In Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, Ts’eh is shown as a real person within the novel, but is also shown as an illusion from Tayo’s PTSD imagination, giving the reader the reason to believe that Ts’eh was real at one point but has since become a hallucination of his unwell mind as the novel progresses. This is shown through the first sight of her in the novel, the way Tayo longs for her for many months and their interaction in the desert.
The first appearance of Ts’eh, the reader doesn’t know her name, but she is shown as a realistic person due to her intimate relations with Tayo, her willingness to help and the addition of the ranch home she provides. Tayo first sees Ts'eh when he is looking for his cattle and describes her as having "eyes …show more content…
Tayo dreams "of her arms around him strong" (202) and awakens knowing, "he would find her again" (202) because of "the love he felt for her" (202) although he has no proof except that she told him she would see him at some point. Tayo believes this is going to happen when he goes to take the cattle after the winter is over. However, Ts'eh is not at Betonie's. The cattle are shown to be fed well, giving signs that someone did take care of the cattle, but does not give a sign of whom did. This time fracture is pronounced, however, because it was around November that he last saw her and it is May, stated on page 202, that he returns to his uncle’s cattle. He is not given a sign of her presence other than the well-fed cattle, which someone anonymously could have been taking care of. Even though his yearning for the woman is prominent and most likely not returned since the hunter might be her husband, though the reader does see her laugh at this fact on page 195 when Tayo speaks about it, the reader also sees a change in his behavior because of her. This change is greatly appreciated by those around him, so even if she is no longer there, she still has a longing affect on him. The reader nor any of the characters that know of her know if she real, alive or an illusion at this point …show more content…
When Ts’eh tells Tayo of her family name, he “couldn’t remember hearing of that family.” (211) Showing that the family is not as well known as she thinks it is or the family is nonexistent. When Robert comes to see Tayo in the mountains, he does not see her. Robert is a messenger in this part of the novel because all of the townspeople are worried that Tayo could have finally went off the deep end. This is supported when Robert states that they think Tayo “might need the doctors again” (211) and that Emo has been “talking about how [Tayo] went crazy and are alone out here. He talks bullshit about caves and animals” (211) which does not lessen the worry of the townspeople, especially Tayo’s family. It also gives the reader the idea that Ts’eh is not as good for Tayo as he thinks and that she might not even be real in the first place. This is supported by the fact that Tayo did want to go back to town to fix these rumors but “he was involved with other things.” (212) Those ‘other things’ are the love he feels for Ts’eh. This is showed when he states “the love pushed inside his chest, and when he cried now, is was because she loved him” (212) showing that he feels like Ts’eh is healing his mind and his