Ceremony Summary and Analysis

Author: Leslie Marmon Silko wrote this novel.  She is half white, half Laguna Pueblo just like Tayo.  She recieved a lot of criticism for writing this novel from the Laguna people because they felt she revealed and exposed too much of culture to the public even though she changed many of the stories and poems.

Setting:  The novel takes place in the southwest on the Laguna Pueblo reservation and nearby towns.  There is a drought while this book is taking place which plays an important role in the plot of the story. Takes place not too long after WWII which many of the Native American's served in.  There are many flashbacks to before and during the war as well as old Laguna Pueblo stories.

Main Characters:

Tayo- The novel is centered him and his life dealing with the struggles of coming back from WWII and finding his place in society being a half white and half Laguna Pueblo.  He is very sick in the beginning of the novel and fully heals himself and his community by completing a ceremony.

Rocky- He is Tayo's cousin, but is much more like a brother to him.  He assimilated very easily into western culture and relieved a scholarship to play football, but he was killed in WWII.

Auntie- She is Tayo's aunt, but has raised him since he was little.  She is a very strong woman who is very concerned about other peoples' views of her and her family.  She believes Tayo and his mother brought a lot of shame on their family and at times excludes him and makes him feel like he doesn't belong in the family.

Josiah-  He is Tayo's uncle and taught him Laguna traditions and beliefs as well as how to heard and take care of cattle.  He also has a relationship with Night Swan who gave him the idea to get into the cattle business.

Night Swan- Josiah's girlfriend who is very strong woman.  She also sleeps with Tayo later in the novel.

Betonie- He is the medicine man who helps Tayo preform his ceremony, but he does it in a untraditional way due to the influence of American's on Native Americans and works in the modern world.

Harley-  On of Tayo's friends and drinking buddies, but it is clear that he is an alcoholic.

Grandma-  She is the leader of Tayo's family and is quiet most of the time unless she has something important to say.   She provides wisdom throughout the story through her quotes and advise to Tayo.

Te'sh-  She helps Tayo finish his ceremony by giving him advice.  She helps Tayo heard his cattle and is one of the Yellow Women in the novel.

Emo- Him and Tayo have never really gotten along.  Tayo almost kills him by stabbing him with a broken beer bottle and ridicules Tayo about being half white.

Plot Summary:  The plot of the story is a version of a traditional story in Laguna culture that in this case involves Tayo who is coming back from WWII and is trying to heal.  The story blends the traditional poems and Tayo's story, but they are both essentially telling the same story just with different characters.   Tayo is very sick when he returns home from the vetaran's hospital.   He has to deal with the traumatic experiences of war, as well as the deaths of Rocky and Josiah.  Even though neither death was really his fault he feels guilty and responsable for both of their deaths.  Tayo has a hard time recovering and spends a lot of time drinking with childhood friends who use alcohol as their medicine to help ease their suffering after they returned from war.  Tayo goes to the local medicine man, Ku'oosh who is unable to cure him.  He remembers his childhood and we are introduced to Night Swan and her relationship with Josiah.  This ceremony isn't enough to cure Tayo so he goes to Betonie whose ceremony is less traditional and creates a special ceremony for Tayo.  The first part of the ceremony that Tayo has to complete is finding Josiah's cattle.  In the process of finding the cattle, Tayo is about to be arrested for trespassing, but then end of letting him go because they go off to search for a mountain lion instead.  Later Tayo meets a man who lives with Ts'eh and he finds out that they have his cattle.   Tayo and Ts'eh spend a lot of time to together, but Tayo finds out that people in the town have heard stories him from Emo and soon him and the police will be coming for him.  Tayo is able to avoid the white police.  He sees Harley and Leroy and he hangs out with them for a little while.  He realizes that they have betrayed him are helping Emo so he runs away from them.  He hides and watches Emo torture Harley violently, but he knows that to complete the ceremony he must restrain himself and not kill Emo.  Tayo is able to restrain himself which completes his ceremony.  He returns home and tells his story to his people.  Harley and Leroy are found dead on the side of the road. Auntie finally talks to Tayo like she does to Grandma and Robert making him feel like he is a part of her family.  They find out that Emo killed Pinkie, but the FBI called it an accident and telling him to go away and not to return so he is in California.  Grandma then says that she has heard all these stories before, just with different names (people).


Narrative Voice/Author's Style:
The novel is written in third person omniscient so the reader is able to see the character's thoughts which gives insight into their culture.  The novel has a very complicated tone.  The tone is depressed at times because times are tough for the Laguna people, but at other times it is optimistic for a brighter future once the cycle completes itself.  It is also critical of both white and Luguna people for the way they have handled their relations.   The novel is filled with imagery and figurative language.  The sun, wind, and weather are often personified and are used throughout the novel to symbolize different events.  Like the tone, the symbolism is also very complicated.  Most of the symbols have to do with the Laguna belief that events (time) go in cycles unlike the western thinking that time linear (advancing in days, years ect).  The gambler's story, Tayo's story, and the story of the Hummingbird and the fly are are essentially the same story completing the same cycle just with different characters.

Quotes:

"It seems like I already heard these stories before... only ting is, the names sound different" (260)

This is Grandma's quote at the end of the novel that reinforces the idea that these events just keep on going in cycles.   It wraps up the whole novel describing this story as one loop around the cycle.


"She could see what white people wanted in an Indian, and she believed this was his only chance" (51).

This line is describing how Auntie was alright with Rocky distancing himself from his native culture in order to assimilate into American culture.  This line sums up how complicated assimilation is.  When cultures are very different such as western and Laguna, it is very difficult to blend the two cultures together and fit in with both groups of people.


Theme:
Sticking to your native beliefs is the way to withstand harmful outside influence.

All the characters who stray away from there native beliefs the most end up dying in this novel (Rocky, Josiah, Harley, Leroy).  Tayo becomes more influenced by western culture when he goes off to war and becomes very sick.  It isn't until he completes a ceremony and reacquaints to his native culture and values that he is able to find the correct balance between western and Laguna beliefs.