s story within a greater context of indigenous experience. Simultaneously, Silko’s poetic and freeform writing writing leaps through time and space abruptly. This could play into the subjective and experiential nature of memory. Memories can often pop-up and play in our heads at seemingly random moments, although they might connect to our current experience in some abstract way. What can Ceremony’s storytelling tell us about the nature of grief, healing, and memory?
John Turner
In class this week, we discussed the role of the cave in Tayo’s life. Sneaking off to visit it as a child, Silko explains that Tayo would observe snakes gathering on the warm black rock of the cave to heat up at the turn of spring. He was told to stay away from the snakes as they are obviously dangerous. In the midst of his war-induced illness later on in his life, Tayo remembers his relationship with the cave, in a time where he remembers hardly anything but the war. I suggested that, perhaps, Tayo was similar to the snakes in that the cave is a place where he comes alive, or is rejuvenated or maybe even rebirthed. Using the snakes, Silko may be notioning to the danger that Tayo poses to himself. How do you interpret Silko’s emphasis on the cave in Tayo’s life? Are there other scenes that act as odes to the indigenous relationship to the land or wildlife? Other indigenous ways of being? How does the story emphasize indigenous ways of being especially through Tayo’s complicated identity?
Carson Mease
In Ceremony, during this section, Tayo struggles deeply with PTSD and the trauma from the war, feeling torn between his Native American heritage and Western cultural values. As Tayo undergoes the ceremony with Betonie, he begins to realize that healing requires active participation in his recovery, something tied to his Native traditions. Unlike the Western approach that separates people from nature, Tayo starts to understand that reconnecting with the earth and his people is essential to his healing process. This realization is emphasized in a later section when Tayo and Betonie have a critical conversation. Betonie tells Tayo, “The people must do it. You must do it.” (Silko, 115). In this moment, Tayo learns that no one else can heal him; he must take responsibility for his own recovery. While others can offer guidance, it is ultimately up to him to engage in the healing process. From this section, Tayo’s shift becomes clear: healing is not a passive experience but an active one, requiring Tayo to embrace his cultural roots and the land. This understanding contrasts with the American mindset, which often encourages looking outward for solutions. Through this realization, Tayo’s path toward healing becomes one of self-empowerment, showing that true healing comes from within and through deep connection to nature and community. How does Tayo’s realization that “the people must do it. You must do it” (Silko, 115) reflect the central theme of active participation in healing, and how does this contrast with Western approaches to trauma recovery? How might this shift in mindset challenge the way we view healing in our own lives?
The section we read delves into Tayo’s inner thoughts and begins to reveal the deeper complexities of his character. We are given a glimpse of the mental and physical wellbeing and the lasting effects of war, while also showing us the consequences of his life experiences. We are also shown the general struggle of PTSD and how war changes people, Tayo also has a whole other set of conflict as he attempts to reconcile with his native heritage that has been viewed in a negative light due to society. Tayo shows us that he wants to stay within his native traditions but in contrast those around him such as his brother, are shown to be moving away in favor of white cultural norms and ideas. Tayo faces challenge between the possibility of a more “comfortable life” in western ideals, or staying true to his culture and in deity that he was raised in.
– Lex Blake
In these chapters of Ceremony, Tayo is struggling with his PTSD and his conflicting values of American and Native cultures. He continues to be haunted by his time at war and finds himself being increasingly drawn to his Indigenous culture, however, his brother becomes closer to Western ideals. This contrast further deepens Tayo’s sense of isolation. As Tayo is put through the ceremony, he realizes that true healing comes from reconnecting with his native heritage and the environment. Tayo’s healing begins when he aligns himself spiritually with the earth, animals, and plants, finding similarities between his own suffering and the land’s destruction. My question: What can we learn from Indigenous culture to better understand the responsibility of our own healing?
-Fia Mascari
In this section of Ceremony by Leslie Marmom Silko, the reader is taken on Tayo’s journey through the mountains in search of Josiah’s cattle. There he undergoes spiritual transformations that reconnects him with his ancestral roots. Facing emotional, physical, and spiritual trials, Tayo begins to observe and appreciate the details in the natural world that he once overlooked. This attunement to the land reflects a key theme in Ceremony: healing through reconnection with indigenous values and the environment. Tayo’s isolation in the mountains evolves into a space for reflection, clarity, and spiritual grounding. However, this solitude also places him at odds with the legal and cultural systems imposed by colonial forces, especially when he finds the cattle on white-owned land. His experiences suggest that true healing requires stepping outside of Western structures and embracing a holistic approach to identity and wellness. It also raises a deeper question about the balance between solitude and connection, how time alone can lead to self knowledge but also risks detachment if taken too far.
How does Tayo’s time in solitude help him reconnect with himself and his culture, and what are the potential risks or limitations of solitude as a path to healing?
sasha fuellhart