Ceremony Analysis

Ceremony

Author: Leslie Marmon Silko

Setting: During and right after WW2

Plot: A war vet tries to deal with and accept the past while trying to create his own future. He must deal with the horrors or wore and the discrimination of race. The book is an intertwining web of time lines and thoughts.

Main characters: Tayo, Emo, Auntie, Rocky, Betonie, Josiah, Harley, Night Swan, and Pinky

Summary: Tayo is a lost solider coming back from the war with out his brother Rocky. Devasted and feeling worthless, he often becomes invisible, slowly winding through the thoughts and events from his past. Tayo goes through the process of completing a ceremony in order to cure himself of anguish but to also reunite the people of his culture. Tayo does this by riding his town of the evil, which is represented by Emo.

The narrative voice in this piece starts out unconfident and lost, longing for direction and help. This voice embodies Tayo’s character in the beginning, which is what makes this book so powerful. Throughout the story, the reader sees a shift in narrative voice and tone of the overall piece. The reader can actually sense the independence from the writing style as Tayo is slowly growing closer to completing his ceremony. The tone and voice shifts allow the book to illuminate the full journey that Tayo had to take to reach the end of his ceremony and the book. Another interesting thing about this piece is the chronologically to it, there is absolutely none. The book seems to be writing on a constant web, any emotion or thought can cause a jump in the time web, either backwards or forwards and into a new memory and event. That is such a great aspect about the book because it keeps the reader on their toes and guessing. The book was never predictable, which allowed for it to be a quick read. Overall it is my favorite book thus far!

Quotes:

 "How did you know I'd be here?" He said, still watching the cattle. She laughed and shook her head, "the way you talk!" she said. "I was here almost a week before you came. How did you know I'd be here? Tell me that first." – shows Tayo’s true love and it gives Tayo a sign that there are greater forces working out there that are helping him. She gives Tayo strength to carry on, because now he knows he is not alone.

Old Grandma shook her head slowly, and closed her cloudy eyes again. "I guess I must be getting old, " she said, "because these goings-on around Laguna don't get me excited any more." She sighed, and laid her head back on the chair. "It seems like I already heard these stories before—only thing is, the names sound different."  - Everything in Laguna culture seems to be cyclic. The world seems to change, but really just ends up repeating itself. New connects to old and present connects to past. This is a huge theme throughout the book and something that Tayo struggles with a lot

Theme:  It is important for whole cultures to learn from their past and use that to progress to their future.  Therefore completing the cycle.