Ceremony Paper Essay Research Paper In the
Ceremony Paper Essay, Research PaperIn the novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, we see how Tayo ( the chief character ) a half strain being half Indian and half White appreciatesand accepts his Indians roots more than the full strain Indians that have gone tothe war every bit good as his Aunt. It is dry how a individual like Tayo is non accepted byeither civilizations, but at the same clip he wants to be a portion of his Indian culturewhile people like his cousin Rocky, his aunt, and the other Indian veterans wantto be a portion of what they believe is a & # 8220 ; superior & # 8221 ; civilization, the white civilization. Dueto Tayo non being accepted by either civilization he is every bit good forced to isolatehimself specially from The Indian civilization and is unable to cover with his emotionsand jobs that he was faced with because no 1, such as his aunt hadmade it apparent since his young person that he was non portion of the household and thereforemust learn by himself how to cover with his jobs. Since Tayo was born he was looked down upon merely because of themere fact that his female parent slept with white work forces. Ever since he was immature andlived with his female parent & # 8217 ; s household members, his aunt made certain that he recognize thatfor her every bit good as the other Indians he will ever be looked at as an outsidereven amongst his ain household members. It was a private apprehension between the two of them.
When Josiah or old Grandma or Robert was at that place, the understanding was suspended, and she pretended to handle him the same as she treated Rocky, but they both knew it was merely impermanent & # 8230 ; . She was careful that Rocky did non portion these things with Tayo, that they kept a distance between themselves and him. But she would non allow Tayo travel outdoors or play in another room entirely. She wanted him near plenty to experience excluded.. ( 67 ) This nevertheless did non impact the relationship between his cousinRocky who he learned to love as a brother and his uncle Josiah and hisGrandma.
The lone individual who saw Tayo as a shame to the household was hisaunt and she felt that because of this now she had to work harder to demo therest of the community that she was a good aunt and that she had to cover withmuch agony. . The grounds behind why she feels ashamed of her sister and hernephew is instead dry however.. She feels ashamed because her sister waswith a white adult male and had a white adult male & # 8217 ; s kid, but at the same clip she wantsher boy Rocky to be portion of that White society that she has looked down upon inTayo. Rocky, who is a full strain Indian, does non believe in and is ashamed ofhis civilization. He sees his civilization as old manner and superstitious. He believes inthe white adult male & # 8217 ; s replies to the inquiries that life brings up.
He turns to thesciences and a white adult male & # 8217 ; s logic to happen replies to his inquiries and looksdown upon Medicine Men like Ku & # 8217 ; oosh who are really wise and have the answersthat he is looking for. Those books are written by scientist. They know everything there is to cognize about beef cowss. That & # 8217 ; s the problem with the manner the people around here have ever done things-they ne’er knew what they were doing.
& # 8221 ; ( 76 ) The lone 1 that can be blamed for this is Tayo & # 8217 ; s aunt. She has ever wantedher boy to win in the white adult male & # 8217 ; s society and if it meant burying aboutyour civilization so that should be the manner. She wanted him to be a success. She could see what white people wanted in an Indian, and she believed this manner was his lone opportunity. She saw it as her lone opportunity excessively, after all the small town chitchat about their household. When Rocky was a success, no 1 would make bold to state anything against them any longer. ( 51 ) The aunt did non understand what it was that she was really acuring by lettingher boy forget about his ain civilization and embracing a civilization in which he doesnot belong to. Even if he did encompass that civilization and would populate amongst thewhite people, he would hold ne’er been looked as a portion of their society, butas an castaway like Tayo.
These, nevertheless, were non the lone people that thought the sameway. The Indian work forces who Tayo and Rocky fought along with in the war besides hadsomewhat of the same thought form. While they were U.S. Marines in theiruniforms they were given regard. However, the regard that they were given, was non because they were Indians who were have oning uniforms, but becausethey were soldiers and hence they were the same as any other White manfighting in the same war.
The were saluted and thought of as brave and whenthey went to bars or to the shops they were given regard and they were looked upon as soldiers contending the & # 8220 ; White & # 8221 ; adult male & # 8217 ; s war. & # 8220 ; White adult females ne’er looked atme until I put on that uniform, and so by God I was a U.S. Marine and theycame herding around & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; ( 40 ) That was everything that they have of all time wantedfrom these white people. The truth hit them when they returned from the war and they wereone time once more treated as Indians. Soldiers li ke Emo and Harley bought into thatfake ideal world that the white people were putting in front of them.
In realitythough, the white people did not care for making these Indians a part of them. What they cared about was the fact that these were people that were buying intothere “fighting for their country” slogans. ” ‘Anyone can fight for America,’ hebegan, giving special emphasis to ‘America,’ ‘even you boys in a time of need, anyone can fight for her.
’ ” (64) It was very subtle, but what this quote comesright down and says is the fact that when these white people need help, theneveryone is part of “America” and everyone is equal. People like Rocky, Harley, and Emo played into this because they saw it as way to be like the white peoplethat had power..
Even though they always fought and argued about how thewhite man took away their land and how the white man pushed them away fromwhat was rightfully theirs, they go ahead and fight for what is conveniently nowtheir country as well. Once they returned and the war was over, the Whitesociety again treated them as before, never once acknowledging that thosemen went and fought in the war and died like a white man for their sacred White”America”. I’m half-breed. I’ll be the first to say it. I’ll speak for both sides. First time you walked down the street in Gallup or Albuquerque, you knew. Don’t lie.
You knew right away. The war was over, the uniform was gone. All of a sudden that man at the store makesyou wait until all the white people bought what they wanted. And the white lady at the bus depot, she’s real careful now not to touch your hand when she counts out your change. You watch it slide across the counter at you, and you know Goddamn it! You stupid sonofabitches! You know! (42) The only person in the war that did not play into the white man’slies was Tayo. He did not know who he was and how to deal with all theproblems that he was surrounded by, but what he did know was that there hadto be a way out of feeling the way he did. And the only was that this was goingto take place was if he stop keeping all his fears and angers in his stomach andstart to realize that there is an easier and a better way to handle them.
sinceTayo was never able to fully relate to either one of his roots he felt that he had tokeep to himself and endure all the pain. Every time that Tayo had those pains inhis belly they were caused because of bad memories or when he would hear theother Indian talk about either his childhood or his experience in the war. Hecould not help put transfer all his grief and pain to his belly. He shivered because all the facts, all the reasons made no difference any more; he could hear Rocky’s words, and he could follow the logic of what Rocky said, but he could not feel anything except a swelling in his belly. (9)He was not able to deal with all the pain that the war caused him and thereforewhen returning back home he was put in a mental hospital, because theythought that it would be the best for him. The only explanation that they had forTayo’s condition was that it was battle fatigue, again, the white man’s answer toan Indian problem. The only way that Tayo, could feel some what better was byvomiting every time that he would feel that pain in his belly.
“The swelling waspushing against his throat, and he leaned against the brick wall and vomited intothe big garbage can.” (18) What we are seeing here is that by him constantlyvomiting it is a way for him to get rid of all his pain and suffering. Tayo thinks thathe actually is vomiting all the pain out of his system because he believes that hehas consolidated all in one place. His belly and that all that he has to do isempty it out. He does not understand that he can not solve his problems likethat. the only way that he will be able to get rid of all the pain and suffering is byfacing it and dealing with it. this is something that he does do and that it takesinto account Tayo being accepted as an Indian which at the end of the novel iswhat has happened.
Ku’oosh has been able to help Tayo because what heneeded all along was an Indian cure. Not a medical white cure for an Indianproblem, such as Tayo’s that can only be cured amongst themselves. What this novel has done is brought out what racism and how itaffects everyone.
The sad thing about it though is that this is racism amongst asame culture and worst of all amongst family members. We have to remembernot to play into the white man’s world because the only thing that it is doing iddividing a beautiful culture that has a right to spread and be free from ignorance. All of us are equal, but yet we still think that we are better then others and untilwe think otherwise we will continue to breakup cultures that have as much rightto stay strong as ours. WORK CITED Marmon Silko, Leslie.
Ceremony. New York: The Viking Press 1977
