...In Ceremony, Tayo embodies the combination of both Native American and white cultures. Taking on two cultures makes Tayo bear the effect of a whole society’s confusion at the ways in which the world is changing. Tayo encounters difficulty in identifying his identity, especially since he never knew his father and he was abandoned by his mother at the age of four. He is raised by his aunt who constantly reminds him of his difference. Tayo is educated by a predominately ran white school. However, unlike his friends, he often finds the white ways of life damaged and continues to respect and believe in the Native American traditions that he learns from his family. However, even though Tayo views the white ways of life faulty, he learns that he has to embrace the American culture in order to reflect back to his Native American culture. This explanation is what Tayo learns about being an American. Furthermore, World War II interrupts Tayo's life drastically as it does to most Americans of his generation. The majority of the Native American men who return from World War II turn to alcohol to drown their trauma, which is full of confused anger. More specifically, Tayo along with his cousin Rocky were in World War II. Rocky was killed in war and Tayo became emotionally disturbed. Tayo was more violent when he came back from war. He was disoriented and changed by the foreign culture of war. His aunt who watches over him is still in shock and continues to change the sheets for her two...
Words: 2078 - Pages: 9
...Native American Culture: The European Influence One theme that rings throughout many of Leslie Marmon Silko’s writings in the book ‘Storyteller’ is the Pueblo relationship with the White Man, their ability/inability to comply with each other, and the destructiveness of contact between cultures. Throughout the book, it is made known that the European presence in American Indian culture is real. The first thing one can notice when flipping through this book is that it is loaded with photographs. These photographs give visualizations of the influence the Europeans have had on the lifestyle of the native people. Unlike what one might picture, most people in these photographs are not covered in traditional Indian clothing. They wear bowties, blue jeans, shiny shoes, and button-down shirts tucked into their pants. Some of them wear glasses and some wear wide brimmed hats. They pose for family photos, they pose in front of automobiles, and they pose with complex gadgets like cameras and firearms. In the introduction to this book, Silko is sure to make the reader aware of the white man’s system to force the assimilation of the Indians. She states that “in the early twentieth century the Pueblo men and boys who were caught participating in the religious activities of the Kiva were arrested and imprisoned by the authorities. (xxiii)” The lack of male presence caused severe hardship for families and many of the very young and the elderly died of starvation. This severely affected...
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...Ceremony begins in 1945 as Tayo arrives home to New Mexico, a veteran of World War II. This postmodern narrative stories our protagonist’s journey in finding peace within himself, his family, and his community at the Laguna Pueblo reservation. Born from a white father and a Native American mother, Tayo’s complicated heritage makes him feel ashamed and alienated from the culture for which he grows up in; he is neither truly white, nor Laguna. By interweaving traditional Native American poetry into the prose of the novel, Leslie Marmon Silko is able to tell a powerful account of this man’s quest to defeat his “virulent afflictions” through a traditional ceremony. This ceremony helps Tayo to reach a resolution, one that rids him of both his despair...
Words: 1531 - Pages: 7
