An Analysis of Ceremony

An Analysis of Ceremony

The novel Ceremony written by Leslie Marmo Silko talks about several themes including unity and oneness, the issue of environmental problems and the interconntedness of all beings. Through the struggle of the protagonist Tayo with alcoholism and the process of seeking for healing, the Peulo myths which are popular among Indiana district as well as the interaction between the above two stories, the themes are demonstrated. The story vividly demonstrates the landscapes, religions and traditions of aborigines, which to a large extent reflects the glamour of authentic culture. The novel also indicates the important role of unity and space on the recognition of identity. Hence in the following part, I would discuss the relationship among power, space, culture and identity as well as the narrative strategies of the novel.

At the beginning of the novel, Silko portrayed an image of veteran who suffered the great harm physically and mentally brought by the Second World War. The author stated:

Tayo didn’t sleep well last night. He tossed in the old iron bed, and the coiled springs kept squeaking even after he lay still again…. (Silko pp1)

The simple words clearly stated the background of the main protagonist and simply describe the torture he was suffering, which arouses the consideration and curiosity of readers.

Ceremony adopts the nested narrative structure which indicates that one character within a narrative narrates (Pinault 1992) and integrated double narrative structures which refers to two separate events are interacted without exerting notable influence on each as the most prominent narrative strategies in the novel(Pinault 1992). Before starting Tayo’s story, the author built up a three-layer story. The poem of Sunrise started and ended the story, which was in accordance with the mysterious ceremony of Indians. Besides, the myths poem story of Laguna ancestors and the Goddess of Corn intercut in the story of Tayo, the purpose of which is to make a vivid contrast. In this way, readers could take the myths as the object of reference so that they could judge the experience of Tayo’s story. The plot of poem story in Ceremony was as follows. Abetted by the evil wizard, Laguna ancestors betrayed the Goddess of corn, which made the Goddess furious. Hence the Goddess returned to the forth layers of the underground world, which leads to the occurrence of drought. Suffering from the famine, Laguna ancestors felt quite regretful and they sent hummingbird as the messenger to send presents to the Goddess in order to be forgiven. Under the instruction of the Goddess, Laguna ancestors fulfilled all the requirements of the Goddess and got the forgiveness from Goddess. Later it was rainy again and the earth revitalized while the wizard had been blown away. The poem was demonstrated as follows:

‘It has stiffened with the effects of its own witchery. It is dead for now.’ (Ceremony 261)

The plot of the poem paralleled to the story of Tayo: when Tayo was suffering the mental torture, Laguna people in the mythic world were receiving the punishment from the Goddess and suffering the natural disasters such as drought; when Tayo was receiving the ritual healing from Kuus and trying to walk out the haze of confusion, Laguna people in the mythic world were trying to beg for the forgiveness from the Goddess; when Tayo received the ritual healing and was recovering, the Goddess relieved the disasters for human beings; when Tayo came back to the tradition of Laguna and started to tell the story of himself, the wizard and darkness died together. Hence it could be seen that the two storyline paralleled and echo with each other. In fact, it indicates that the mythic story witnessed the process of growth for Tayo who was regarded as the savior and keeper of tribal culture.

     In addition, the novel emphasized the theme of identity construction. Tayo in the novel was half Indian and half of white American. As a person of mixed-blood, he received lots of mocking and discrimination from other people. And he was also excluded by his aunts at home, which placed him in an embarrassing and tough situation. That was why he felt confused and lost. The confusion of Tayo came from the fact that he was confused about his cultural identity. Because of his mixed-blood appearance, he was not accepted by American Indians and was regarded as a shame to his family and the tribe. Under the influence of Anglo-American culture, the beliefs in Indian culture had been shaken. Like many other young people, Tayo was eager to leave his own homeland and live a life like other Anglo-Americans. Hence when the Second World War broke out, the needs of war allowed the Indian American and Anglo-American to join the arms equally. Though he enjoyed the equal treatment like those Anglo-Americans, he was still suffered discrimination from Anglo-Americans when the War had finished. Hence he realized that he it was quite hard to involve into the mainstream- culture of the USA. That was why he wanted to escape the reality by alcohol. However, the alcohol could not completely relieved his pain, for he felt more painful when he was sober, which was a torture for Tayo. The author stated in the novel:

‘He had not been able to sleep for a long time as all things become tied together like colts in single file when he and Josiah had taken them to the mountain, with the halter rope of one colt tied to the tail of the colt ahead of it, and the lead colt’s rope tied to the wide horn on Josiah’s Mexican saddle’ (Ceremony 25).

From the above descriptions, it could be seen that Tayo had suffered the mental and physical torture because of the loss of identity. Here it indicates that the loss of identity placed the American Indians into a dilemma. Besides, it also suggested that culture had a direct impact on the construction of identity. Since the Anglo-American culture penetrated in his life, Tayo was swaying between the Indian culture and Anglo-American culture, which brings confusion of the identity construction for him. The experience of the Second World War separated him from traditional Indian culture while he also witnessed the violence and hypocrisy in Anglo-American culture, which made him escape from the mainstream culture in America. Hence it could be seen that Tayo had separated from both of culture, which placed him in a situation of identity loss. The novel in a sense reflects the issue of reconstructing cultural identities for Indians, which is also a difficult choice for Indians.

What’s more, the author also stressed the healing power. It was said in the book that the disease had influenced Tayo for a long time. Silko stated in the book:

‘They all had explanations; the police, the doctors at the psychiatric ward; even Auntie and old Grandma; they blamed liquor and they blamed the war"; but when a doctor offers this diagnosis to Tayo, he replies "It's more than that. I can feel it. It's been going on for a long time’ (Ceremony 251).

From the above words, it could be seen that the long-time illness exerted a great influence on Tayo, which leads to the healing journey of Tayo’s. During the healing journey, the cattle was served as the spirit guides of Tayo, which allowed him to complete the healing journey successfully. The author stated in the book:

“The cattle are a part of Tayo’s people’s future. When they disappear after Josiah’s death, Tayo feels he has not only neglected his responsibility to his people, but severed his relationship with the land” (Ceremony Silko pp377).

The above words indicate that the relationship between natural native environment and people. That is, if one leaves their native land, they would suffer mental and physical torture. The cattle in a sense was compared to Tayo, for both of them have similar responses when they left their natural habitat, for both of them became mentally and physically ill when they left their lands. It was said in the novel:

‘Cattle are like any living thing. If you separate them from the land for too long, keep them in barns and corrals, they lose something...they are scared because the land is unfamiliar, they are lost” (Silko pp69).

However, the healing journey provided Tayo a new chance to consider his own identity. The novel indicated that Tayo could integrate traditions into the mainstream culture in America. The novel indicates that it is possible to integrate the old tradition to the mainstream culture. After the healing journey, Tayo gets the new identity, which indicates that the journey has great influence on the reconstruction of identity for Tayo

In conclusion, the novel mainly concern the issue of reconstructing the identity. The author used the strategies of nested narrative structure to write the novel, which leaves the readers the space to consider himself. The author also indicated that it was possible to integrate the tradition with mainstream culture, which offers a solution for Indians who are looking for their identity.