One thing I noticed throughout this week’s reading of Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko was that every time Tayo had an episode (i.e. fainting, passing out, getting sick, etc…) as a result of the trauma from war, those around him tended to blame some other malady. For example, on page 7, after Tayo hallucinates Josiah’s face on a corpse, soldiers claim it was just malaria fever. Further on, after the war, when Tayo slips off of his donkey on the way to the bar after having a flashback of the brutalities he witnessed in war, Harley claims it is just sunstroke (26). It seems obvious that Tayo is suffering from some sort of post traumatic disorder, yet people around him continuously deny it and give him excuses for his behavior (rather than allowing him to confront his psychological sickness). That being said, why do you think people continue to make up different maladies that Tayo is suffering from to ignore the root cause of his experiences? Do you think it has something to do with shame or is it just people not understanding the experiences Tayo lived through? Furthermore, do you think this type of behavior (i.e. ignoring what is really going on and giving some other excuse) happens in today’s society with today’s vets from war/service?
Another thing that I noticed was that Tayo would constantly think of old native songs from his homeland whenever he was struggling particularly hard. For example, during the flash flood incident Tayo curses the rain and thinks of a song that is seen from page 11-12. This song outlines how the land turned barren and dried up as a result of Corn Woman scolding her sister for bathing all day. Again when he is back home on the reservation, when Tayo is thinking about the methods of war (i.e. back when “you couldn’t kill another human being in battle without knowing it”), he recalls a song about scalping (33-34). These songs often reveal the practices and culture of his people, as well as serve as a purpose to tie Tayo’s current moments back to his ancestry and his roots. That being said, what do you think is the significance that the author is trying to portray by including these songs from Tayo’s culture at such crucial points within the plot? Additionally, what is the significance that the songs have for Tayo specifically?
“I will tell you something about stories,
[he said]
They aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled.
They are all we have, you see,
all we have to fight off
illness and death.
…
He rubbed his belly.
I keep them here
[he said]” (Silko 2)
For the Native American tribes that Silko focuses on in the novel, stories are important holders of knowledge and moral lessons. Stories also keep Native peoples in communication with the past and their ancestors. By the man saying stories are used to “fight off illness and death,” he means that stories teach people how to live happy, healthy lives. People like Tayo can use stories to guide them away from selfishness, greed, and disrespect that others who do not have stories to guide them often succumb to. Then the man brings up how be keeps the stories in his belly. This reinforces the connection between stories and physical body (illness and death). In the novel, what other ways does the stomach symbolize something greater?
The concept of mother nature or the earth being personified and thought of with human characteristics, like feelings of spite and love has been common across cultures. In Ceremony there is a section where the author is describing how “magic” was used to help people subsidize what they might not have, resulting in people beginning to distance themselves from subsistence practices and appreciation for the earth, and instead rely on this “magic” to provide for them. When they began neglecting their mother corn alter, mother nature is said to have said in response “They thought they didn’t have to worry about anything. They thought this magic could give life to plants and animals. They didn’t know it was all just a trick” … “”I’ve had enough of that,” she said, “If they like that magic so much let them live off it.” So she took the plants and grass from them. No baby animals were born. She took the rainclouds with her.” (pp. 44-45) In a way, this seems like it could be a metaphor for the climate change and unprecedented events happening in our current world. Would a change in mindset in much of our western world of seeing nature in a personified manner help us to more clearly see what consequences our actions might have? Are there any other practices or attitudes toward the earth that might be helpful to adopt in our time of crisis?
On pages 37-40 there is a sequence where Tayo is talking about how when he was in the military he was treated drastically different than when the war ended. He tells the story of how white women would say “God bless you!” to them on the street if they were wearing their uniform. But he knew that it was the uniform she was blessing, not him. He tells stories of how once the war was over the white people went back to treating the Native Americans badly. They would serve them last in a restaurant, or the waitress wouldn’t want to touch their hands so she would slide the change across the counter, things like this. Tayo talks of how he and his fellow natives felt like it was their fault, they were questioning what they could have done differently to make white people like them again. They weren’t blaming the white people that gave them the feeling of being an American, then stripped it away once the war ended. He is telling this story to some friends while they are out drinking. You can tell it means a lot to Tayo to be telling this story and talking about these important things. In the moment his friends seem to be paying attention and caring about his story. Then after Tayo is finished, Harley begins to “tell his story about two blondes in bed with him.” The friends then forget all about Tayo, giving Harley another beer, going along with the story and having a good time. Tayo seems to be disappointed that they quickly forgot his story and how real and important it was. I feel like this perfectly encapsulates American culture in a way. Being distracted by superficial, problematic, or materialistic things rather than serious societal issues of social justice and things related to it. We see this happen in modern culture a lot. Do you view this as the minority groups seeking out distractions such as materialistic things on purpose so they don’t have to focus on real, hard to deal with issues? Or do you see it as American culture or America in general creating these distractions to take people away from the real issues and create this idea of “it’s not that important?” This sort of relates back to Tayo feeling like it is his fault for not being treated right, when it was just white people’s negative actions.
On pages 9-13 Silko describes the environment that Tayo is interacting with and how that affects their crops and livestock. In this section of the book Silko does a sufficient job in providing details of Tayo’s surrounds, which resulted in an effective use of imagery. I think it was really interesting how on Page 9 Silko describes the drought that Tayo was facing and how he was praying for the drought to end. Tayo reflects on how he and his uncle had to haul water from springs to the animals such as the sheep and mule. He says on Page 9 “…the hills were barren those years and only the cactus could grow.” In this quote the emphasis that only cactus would be able to grow on Tayo’s land emphasizes how bad the drought really was. As Tayo prayed for rain, one day in May the rain finally came, but it was not the rain Tayo had imagined even though he says that “The jungle breathed an eternal green…”. Silko uses the phrase “jungle rain” which has a connotation of harsh, thick rain that never really ended. The rain was so rough that Rocky’s and animal corpses were being uncovered from the ground. I think it was a little disturbing when Tayo followed Rocky’s corpse to make sure no one saw it. Then Silko goes into a poem where Reed women is bathing in the rain and enjoying the river and leaving her sister corn woman to do all the hard work in the corn field. But once Reed women went away and came back the rain stopped. Then the people, animals, and crops became dehydrated and starving. Silko ends the poem and goes back to Tayo’s own experience with the “jungle rain” where he then prayed for the rain to go away. Then once the rain did go away everything started to die and the animals were moving farther away to find food. Tayo then blamed himself for bringing the drought back.
I think Tayo experience with the drought and the rain are reflexed on Page 10 where Josiah had said to Tayo “nothing was all good or all bad either.” I thought this quote was very significant in what Tayo experienced with the drought and the rain because at first he saw the rain as a great thing, but then suddenly turned out to be bad by causing extreme flooding. But then once the rain stopped there was another drought that caused the crops to die and the animals to leave.
Not only did this quote represent Tayo’s experience with the weather, but I think it raises an interesting conversation about seeing people, nature, agriculture, or events as not all good or bad. Maybe this phrase is telling people to find the gray or happy medium of people, situations we are in, or anything for that matter.
Do you think this Josiah says is significant in today’s society in how people perceive the world around them and who or what they interact with? Furthermore, do you think Silko had a significance in putting that quote in his book? What are your thoughts about this quote overall?
Tayo’s experiences with drought, rain, and death juxtaposed his perceptions of nature. The quote: “the wind swept down from the green coastal mountains, whipping the rain into gray waves that blinded him. The corporal fell, jerking the ends of the blanket from his hands, and he felt Rocky’s foot brush past his own leg” (11) illustrates the reverence, fear, and affinity that Tayo has for nature while demonstrating the Brutality of his circumstances. The natural world and its canvass of stories are dear to Tayo as they give him solace and insight. Contrarily, modernity causes people to see the rain, snow, storms, animals, and decaying matter as highly inconvenient, even gross. Our encounters with earth systems and organisms are met with disdain and territorial instincts. We spray chemicals on our food to kill hungry insects, we put out traps for curious rodents, and chop off snake’s heads because our pets aren’t smart enough to steer clear. Nature is not even relatively spiteful, it exists to serve not to punish and for people think in these terms is quite anthropocentric. I agree that these quotes are very significant; they demonstrate a mutualism with and understanding of the natural world that people have lost and can likely no longer regain.
Through the beginning of the book there is a lot a alluding to how Tayo has PTSD from WWII in the pacific theater. He really struggles with this issue but there is not a lot being done to help him, they take him to the regular doctor but that does not seem to help as he still is dealing with PTSD. On page 30 there is talk of taking him to a medicine man, however he is not full Native American he is half white, because if this his family believes that they will be judged for going to the medicine man, “Oh, I don’t know, Mama. You know how they are. You know what people will say if we ask for medicine man to help” (30). This stops the family from trying to get help for Tayo, later in the chapter they talk about Tayo struggles with alcoholism, “Liquor was medicine for the anger that made them hurt, for the pain of the loss, medicine for tight bellies and choked up throats” (37). This is how Tayo is able to cope with the pain from his PTSD. My question is why have Tayo’s family strayed away from the indigenous knowledge of the medicine man? Even though he is not completely Native American he was raised as Native and has connection to the land. Is indigenous knowledge and indigenous ways of healing still used today or are they being forgotten just like the culture? I think we all could learn a thing or two from indigenous ways of doing things, groups have thrived for tens of thousands of years before colonization.
Tayo has been severely sick, on and off, since he was in the war. He tells many flashbacks and dreams he has that involve Rocky and his Uncle Josiah, who were both obviously very close to him. However, he often says that he is not sure what was real because of the hallucinations he had when he was sick. Silko says, “all these things they had to do” (34). It is obvious that Tayo feels guilty about something that happened during the war which may be the trigger to his post traumatic episodes. Tayo says, “he had done things far worse, and the effects were everywhere” (33). Tayo carries this guilt with him everywhere which has made him seem so distant from his family and friends. There is the saying “all is fair in love and war,” and it makes me wonder what Tayo could have done to feel this way. Why are certain things okay in a wartime scenario, but not in everyday life. Society has made it okay to do certain things during war, but it affects people differently. Why does Tayo feel so guilty about something he had to do? Tayo felt guilty about what he did, which usually means he did something wrong; but, he was just doing his job as a soldier. If he is feeling this way, should we reconsider the way we carry ourselves in war versus in life? Also, in class on Tuesday, we talked about if and when violence was necessary. What classifies something as being necessary to be done?
As Tayo is suffering from the harsh physical and mental side effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he stays with “Auntie” who tries to nurse him back to health. When “old Grandma” notices he is not getting any better after being treated by the white doctors, she suggests that he should be treated by a medicine man. However, Tayo is half-Pueblo and half-white. Auntie disagrees with old Grandma and says, “you know what people will say if we ask for a medicine man to help him. Someone will say it’s not right. They’ll say, ‘Don’t do it. He’s not full blood anyway’” (33). What does Aunties’ concern regarding how the family will be perceived by the other Pueblo people, after allowing Tayo treatment from a medicine man, say about what it means to be indigenous to other indigenous people? What does Auntie’s concern reveal about what kind of privileges are allowed to people with pure Pueblo background versus mixed background?
Throughout his book A Month and a Day, Ken Saro-Wiwa continuously discusses how the resource curse has affected the Ogoni people. Nigeria as a whole but especially the Ogoni have experienced the resource curse in the fact that their country is resource-rich in oil yet is still materially-poor. Speaking in capitalist terms, the resource curse is indicative of modern-day primitive accumulation. Primitive accumulation is the process by which the working class has the means of production stripped away from them by those in power and are therefore unable to produce their own livelihood. Because of this, they are forced to sell their own labor to survive. Saro-Wiwa notes that the Ogoni used to provide food for themselves and the surrounding areas, but now they are struggling to even buy food from other regions. Oil companies Shell and Chevron have stripped the resource of oil away from the Ogoni and the people of the Niger Delta and have forced them into labor relations that they never agreed to. Calling it the “resource curse” implies that it is something that just happens and is a fact of the world. However this is not the case. How is the resource curse developed through capitalism and primitive accumulation, and how does this demoralize the victims of the resource curse?
Several times throughout Ceremony, Rocky is seen disrespecting the“old ways” as an attempt to abandon them. These “old ways” refer to the indigenous cultural practices that have been carried out for centuries. Despite what his family members say, Rocky believes his teachers at school when they tell him that these traditions are preventing him from reaching his fullest potential. “They were proud of him. They told him, ‘Nothing can stop you now except one thing: don’t let the people at home hold you back.’ Rocky understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world. After their first year at boarding school in Albuquerque, Tayo saw how Rocky deliberately avoided the old-time ways” (51). This reminded me of a quote from The Wretched of the Earth: “…colonial domination was indeed to convince the natives that colonialism came to lighten their darkness. The effect consciously sought by colonialism was to drive into the natives’ heads the idea that if the settlers were to leave, they would at once fall back into barbarism, degradation, and bestiality” (pg. 170). Both of these quotes present cultural traditions as setbacks that prevent individuals from becoming accomplished. How does this mentality regarding cultural traditions as setbacks lead to internalized racism? How does internalized racism affect the paths of future generations? Is there a way to eradicate the feelings that emerge from internalized racism?
A common theme I’ve noticed in Ceremony so far is Tayo’s deep appreciation of the earth and its beauty, and Silko conveys this through the utilization of rich imagery. An example of this can be found when Tayo had woken up outside from his “sunstroke” and was taking in all of nature surrounding him. “…the beeweed plants made the air smell heavy and sweet like wild honey, and the bumblebees were buzzing around waxy yucca flowers. The leaves of the cottonwood trees that crowded the canyon caught reflections of the afternoon sun, hundreds of tiny mirrors flashing” (41). Tayo also has immense respect for animals and this becomes evident when he has a flashback to going hunting with Rocky and they had gotten a deer. Tayo covered the deer’s head with his jacket before Rocky cut into it and claimed that “…people said you should do that before you gutted the deer. Out of respect” (47). Rocky questions him for doing this and Tayo states that Rocky is only judgemental because he wants to “win in the white outside world” (47). This inherent appreciation and respect of the earth and all living beings seems to be a very traditional Native American ideal and teaching passed down through generations. How could our society learn from traditional Native American ideologies and culture in the way that we value the natural environment?
Silko begins Ceremony with poems. The first poem gives us insight into the thoughts of “Ts’its’tsi’nako, Thought Woman… I’m telling you the story/she is thinking” (1). Through knowing the the thoughts of Thought Woman the reader is pulled in close, in a way that feels intimate. Pulling the reader in sets the stage for the stories of Tayo that are unveiled as the story progresses. We are clued in that Thought Woman is indigenous on page 13: “she went back/to the original place.” Specifically saying “went back” reenforces “original” and finally this reference is literally and physically through it’s connection to “place”. Only through this introduction can we understand why Grandma wants a medicine man (33), what motivation lies under “don’t let the people back home hold you back” (51), and the other references to the themes of identity and culture/anticulture. This foundation is also important for understanding the connection made on page 55: “They took our land, they took everything! So let’s get our hands on white women! They cheered.” Emo’s statement illustrates how violence against the land, original place, and violence against women is the same violence. “Tayo was sweating… reading the label on the beer bottle and hides behind his drinking. Tayo used drinking to escape the tension he faces in being challenged to abandon his identity. This escapist response is common: “Harley didn’t use to like beer at all, and maybe this was something that was different about him now, after the war” (20). The war forces Tayo and Harley to face tension: violence against land, violence against women which are both violence against themselves. Harley averts this tension through alcohol. Tayo remains in the tension. Why is the violence of war so much better understood through a perspective with deep connections to the land? How does erasure of indigenous people exacerbate or coincide with the violence of war?
Through Native American ideology, we are able to see a deeper understanding and appreciation of not only nature, but tradition, something that Western nations should learn more of. More specifically, in the reading “Ceremony”, Silko writes, “”I will tell you something about stories [he said] they aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death” (2). This quote stood out to me the most because it is a representation of the importance of ones own cultural identity. No matter what happens, what land may be taken, or what prisoners may be taken, they will never be able to take their stories. In other words, Native Americans have been forced to alter their way of life in order to please others, which further shows the importance of their stories. Their stories are a part of their identity and without their stories, they are stripped away from their own history. Because of this, my question is what other ways do you think stories can help promote cultural identity? How do you think these stories have changed over time?
A common theme throughout this book is the relation of the people in the novel to nature. “He was standing with the wind at his back, like that mule, and he felt he could stand there indefinitely, maybe forever, like a fence post or tree. It took a great deal of energy to be a human being, and the more the wind blew and the sun moved southwest, the less energy Tayo had.”(25). Several times throughout the reading there are references to the people and nature. This sentence from the book is interesting too, to say that it took a great deal of energy to be a human being. I think this is an interesting thing to think, he seems to find peace in nature, this is apparent when he says that he could start there indefinitely. Nature is healing and I think that Tayo was acknowledging this healing qualities when it comes to being a human being. Does it drain human beings to be humans beings? If so what pressure is causing this energy drain? In my own life I feel as if common day practices make being a human being draining due to the persistent need to be successful. Nature is a good escape from this fast paced lifestyle, this novel describes nature in great detail so I am assuming that they feel as if nature is an escape from their lifestyle as well.
There was one thing that I noticed and immediately stood out to me about Silko’s writing was that the text is not divided into chapters. Silko is able to make the story flow in a logical manner without them even though some parts of the novel flow nonlinear. Poems and flashbacks seem to serve as the transitions between settings and time. To a conventional writer, separating into chapters gives the text a more rigid structure, but Silko, accustomed to the oral traditions of native stories, is able to convey her text in almost an orally presented manner without breaks. What do you believe the reason is behind this and the impact that it has on the meaning of the text?
It was summertime
And Iktoa’ako’ya-Reed Woman
Was always taking a bath.
She spent all day long sitting in the river
Splashing down
The summer rain
But her sister
Corn Woman
Worked hard all day
Sweating in the sun
Getting sore hands
In the corn field.
Corn woman got tired of that
She got angry
She scolded
Her sister
For bathing all day long.
Iktoa’ako’ya-Reed Woman
Went away then
She went back
To the original place down below.
And there was no more rain then.
Everything dried up
All the plants
The corn
The beans
They all dried up
And started blowing away
In the wind.
The people and the animals
Were thirsty.
They were starving.
(Silko, 13-14)
Throughout the book Ceremony, silko illustrates the lived experiences of the fictional character Tayo after he is back from fighting in WWII for the US, a country which has/had never respected indigenous people. In the dialogue with Tayo, Emo and Harley and other veterans at the bar, Silko illustrates the disrespect that Native Americans have experienced in the US, and how this briefly went away for the veterans during the time they fought in the war and wore a Marine uniform. Silko also illustrates the way Tayo feels as he is not fully Native American, he had an absent white father. Throughout the book, Silko illustrates how Tayo does not seem to belong anywhere, he is picked on by Emo and other veterans and family members. The question I have goes with the poem, who do Iktoa’ako’ya-Reed Woman and Corn Woman represent? It it other characters within the book, does it pertain to historical or contemporary circumstances, or both?
“Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foliage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth, sometimes in solid thickets entangling the islands, and, other times, in tendrils of blue mist curling out of coastal clouds. The jungle breathed an eternal green that fevered men until they dripped sweat the way rubbery jungle leaves dripped the monsoon rain. It was there that Tayo began to understand what Josiah had said. Nothing was all good or all bad either; it all depended.” Is a quote that really stood out to me in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. I have someone very close to me becoming a Police Officer, and it has forced me to open my views on certain subjects. I have come to a realization that truly nothing in life is cut and dry, the world operates in grey area and when you start believing things are “all good or all bad” you are not thinking. Is there anything in your life that is “all good or all bad?” And maybe it’s time to take another look at it
I really think the dynamic between Tayo and his aunt is very interesting. His aunt treats him like one big mistake and purposely shows Rocky more love and affection. I really have been thinking about this interaction a lot and the aunt’s actions towards Tayo are almost more of jealously than anything else. She wants Rocky to very Respectable and appealing so that he can make it off the reservation and not encounter trouble. However, she knows when both Tayo and Rocky were to leave the reservation, Tayo would be accepted more because of his mixed heritage and the racism of the time. Because of this, she constantly attempts to put Tayo down and not him the same affection as her son. This whole situation also reminds me of Fanons argument on how violence is met with violence and a corrupt racist system. It’s sad that this violence can even be spawned within a family.
On the top of pg 17, Tayo, standing on a train platform in the grip of disorienting existential nausea (as described in the late 1930s by Jean-Paul Sartre), “cried at how the world had come undone, how thousands of miles, high ocean waves and green jungles could not hold people in their place. Years and months had become weak, and people could push against them and wander back and forth in time. Maybe it had always been this was way and he was only seeing it for the first time.”
What is Silko saying here about the effect of place and the specificity of culture(s) tied to place? How are modernity and globalism, whether through war, trade, or technology, eroding or strengthening the sense of self and definitiveness of worldview?
Pg. 49 has a poem that goes “The wind stirred the dust. The people were starving.” etc. This poem is interesting and can be interpreted many different ways. It obviously has an environmental message behind it, however it also has a less-subtle anti-war/war-technology message (at least, that’s my interpretation). “‘She is angry with us’, the people said. ‘Maybe because of that Ck’o’yo magic you were fooling with.'” This shows anti-war sentiments by speaking on the bombs, guns, and tools of war. Then, further down, the fat and shiny hummingbird talks about the greenness below in contrast to the barren land that humanity has. Is that anyone else’s interpretation as well? What more can be understood about the poetry throughout the whole book and how does it aid the overall story?
On page 24 of Ceremony, Silko says, “Josiah said that only humans had to endure anything, because only humans resisted what they saw outside themselves. Animals do not resist. But they persisted, because they became part of the wind.” How does this quote speak to the concept of transformation? What does this mean for cultures resistant to societal change? Tayo also personifies himself as “white smoke”, on page 15 Silko says, “he waited to die the way smoke dies, drifting away in currents of air, twisting in thin swirls, fading until it exists no more.” How does this compare to the quote prior? What is the significance of white smoke and the wind?
Tayo flashes back to a moment in the war when he had a hard time kililng enemy soldiers. He “realized that the man’s skin was not much different from his own” (6). Prior to that, “they looked too familiar even when they were alive…Tayo could not pull the trigger.” (7). Tayo struggles with the realization that they are both humans and not especially different. Therefore, he struggles to take the lives of the Japanese soldiers as he cannot view them as his enemies. In what ways do wars and commanders manipulate soldiers to get them to kill their enemies? Should that pattern be changed, and, if so, what ways would you suggest to change it?
In the novel Ceremony by author Leslie Marmon Silko, the main character Tayo is a war Veteran who experienced symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tayo often would lose consciousness and awaken to the sounds and sights of being at war in the Philippines. Tayo felt that during his time in the LA Veterans Hospital the nurses and doctors only “saw his outline but did not realize it was hollow inside,” which depicts the emptiness and extreme toll that the violence of war had on his mental state (13). In the novel, Tayo states that he felt like “white smoke” because it is without consciousness. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, many Veterans can experience PTSD symptoms for over 50 years after their wartime experience. Symptoms of PTSD include having nightmares or feeling like you are reliving the event, avoiding situations that remind you of the event, being easily startled, and loss of interest in activities. A friend of Tayo’s named Harley, who was also a Veteran and had received a purple heart, turned to alcohol as a potential attempt to cope with the shocking moments and visuals held within his psyche. Native American populations contribute to one of the highest representations in the United States armed forces. In what ways might it be more or less difficult in terms of coping for Native American Veteran populations? Does their differing relationship with the United States government contribute to any hindrances?
On page 51, Tayo describes the ritual of the deer. He describes how the ritual of the deer is used to “show their love and respect , their appreciation” for the deer dying in order to feed them. Tayo respected this ritual very much, but he discusses how Rocky has rejected their rituals and culture because Rocky “understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world.” What does he mean by winning in the “white outside world?” How does Rocky’s rejection of his culture remind us of the workings of modernization and colonialism? How is knowledge produced (or erased), valued (or devalued) in this example?
Tayo is obviously suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that he suffered from fighting in World War II. He hallucinates from the things he experienced like the firing squad and death march. This haunts him as he returns home to his reservation where he is being cared for by his family. On page 49, Old Grandma states “Those white doctors haven’t helped you at all. Maybe we should send for someone else”. Auntie is opposed because she believes they will not help him because he is not “full-blood” (50). The Army doctors told Tayo and his family that they aren’t to use Indian medicine to treat him (51) and refer to his condition as a result of the “white people’s big war” (52). Tayo’s grandfather goes on to tell him that “there are some things we cannot cure like we used to, not since the white people came” (55).
Race seems to be playing a large role in the early parts of this book, is it because the Native Americans have resentment towards the “white people” for generational abuse and causing more suffering amongst their people due to war? Is there a tone of resentment amongst Tayo’s family for what has become of him and who caused it?
I’d like to call attention to a passage on page 45 of Silko’s Ceremony. On this page, Rocky begins to gut a deer, and “when Tayo saw he was getting started…he took off his jacket and covered the deer’s head.” When Rocky asked why, “Tayo didn’t say anything, because they both knew why. The people said you should do that… Out of respect.” Silko explains that although Rocky was aware of the practice, he questioned it because “Rocky understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world”. This passage illustrates the tensions Tayo and Rocky experience as native people functioning in the colonial setting. I am reminded of a passage in Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks: “The movements, the attitudes, the glances of the other fixed me there, in the sense in which a chemical solution is fixed by a dye. I was indignant, I demanded an explanation. Nothing happened. I burst apart. Now the fragments have been put together again by another self” (p.105). In the colonial setting, Tayo and Rocky’s identities have been invalidated and overwritten.The white colonist, the outsider, has externally imposed a reality in which the colonized are, in fact, the ‘others’. Having been relegated the the role of the ‘other’, their success becomes contingent on their ability to conform to a set of standards determined by the white colonists; on their ability to wear a ‘white mask’. When confronted with the deer, Tayo follows what ‘the people’ said they should do, prompting Rocky to replicate the scorn with which colonists regard such practices. In this moment, Rocky is overcome by ‘another self’, the self reassembled in the image of the colonist. Neither Tayo, nor Auntie, are angered by Rocky’s capitulation to “what white people wanted in an Indian” (p.47); they understand his desire to succeed in the ‘white outside world’, and they, too, desire this success for him. All this being said, this passage comes after the reader is already aware that Rocky died during the war. What is the significance of Silko’s construction of Rocky as the quintessential assimilated subject taking place after we learn of Rocky’s death?
The sun and light is mentioned a lot throughout the story and Tayo’s reaction to the sun and light also changes. In the beginning he always mentioned how the sunlight made him sick- “He pointed at the windows. ‘The lights make me vomit'” (28). However later when he is with Ts’eh the sunlight seems to be a more calming presence- “The sunlight moved up and down his back like hands, and he felt the muscles of his neck and belly relax; he lay down beside the pool, across from her, and closed his eyes” (206). Here, his belly is specifically mentioned, as it was a focal point in illness when he would constantly feel his stomach tense up and he would vomit. This is a great shift for Tayo and his illness. Later, he is looking down at the Acoma valley and he is thinking of the interconnectedness of his memories of Josiah and the cliff paintings converging in the valley. “Yet at that moment in the sunrise, it was all so beautiful, everything, from all directions, evenly, perfectly, balancing day with night, summer months with winter… The strength came from here, from this feeling. It had always been there. He stood there with the sun on his face, and hw thought maybe he might make it after all” (220-221). What is so significant about the sun and light for Tayo? What do they mean to him and how do they represent or show his healing?
On page 11, Silko details the struggles Tayo faced amidst the never-ending rain, and his prayers for it to stop. He eventually ends up believing that his prayers were the cause of a drought faced in his hometown. Silko wrote “He damned the rain until the words were a chant […] He wanted the words to make a cloudless blue sky, pale with a summer sun pressing across wide and empty horizons” (11). Throughout the whole book, Tayo connects with words, through stories, and ceremonies. His connection with the prayers that he spoke over and over again almost feels like he is creating a new ceremony. What other connections does Tayo have with words throughout the book? Is it common for him to repeat things to himself, over and over again, until they become a chant?
“Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foliage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth, sometimes in solid thickets entangling the islands, and, other times, in tendrils of blue mist curling out of coastal clouds. The jungle breathed an eternal green that fevered men until they dripped sweat the way rubbery jungle leaves dripped the monsoon rain. It was there that Tayo began to understand what Josiah had said. Nothing was all good or all bad either; it all depended.” I really enjoyed this book Ceremony. You can really see the progress of the character development of Tayo from the beginning to the end of the book. I think one of the most important lessons he has learned is that everything has positive and negative aspects. We can see this when Tayo first returns to the reservation and remembers all the traumatic experiences of war, especially the death of Rocky. I don’t think Tayo quite completely understands the lesson at first but he starts to. It takes him most of the book to realize that everything is connected and the interrelation of all things. Just like the rain, for instance, is not always as bad as it is good.
In “Ceremony,” Leslie Silko the writer and a woman of white-Laguna decent writes about a young man named Tayo; whom belongs to the same decent as she. She writes about the “battle fatigue” Tayo endures and what the realities of poverty ridden reservations like his are like. She ties it all together by explaining how Tayo used his culture and origins as a way to gain a sense of self and heritage and how these stories and cultures hold power. She goes on to say “It was difficult then to call up the feeling the stories had, the feeling of Ts’eh and old Betonie. It was easier to feel and to believe the rumors. Crazy. Crazy Indian. Seeing things. Imagining things.” I chose this quote, because I felt it depicted what I am trying to say. In this quote, Tayo is seeing a local medicine man for his “battle fatigue” and gets on the subject of American culture. He speaks on how American culture has destroyed native American communities and cultures by leaving them impoverished, judged, assigned to a certain location, and looked-down upon. I chose this quote because this scene ties in how American culture sees Tayo as crazy for practicing his culture, and how Tayo sees American culture as corrupt for not allowing him to express himself and heal. this in turn does just that; it heals Tayo. He finds a sense of peace and pride within himself for owning who he is. So, my question for this week is, I wonder what Silko would say on a subject such as the BLM movement? I’m curious to know how he would respond to a very important and influential culture using its stories and histories to stand up for what they believe in, in order to shift the perspective.
Silko’s story about WW2 veteran and Native American named Tayo is a powerful testament for many Native Americans who survived the war only to be discarded upon their return home by a racist public that cheered for the uniform, not for the man in it. On page 24 of Ceremony, Silko says, “…only humans had to endure anything, because only humans resisted what they saw outside themselves” this is so true in the wider context of the story as Tayo struggles to cope with PTSD, racism, drought in his homeland and a spiritual crisis. Tayo’s resistance to the world is a source of pain for him. In what other ways do we humans have to endure unnecessarily because we resist our surroundings instead of accepting them?
In the opening of Ceremony, Tayo has flashbacks from when he was a soldier in the Philippines during WWII. During his flashback, Tayo recalls being part of a firing squad that was ordered to execute a group of Japanese soldiers. Tayo looks at the face of one of the dead Japanese soldiers and believes he sees the face of his uncle, Uncle Josiah, and therefore believes he has just shot him to death. His cousin Rocky tries to “comfort” him by ensuring him that they are in the Philippines, far away from home, and there is no possible way that could be his uncle. It seems as though Tayo had a realization that the soldiers he were fighting were uncles, fathers, brothers, sons, etc.-all family members and loved ones to some other person, just like his Uncle Josiah is to him. While it wasn’t actually his uncle he sees dead on the ground, he has this delusion of him. What are your thoughts on Tayo’s vision of his uncle? Was it perhaps not a deep revelation, and simply a delusion caused by his sickness, or was it a deeper psychological phenomena?
Ken Saro-Wiwa really reframes what and who we see as indigenous people on the spectrum of colonialism and oppressive systems. “…the Ogoni people have established their identity as a distinct and unique people, reclaimed their right to freedom and independence” (page 97) through the MOSOP he wanted to show people that what was happening on Ogoni land was more than just bad business dealings. It was another destructive way external people (colonizers) took over a land that belonged to an indigenous group of people. Businesses like Chevron would come and build pipelines and drill for oil putting the Ogoni’s tribe as well as the ecosystem’s health at risk. Saro-Wiwa explains that what is happening is more than environmental destruction. What was happening was a genocide, ergo, another side affect of colonialism. “Yet, men, women and children die; flora and fauna perish, the air and water are poisoned, and finally, the land dies.” (page 99) This description sounds much like a war-torn land that has seen a lot of death and ruin but no one would say this is a war that the Ogoni people are fighting. Should mass environmental degradation be seen as an act of terrorism? Before learning of the Ogoni what was your perception of indigenous people and what can be seen as indigenous rights? Environmental degradation happens everywhere by a plethora of developed countries, when looking at how it affects the native surrounding populations; do you think there should be more strict global regulations on outside businesses dealings in foreign land? Should mass environmental degradation be seen as an act of terrorism?
SD 3800 Voices in Sustainable Development 
One thing I noticed throughout this week’s reading of Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko was that every time Tayo had an episode (i.e. fainting, passing out, getting sick, etc…) as a result of the trauma from war, those around him tended to blame some other malady. For example, on page 7, after Tayo hallucinates Josiah’s face on a corpse, soldiers claim it was just malaria fever. Further on, after the war, when Tayo slips off of his donkey on the way to the bar after having a flashback of the brutalities he witnessed in war, Harley claims it is just sunstroke (26). It seems obvious that Tayo is suffering from some sort of post traumatic disorder, yet people around him continuously deny it and give him excuses for his behavior (rather than allowing him to confront his psychological sickness). That being said, why do you think people continue to make up different maladies that Tayo is suffering from to ignore the root cause of his experiences? Do you think it has something to do with shame or is it just people not understanding the experiences Tayo lived through? Furthermore, do you think this type of behavior (i.e. ignoring what is really going on and giving some other excuse) happens in today’s society with today’s vets from war/service?
Another thing that I noticed was that Tayo would constantly think of old native songs from his homeland whenever he was struggling particularly hard. For example, during the flash flood incident Tayo curses the rain and thinks of a song that is seen from page 11-12. This song outlines how the land turned barren and dried up as a result of Corn Woman scolding her sister for bathing all day. Again when he is back home on the reservation, when Tayo is thinking about the methods of war (i.e. back when “you couldn’t kill another human being in battle without knowing it”), he recalls a song about scalping (33-34). These songs often reveal the practices and culture of his people, as well as serve as a purpose to tie Tayo’s current moments back to his ancestry and his roots. That being said, what do you think is the significance that the author is trying to portray by including these songs from Tayo’s culture at such crucial points within the plot? Additionally, what is the significance that the songs have for Tayo specifically?
“I will tell you something about stories,
[he said]
They aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled.
They are all we have, you see,
all we have to fight off
illness and death.
…
He rubbed his belly.
I keep them here
[he said]” (Silko 2)
For the Native American tribes that Silko focuses on in the novel, stories are important holders of knowledge and moral lessons. Stories also keep Native peoples in communication with the past and their ancestors. By the man saying stories are used to “fight off illness and death,” he means that stories teach people how to live happy, healthy lives. People like Tayo can use stories to guide them away from selfishness, greed, and disrespect that others who do not have stories to guide them often succumb to. Then the man brings up how be keeps the stories in his belly. This reinforces the connection between stories and physical body (illness and death). In the novel, what other ways does the stomach symbolize something greater?
The concept of mother nature or the earth being personified and thought of with human characteristics, like feelings of spite and love has been common across cultures. In Ceremony there is a section where the author is describing how “magic” was used to help people subsidize what they might not have, resulting in people beginning to distance themselves from subsistence practices and appreciation for the earth, and instead rely on this “magic” to provide for them. When they began neglecting their mother corn alter, mother nature is said to have said in response “They thought they didn’t have to worry about anything. They thought this magic could give life to plants and animals. They didn’t know it was all just a trick” … “”I’ve had enough of that,” she said, “If they like that magic so much let them live off it.” So she took the plants and grass from them. No baby animals were born. She took the rainclouds with her.” (pp. 44-45) In a way, this seems like it could be a metaphor for the climate change and unprecedented events happening in our current world. Would a change in mindset in much of our western world of seeing nature in a personified manner help us to more clearly see what consequences our actions might have? Are there any other practices or attitudes toward the earth that might be helpful to adopt in our time of crisis?
On pages 37-40 there is a sequence where Tayo is talking about how when he was in the military he was treated drastically different than when the war ended. He tells the story of how white women would say “God bless you!” to them on the street if they were wearing their uniform. But he knew that it was the uniform she was blessing, not him. He tells stories of how once the war was over the white people went back to treating the Native Americans badly. They would serve them last in a restaurant, or the waitress wouldn’t want to touch their hands so she would slide the change across the counter, things like this. Tayo talks of how he and his fellow natives felt like it was their fault, they were questioning what they could have done differently to make white people like them again. They weren’t blaming the white people that gave them the feeling of being an American, then stripped it away once the war ended. He is telling this story to some friends while they are out drinking. You can tell it means a lot to Tayo to be telling this story and talking about these important things. In the moment his friends seem to be paying attention and caring about his story. Then after Tayo is finished, Harley begins to “tell his story about two blondes in bed with him.” The friends then forget all about Tayo, giving Harley another beer, going along with the story and having a good time. Tayo seems to be disappointed that they quickly forgot his story and how real and important it was. I feel like this perfectly encapsulates American culture in a way. Being distracted by superficial, problematic, or materialistic things rather than serious societal issues of social justice and things related to it. We see this happen in modern culture a lot. Do you view this as the minority groups seeking out distractions such as materialistic things on purpose so they don’t have to focus on real, hard to deal with issues? Or do you see it as American culture or America in general creating these distractions to take people away from the real issues and create this idea of “it’s not that important?” This sort of relates back to Tayo feeling like it is his fault for not being treated right, when it was just white people’s negative actions.
On pages 9-13 Silko describes the environment that Tayo is interacting with and how that affects their crops and livestock. In this section of the book Silko does a sufficient job in providing details of Tayo’s surrounds, which resulted in an effective use of imagery. I think it was really interesting how on Page 9 Silko describes the drought that Tayo was facing and how he was praying for the drought to end. Tayo reflects on how he and his uncle had to haul water from springs to the animals such as the sheep and mule. He says on Page 9 “…the hills were barren those years and only the cactus could grow.” In this quote the emphasis that only cactus would be able to grow on Tayo’s land emphasizes how bad the drought really was. As Tayo prayed for rain, one day in May the rain finally came, but it was not the rain Tayo had imagined even though he says that “The jungle breathed an eternal green…”. Silko uses the phrase “jungle rain” which has a connotation of harsh, thick rain that never really ended. The rain was so rough that Rocky’s and animal corpses were being uncovered from the ground. I think it was a little disturbing when Tayo followed Rocky’s corpse to make sure no one saw it. Then Silko goes into a poem where Reed women is bathing in the rain and enjoying the river and leaving her sister corn woman to do all the hard work in the corn field. But once Reed women went away and came back the rain stopped. Then the people, animals, and crops became dehydrated and starving. Silko ends the poem and goes back to Tayo’s own experience with the “jungle rain” where he then prayed for the rain to go away. Then once the rain did go away everything started to die and the animals were moving farther away to find food. Tayo then blamed himself for bringing the drought back.
I think Tayo experience with the drought and the rain are reflexed on Page 10 where Josiah had said to Tayo “nothing was all good or all bad either.” I thought this quote was very significant in what Tayo experienced with the drought and the rain because at first he saw the rain as a great thing, but then suddenly turned out to be bad by causing extreme flooding. But then once the rain stopped there was another drought that caused the crops to die and the animals to leave.
Not only did this quote represent Tayo’s experience with the weather, but I think it raises an interesting conversation about seeing people, nature, agriculture, or events as not all good or bad. Maybe this phrase is telling people to find the gray or happy medium of people, situations we are in, or anything for that matter.
Do you think this Josiah says is significant in today’s society in how people perceive the world around them and who or what they interact with? Furthermore, do you think Silko had a significance in putting that quote in his book? What are your thoughts about this quote overall?
Tayo’s experiences with drought, rain, and death juxtaposed his perceptions of nature. The quote: “the wind swept down from the green coastal mountains, whipping the rain into gray waves that blinded him. The corporal fell, jerking the ends of the blanket from his hands, and he felt Rocky’s foot brush past his own leg” (11) illustrates the reverence, fear, and affinity that Tayo has for nature while demonstrating the Brutality of his circumstances. The natural world and its canvass of stories are dear to Tayo as they give him solace and insight. Contrarily, modernity causes people to see the rain, snow, storms, animals, and decaying matter as highly inconvenient, even gross. Our encounters with earth systems and organisms are met with disdain and territorial instincts. We spray chemicals on our food to kill hungry insects, we put out traps for curious rodents, and chop off snake’s heads because our pets aren’t smart enough to steer clear. Nature is not even relatively spiteful, it exists to serve not to punish and for people think in these terms is quite anthropocentric. I agree that these quotes are very significant; they demonstrate a mutualism with and understanding of the natural world that people have lost and can likely no longer regain.
Through the beginning of the book there is a lot a alluding to how Tayo has PTSD from WWII in the pacific theater. He really struggles with this issue but there is not a lot being done to help him, they take him to the regular doctor but that does not seem to help as he still is dealing with PTSD. On page 30 there is talk of taking him to a medicine man, however he is not full Native American he is half white, because if this his family believes that they will be judged for going to the medicine man, “Oh, I don’t know, Mama. You know how they are. You know what people will say if we ask for medicine man to help” (30). This stops the family from trying to get help for Tayo, later in the chapter they talk about Tayo struggles with alcoholism, “Liquor was medicine for the anger that made them hurt, for the pain of the loss, medicine for tight bellies and choked up throats” (37). This is how Tayo is able to cope with the pain from his PTSD. My question is why have Tayo’s family strayed away from the indigenous knowledge of the medicine man? Even though he is not completely Native American he was raised as Native and has connection to the land. Is indigenous knowledge and indigenous ways of healing still used today or are they being forgotten just like the culture? I think we all could learn a thing or two from indigenous ways of doing things, groups have thrived for tens of thousands of years before colonization.
Tayo has been severely sick, on and off, since he was in the war. He tells many flashbacks and dreams he has that involve Rocky and his Uncle Josiah, who were both obviously very close to him. However, he often says that he is not sure what was real because of the hallucinations he had when he was sick. Silko says, “all these things they had to do” (34). It is obvious that Tayo feels guilty about something that happened during the war which may be the trigger to his post traumatic episodes. Tayo says, “he had done things far worse, and the effects were everywhere” (33). Tayo carries this guilt with him everywhere which has made him seem so distant from his family and friends. There is the saying “all is fair in love and war,” and it makes me wonder what Tayo could have done to feel this way. Why are certain things okay in a wartime scenario, but not in everyday life. Society has made it okay to do certain things during war, but it affects people differently. Why does Tayo feel so guilty about something he had to do? Tayo felt guilty about what he did, which usually means he did something wrong; but, he was just doing his job as a soldier. If he is feeling this way, should we reconsider the way we carry ourselves in war versus in life? Also, in class on Tuesday, we talked about if and when violence was necessary. What classifies something as being necessary to be done?
As Tayo is suffering from the harsh physical and mental side effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he stays with “Auntie” who tries to nurse him back to health. When “old Grandma” notices he is not getting any better after being treated by the white doctors, she suggests that he should be treated by a medicine man. However, Tayo is half-Pueblo and half-white. Auntie disagrees with old Grandma and says, “you know what people will say if we ask for a medicine man to help him. Someone will say it’s not right. They’ll say, ‘Don’t do it. He’s not full blood anyway’” (33). What does Aunties’ concern regarding how the family will be perceived by the other Pueblo people, after allowing Tayo treatment from a medicine man, say about what it means to be indigenous to other indigenous people? What does Auntie’s concern reveal about what kind of privileges are allowed to people with pure Pueblo background versus mixed background?
Throughout his book A Month and a Day, Ken Saro-Wiwa continuously discusses how the resource curse has affected the Ogoni people. Nigeria as a whole but especially the Ogoni have experienced the resource curse in the fact that their country is resource-rich in oil yet is still materially-poor. Speaking in capitalist terms, the resource curse is indicative of modern-day primitive accumulation. Primitive accumulation is the process by which the working class has the means of production stripped away from them by those in power and are therefore unable to produce their own livelihood. Because of this, they are forced to sell their own labor to survive. Saro-Wiwa notes that the Ogoni used to provide food for themselves and the surrounding areas, but now they are struggling to even buy food from other regions. Oil companies Shell and Chevron have stripped the resource of oil away from the Ogoni and the people of the Niger Delta and have forced them into labor relations that they never agreed to. Calling it the “resource curse” implies that it is something that just happens and is a fact of the world. However this is not the case. How is the resource curse developed through capitalism and primitive accumulation, and how does this demoralize the victims of the resource curse?
Several times throughout Ceremony, Rocky is seen disrespecting the“old ways” as an attempt to abandon them. These “old ways” refer to the indigenous cultural practices that have been carried out for centuries. Despite what his family members say, Rocky believes his teachers at school when they tell him that these traditions are preventing him from reaching his fullest potential. “They were proud of him. They told him, ‘Nothing can stop you now except one thing: don’t let the people at home hold you back.’ Rocky understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world. After their first year at boarding school in Albuquerque, Tayo saw how Rocky deliberately avoided the old-time ways” (51). This reminded me of a quote from The Wretched of the Earth: “…colonial domination was indeed to convince the natives that colonialism came to lighten their darkness. The effect consciously sought by colonialism was to drive into the natives’ heads the idea that if the settlers were to leave, they would at once fall back into barbarism, degradation, and bestiality” (pg. 170). Both of these quotes present cultural traditions as setbacks that prevent individuals from becoming accomplished. How does this mentality regarding cultural traditions as setbacks lead to internalized racism? How does internalized racism affect the paths of future generations? Is there a way to eradicate the feelings that emerge from internalized racism?
A common theme I’ve noticed in Ceremony so far is Tayo’s deep appreciation of the earth and its beauty, and Silko conveys this through the utilization of rich imagery. An example of this can be found when Tayo had woken up outside from his “sunstroke” and was taking in all of nature surrounding him. “…the beeweed plants made the air smell heavy and sweet like wild honey, and the bumblebees were buzzing around waxy yucca flowers. The leaves of the cottonwood trees that crowded the canyon caught reflections of the afternoon sun, hundreds of tiny mirrors flashing” (41). Tayo also has immense respect for animals and this becomes evident when he has a flashback to going hunting with Rocky and they had gotten a deer. Tayo covered the deer’s head with his jacket before Rocky cut into it and claimed that “…people said you should do that before you gutted the deer. Out of respect” (47). Rocky questions him for doing this and Tayo states that Rocky is only judgemental because he wants to “win in the white outside world” (47). This inherent appreciation and respect of the earth and all living beings seems to be a very traditional Native American ideal and teaching passed down through generations. How could our society learn from traditional Native American ideologies and culture in the way that we value the natural environment?
Silko begins Ceremony with poems. The first poem gives us insight into the thoughts of “Ts’its’tsi’nako, Thought Woman… I’m telling you the story/she is thinking” (1). Through knowing the the thoughts of Thought Woman the reader is pulled in close, in a way that feels intimate. Pulling the reader in sets the stage for the stories of Tayo that are unveiled as the story progresses. We are clued in that Thought Woman is indigenous on page 13: “she went back/to the original place.” Specifically saying “went back” reenforces “original” and finally this reference is literally and physically through it’s connection to “place”. Only through this introduction can we understand why Grandma wants a medicine man (33), what motivation lies under “don’t let the people back home hold you back” (51), and the other references to the themes of identity and culture/anticulture. This foundation is also important for understanding the connection made on page 55: “They took our land, they took everything! So let’s get our hands on white women! They cheered.” Emo’s statement illustrates how violence against the land, original place, and violence against women is the same violence. “Tayo was sweating… reading the label on the beer bottle and hides behind his drinking. Tayo used drinking to escape the tension he faces in being challenged to abandon his identity. This escapist response is common: “Harley didn’t use to like beer at all, and maybe this was something that was different about him now, after the war” (20). The war forces Tayo and Harley to face tension: violence against land, violence against women which are both violence against themselves. Harley averts this tension through alcohol. Tayo remains in the tension. Why is the violence of war so much better understood through a perspective with deep connections to the land? How does erasure of indigenous people exacerbate or coincide with the violence of war?
Through Native American ideology, we are able to see a deeper understanding and appreciation of not only nature, but tradition, something that Western nations should learn more of. More specifically, in the reading “Ceremony”, Silko writes, “”I will tell you something about stories [he said] they aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death” (2). This quote stood out to me the most because it is a representation of the importance of ones own cultural identity. No matter what happens, what land may be taken, or what prisoners may be taken, they will never be able to take their stories. In other words, Native Americans have been forced to alter their way of life in order to please others, which further shows the importance of their stories. Their stories are a part of their identity and without their stories, they are stripped away from their own history. Because of this, my question is what other ways do you think stories can help promote cultural identity? How do you think these stories have changed over time?
A common theme throughout this book is the relation of the people in the novel to nature. “He was standing with the wind at his back, like that mule, and he felt he could stand there indefinitely, maybe forever, like a fence post or tree. It took a great deal of energy to be a human being, and the more the wind blew and the sun moved southwest, the less energy Tayo had.”(25). Several times throughout the reading there are references to the people and nature. This sentence from the book is interesting too, to say that it took a great deal of energy to be a human being. I think this is an interesting thing to think, he seems to find peace in nature, this is apparent when he says that he could start there indefinitely. Nature is healing and I think that Tayo was acknowledging this healing qualities when it comes to being a human being. Does it drain human beings to be humans beings? If so what pressure is causing this energy drain? In my own life I feel as if common day practices make being a human being draining due to the persistent need to be successful. Nature is a good escape from this fast paced lifestyle, this novel describes nature in great detail so I am assuming that they feel as if nature is an escape from their lifestyle as well.
There was one thing that I noticed and immediately stood out to me about Silko’s writing was that the text is not divided into chapters. Silko is able to make the story flow in a logical manner without them even though some parts of the novel flow nonlinear. Poems and flashbacks seem to serve as the transitions between settings and time. To a conventional writer, separating into chapters gives the text a more rigid structure, but Silko, accustomed to the oral traditions of native stories, is able to convey her text in almost an orally presented manner without breaks. What do you believe the reason is behind this and the impact that it has on the meaning of the text?
It was summertime
And Iktoa’ako’ya-Reed Woman
Was always taking a bath.
She spent all day long sitting in the river
Splashing down
The summer rain
But her sister
Corn Woman
Worked hard all day
Sweating in the sun
Getting sore hands
In the corn field.
Corn woman got tired of that
She got angry
She scolded
Her sister
For bathing all day long.
Iktoa’ako’ya-Reed Woman
Went away then
She went back
To the original place down below.
And there was no more rain then.
Everything dried up
All the plants
The corn
The beans
They all dried up
And started blowing away
In the wind.
The people and the animals
Were thirsty.
They were starving.
(Silko, 13-14)
Throughout the book Ceremony, silko illustrates the lived experiences of the fictional character Tayo after he is back from fighting in WWII for the US, a country which has/had never respected indigenous people. In the dialogue with Tayo, Emo and Harley and other veterans at the bar, Silko illustrates the disrespect that Native Americans have experienced in the US, and how this briefly went away for the veterans during the time they fought in the war and wore a Marine uniform. Silko also illustrates the way Tayo feels as he is not fully Native American, he had an absent white father. Throughout the book, Silko illustrates how Tayo does not seem to belong anywhere, he is picked on by Emo and other veterans and family members. The question I have goes with the poem, who do Iktoa’ako’ya-Reed Woman and Corn Woman represent? It it other characters within the book, does it pertain to historical or contemporary circumstances, or both?
“Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foliage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth, sometimes in solid thickets entangling the islands, and, other times, in tendrils of blue mist curling out of coastal clouds. The jungle breathed an eternal green that fevered men until they dripped sweat the way rubbery jungle leaves dripped the monsoon rain. It was there that Tayo began to understand what Josiah had said. Nothing was all good or all bad either; it all depended.” Is a quote that really stood out to me in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. I have someone very close to me becoming a Police Officer, and it has forced me to open my views on certain subjects. I have come to a realization that truly nothing in life is cut and dry, the world operates in grey area and when you start believing things are “all good or all bad” you are not thinking. Is there anything in your life that is “all good or all bad?” And maybe it’s time to take another look at it
I really think the dynamic between Tayo and his aunt is very interesting. His aunt treats him like one big mistake and purposely shows Rocky more love and affection. I really have been thinking about this interaction a lot and the aunt’s actions towards Tayo are almost more of jealously than anything else. She wants Rocky to very Respectable and appealing so that he can make it off the reservation and not encounter trouble. However, she knows when both Tayo and Rocky were to leave the reservation, Tayo would be accepted more because of his mixed heritage and the racism of the time. Because of this, she constantly attempts to put Tayo down and not him the same affection as her son. This whole situation also reminds me of Fanons argument on how violence is met with violence and a corrupt racist system. It’s sad that this violence can even be spawned within a family.
On the top of pg 17, Tayo, standing on a train platform in the grip of disorienting existential nausea (as described in the late 1930s by Jean-Paul Sartre), “cried at how the world had come undone, how thousands of miles, high ocean waves and green jungles could not hold people in their place. Years and months had become weak, and people could push against them and wander back and forth in time. Maybe it had always been this was way and he was only seeing it for the first time.”
What is Silko saying here about the effect of place and the specificity of culture(s) tied to place? How are modernity and globalism, whether through war, trade, or technology, eroding or strengthening the sense of self and definitiveness of worldview?
Pg. 49 has a poem that goes “The wind stirred the dust. The people were starving.” etc. This poem is interesting and can be interpreted many different ways. It obviously has an environmental message behind it, however it also has a less-subtle anti-war/war-technology message (at least, that’s my interpretation). “‘She is angry with us’, the people said. ‘Maybe because of that Ck’o’yo magic you were fooling with.'” This shows anti-war sentiments by speaking on the bombs, guns, and tools of war. Then, further down, the fat and shiny hummingbird talks about the greenness below in contrast to the barren land that humanity has. Is that anyone else’s interpretation as well? What more can be understood about the poetry throughout the whole book and how does it aid the overall story?
On page 24 of Ceremony, Silko says, “Josiah said that only humans had to endure anything, because only humans resisted what they saw outside themselves. Animals do not resist. But they persisted, because they became part of the wind.” How does this quote speak to the concept of transformation? What does this mean for cultures resistant to societal change? Tayo also personifies himself as “white smoke”, on page 15 Silko says, “he waited to die the way smoke dies, drifting away in currents of air, twisting in thin swirls, fading until it exists no more.” How does this compare to the quote prior? What is the significance of white smoke and the wind?
Tayo flashes back to a moment in the war when he had a hard time kililng enemy soldiers. He “realized that the man’s skin was not much different from his own” (6). Prior to that, “they looked too familiar even when they were alive…Tayo could not pull the trigger.” (7). Tayo struggles with the realization that they are both humans and not especially different. Therefore, he struggles to take the lives of the Japanese soldiers as he cannot view them as his enemies. In what ways do wars and commanders manipulate soldiers to get them to kill their enemies? Should that pattern be changed, and, if so, what ways would you suggest to change it?
In the novel Ceremony by author Leslie Marmon Silko, the main character Tayo is a war Veteran who experienced symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tayo often would lose consciousness and awaken to the sounds and sights of being at war in the Philippines. Tayo felt that during his time in the LA Veterans Hospital the nurses and doctors only “saw his outline but did not realize it was hollow inside,” which depicts the emptiness and extreme toll that the violence of war had on his mental state (13). In the novel, Tayo states that he felt like “white smoke” because it is without consciousness. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, many Veterans can experience PTSD symptoms for over 50 years after their wartime experience. Symptoms of PTSD include having nightmares or feeling like you are reliving the event, avoiding situations that remind you of the event, being easily startled, and loss of interest in activities. A friend of Tayo’s named Harley, who was also a Veteran and had received a purple heart, turned to alcohol as a potential attempt to cope with the shocking moments and visuals held within his psyche. Native American populations contribute to one of the highest representations in the United States armed forces. In what ways might it be more or less difficult in terms of coping for Native American Veteran populations? Does their differing relationship with the United States government contribute to any hindrances?
On page 51, Tayo describes the ritual of the deer. He describes how the ritual of the deer is used to “show their love and respect , their appreciation” for the deer dying in order to feed them. Tayo respected this ritual very much, but he discusses how Rocky has rejected their rituals and culture because Rocky “understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world.” What does he mean by winning in the “white outside world?” How does Rocky’s rejection of his culture remind us of the workings of modernization and colonialism? How is knowledge produced (or erased), valued (or devalued) in this example?
Tayo is obviously suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that he suffered from fighting in World War II. He hallucinates from the things he experienced like the firing squad and death march. This haunts him as he returns home to his reservation where he is being cared for by his family. On page 49, Old Grandma states “Those white doctors haven’t helped you at all. Maybe we should send for someone else”. Auntie is opposed because she believes they will not help him because he is not “full-blood” (50). The Army doctors told Tayo and his family that they aren’t to use Indian medicine to treat him (51) and refer to his condition as a result of the “white people’s big war” (52). Tayo’s grandfather goes on to tell him that “there are some things we cannot cure like we used to, not since the white people came” (55).
Race seems to be playing a large role in the early parts of this book, is it because the Native Americans have resentment towards the “white people” for generational abuse and causing more suffering amongst their people due to war? Is there a tone of resentment amongst Tayo’s family for what has become of him and who caused it?
I’d like to call attention to a passage on page 45 of Silko’s Ceremony. On this page, Rocky begins to gut a deer, and “when Tayo saw he was getting started…he took off his jacket and covered the deer’s head.” When Rocky asked why, “Tayo didn’t say anything, because they both knew why. The people said you should do that… Out of respect.” Silko explains that although Rocky was aware of the practice, he questioned it because “Rocky understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world”. This passage illustrates the tensions Tayo and Rocky experience as native people functioning in the colonial setting. I am reminded of a passage in Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks: “The movements, the attitudes, the glances of the other fixed me there, in the sense in which a chemical solution is fixed by a dye. I was indignant, I demanded an explanation. Nothing happened. I burst apart. Now the fragments have been put together again by another self” (p.105). In the colonial setting, Tayo and Rocky’s identities have been invalidated and overwritten.The white colonist, the outsider, has externally imposed a reality in which the colonized are, in fact, the ‘others’. Having been relegated the the role of the ‘other’, their success becomes contingent on their ability to conform to a set of standards determined by the white colonists; on their ability to wear a ‘white mask’. When confronted with the deer, Tayo follows what ‘the people’ said they should do, prompting Rocky to replicate the scorn with which colonists regard such practices. In this moment, Rocky is overcome by ‘another self’, the self reassembled in the image of the colonist. Neither Tayo, nor Auntie, are angered by Rocky’s capitulation to “what white people wanted in an Indian” (p.47); they understand his desire to succeed in the ‘white outside world’, and they, too, desire this success for him. All this being said, this passage comes after the reader is already aware that Rocky died during the war. What is the significance of Silko’s construction of Rocky as the quintessential assimilated subject taking place after we learn of Rocky’s death?
The sun and light is mentioned a lot throughout the story and Tayo’s reaction to the sun and light also changes. In the beginning he always mentioned how the sunlight made him sick- “He pointed at the windows. ‘The lights make me vomit'” (28). However later when he is with Ts’eh the sunlight seems to be a more calming presence- “The sunlight moved up and down his back like hands, and he felt the muscles of his neck and belly relax; he lay down beside the pool, across from her, and closed his eyes” (206). Here, his belly is specifically mentioned, as it was a focal point in illness when he would constantly feel his stomach tense up and he would vomit. This is a great shift for Tayo and his illness. Later, he is looking down at the Acoma valley and he is thinking of the interconnectedness of his memories of Josiah and the cliff paintings converging in the valley. “Yet at that moment in the sunrise, it was all so beautiful, everything, from all directions, evenly, perfectly, balancing day with night, summer months with winter… The strength came from here, from this feeling. It had always been there. He stood there with the sun on his face, and hw thought maybe he might make it after all” (220-221). What is so significant about the sun and light for Tayo? What do they mean to him and how do they represent or show his healing?
On page 11, Silko details the struggles Tayo faced amidst the never-ending rain, and his prayers for it to stop. He eventually ends up believing that his prayers were the cause of a drought faced in his hometown. Silko wrote “He damned the rain until the words were a chant […] He wanted the words to make a cloudless blue sky, pale with a summer sun pressing across wide and empty horizons” (11). Throughout the whole book, Tayo connects with words, through stories, and ceremonies. His connection with the prayers that he spoke over and over again almost feels like he is creating a new ceremony. What other connections does Tayo have with words throughout the book? Is it common for him to repeat things to himself, over and over again, until they become a chant?
“Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foliage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth, sometimes in solid thickets entangling the islands, and, other times, in tendrils of blue mist curling out of coastal clouds. The jungle breathed an eternal green that fevered men until they dripped sweat the way rubbery jungle leaves dripped the monsoon rain. It was there that Tayo began to understand what Josiah had said. Nothing was all good or all bad either; it all depended.” I really enjoyed this book Ceremony. You can really see the progress of the character development of Tayo from the beginning to the end of the book. I think one of the most important lessons he has learned is that everything has positive and negative aspects. We can see this when Tayo first returns to the reservation and remembers all the traumatic experiences of war, especially the death of Rocky. I don’t think Tayo quite completely understands the lesson at first but he starts to. It takes him most of the book to realize that everything is connected and the interrelation of all things. Just like the rain, for instance, is not always as bad as it is good.
In “Ceremony,” Leslie Silko the writer and a woman of white-Laguna decent writes about a young man named Tayo; whom belongs to the same decent as she. She writes about the “battle fatigue” Tayo endures and what the realities of poverty ridden reservations like his are like. She ties it all together by explaining how Tayo used his culture and origins as a way to gain a sense of self and heritage and how these stories and cultures hold power. She goes on to say “It was difficult then to call up the feeling the stories had, the feeling of Ts’eh and old Betonie. It was easier to feel and to believe the rumors. Crazy. Crazy Indian. Seeing things. Imagining things.” I chose this quote, because I felt it depicted what I am trying to say. In this quote, Tayo is seeing a local medicine man for his “battle fatigue” and gets on the subject of American culture. He speaks on how American culture has destroyed native American communities and cultures by leaving them impoverished, judged, assigned to a certain location, and looked-down upon. I chose this quote because this scene ties in how American culture sees Tayo as crazy for practicing his culture, and how Tayo sees American culture as corrupt for not allowing him to express himself and heal. this in turn does just that; it heals Tayo. He finds a sense of peace and pride within himself for owning who he is. So, my question for this week is, I wonder what Silko would say on a subject such as the BLM movement? I’m curious to know how he would respond to a very important and influential culture using its stories and histories to stand up for what they believe in, in order to shift the perspective.
Silko’s story about WW2 veteran and Native American named Tayo is a powerful testament for many Native Americans who survived the war only to be discarded upon their return home by a racist public that cheered for the uniform, not for the man in it. On page 24 of Ceremony, Silko says, “…only humans had to endure anything, because only humans resisted what they saw outside themselves” this is so true in the wider context of the story as Tayo struggles to cope with PTSD, racism, drought in his homeland and a spiritual crisis. Tayo’s resistance to the world is a source of pain for him. In what other ways do we humans have to endure unnecessarily because we resist our surroundings instead of accepting them?
In the opening of Ceremony, Tayo has flashbacks from when he was a soldier in the Philippines during WWII. During his flashback, Tayo recalls being part of a firing squad that was ordered to execute a group of Japanese soldiers. Tayo looks at the face of one of the dead Japanese soldiers and believes he sees the face of his uncle, Uncle Josiah, and therefore believes he has just shot him to death. His cousin Rocky tries to “comfort” him by ensuring him that they are in the Philippines, far away from home, and there is no possible way that could be his uncle. It seems as though Tayo had a realization that the soldiers he were fighting were uncles, fathers, brothers, sons, etc.-all family members and loved ones to some other person, just like his Uncle Josiah is to him. While it wasn’t actually his uncle he sees dead on the ground, he has this delusion of him. What are your thoughts on Tayo’s vision of his uncle? Was it perhaps not a deep revelation, and simply a delusion caused by his sickness, or was it a deeper psychological phenomena?
Ken Saro-Wiwa really reframes what and who we see as indigenous people on the spectrum of colonialism and oppressive systems. “…the Ogoni people have established their identity as a distinct and unique people, reclaimed their right to freedom and independence” (page 97) through the MOSOP he wanted to show people that what was happening on Ogoni land was more than just bad business dealings. It was another destructive way external people (colonizers) took over a land that belonged to an indigenous group of people. Businesses like Chevron would come and build pipelines and drill for oil putting the Ogoni’s tribe as well as the ecosystem’s health at risk. Saro-Wiwa explains that what is happening is more than environmental destruction. What was happening was a genocide, ergo, another side affect of colonialism. “Yet, men, women and children die; flora and fauna perish, the air and water are poisoned, and finally, the land dies.” (page 99) This description sounds much like a war-torn land that has seen a lot of death and ruin but no one would say this is a war that the Ogoni people are fighting. Should mass environmental degradation be seen as an act of terrorism? Before learning of the Ogoni what was your perception of indigenous people and what can be seen as indigenous rights? Environmental degradation happens everywhere by a plethora of developed countries, when looking at how it affects the native surrounding populations; do you think there should be more strict global regulations on outside businesses dealings in foreign land? Should mass environmental degradation be seen as an act of terrorism?