Ceremony Summary & Anaylsis

Ceremony
Published May, 1977

Author: Leslie Marmon Silko

  Leslie was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is part Laguna Pueblo, Anglo American, and Mexican American. She grew up in a Laguna preservation and as a result learned much about the culture. Her grandmother, aunt, and grandfather shared with her many stories of the Laguna tribe. She went to a Catholic School in Albuquerque, University of New Mexico, and eventually Law School until she decided to pursue her literary career.

Setting: A Laguna Reservation that lies between Albuquerque and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Characters:

•  Tayo - the protagonist that struggles with finding where he belongs. He believes in the Laguna culture but is concerned about the influence of Whites. He does not have strong family relationships, his mother and father left him at a young age so he was taken in by his Grandma and Auntie. 
• Night Swan - the mysterious woman Josiah falls in love with. One of the first Mexican woman to appear in the novel, she symbolizes the relation of whites and the Laguna culture.
• A Hunter - assists Tayo in two different forms (hunter and animal) to help capture the cattle.
• The Woman - incarnated as Ts'eh, appears a few times throughout Tayo's ceremony to guide and warn him. 
• Descheeny - Betonie's grandfather who created a ceremony to collaborate Mexican and Native American cultures in hopes of fixing the damage created by the whites. 
• Auntie - Tayo's aunt and oldest of her siblings, and therefore has a responsibility of running the family and keepings things in order. However, she has gone out of her way to exclude Tayo and although she took him after the disappearance of his mother, she doesn't treat him anything like how she treats her own children. 
• Grandma - Tayo's grandma and head of the family. She gives support to Tayo by bringing him to the medicine men or advising him when needed. 
• Betonie - the medicine man that guides Tayo through his ceremony.
• Josiah - Tayo's uncle and reasoning behind Tayo's journey. Josiah acts somewhat as a mentor to Tayo by teaching him of the Laguna traditions, he also acts as father like figure and includes Tayo in the family. Josiah also strays from tradition when he falls in love with Night Swan, who convinces him to raise a herd of Mexican cattle. 
• Harley - Tayo's long time friend. Harley is not as affected by the war as Tayo is but becomes an alcoholic and often times tries to influence Tayo to drink with him.
• Rocky- Tayo's cousin and new brother. Rocky signed up for war with Tayo but unfortunately dies during the war. 
• Emo - grew up with Tayo but has always criticized him for being mixed race. Emo has always had a short temper but it only grows worse after the war, he becomes an alcoholic and eventually gains a hatred so large for Tayo that he begins to hunt him.
• Pinkie - old friend of Tayo but is also a big drinker. He eventually is betrayed by Emo and is killed. 

Plot:

•    3 poems start off the story, one of the women Ts'its'tsi'nako declaring this is a retelling of her story. The second is called "Ceremony" which elaborates on the rituals of the ceremony. The third is "What she said" which states the only good cure is a ceremony.
• Tayo has a flashback of the Japanese soldiers that he was ordered to murder during WWII and imagines Josiah's face on one of them. 
• Tayo has returned to the war after 6 years, he has no immediate family left and now lives with her aunt. There is a severe drought that Tayo believes was brought when he prayed for the rain to stop while Rocky was dying in the Philippines.
• When Tayo returns to New Laguna from the hospital, he can't escape his trauma of the war, especially because Auntie still changes Rocky and Josiah's beds and when shed does Tayo sleeps in Rocky's bed. 
• Tayo is upset from the war and has many feelings of guilt so grandma advises he goes to a medicine man.
• Ku'oosh, the medicine man, tells Tayo can be helped if he performs a ceremony or else he will forever be haunted. However these ritual haven't always worked since the whites have prevailed. 
• Tayo has a flashback of a moment by the river with Josiah and he mentioned to him that droughts only occur when people "forget."
• He has another flashback with Rocky when he was gutting a deer. Tayo was practicing the old ways and covered the deers eyes, while Rocky was not as considerate and less concerned with the old ways because he and grandma believe the only way to succeed now is by the way of the whites. 
• Most of Tayo's friends who went to war have become alcoholics and one of them, Harley kept giving drinks to Tayo. Meanwhile the others were teasing him, Tayo became furious and broke a bottle and stabbed Emo. (Emo = witch, Tayo = sun-father)
• Drinking at the bar another night, Emo again infuriates Tayo causing him to lunge at him and be taken away by cops. 
• Tayo signed up for the army because Rocky did, hoping to further bond and have brother-like relationship.
• Tayo has a flashback regarding Josiah's cattle (represent clouds); Josiah believed they were a good investment because they were a mixed breed and could survive well in the desert. However they eventually escaped and headed south (captured by the gambler). 
• Josiah fell in love with Night Swan who Auntie believed was a disgrace.
• Tayo goes on a ride in the morning and performs concocting rituals and prays for the rain. It rains the following day.  
• Tayo visits another medicine man, Betonie, who encourages Tayo to perform the ceremony but warns that he must alter it so that it fits the new and coming ways. 
• Betonie performs a ceremony on Tayo which erases the memories of the Japanese.  
• Betonie tells a story of his grandfather Descheeny and his discovery with a Mexican women that they must create a ceremony to save people from the white's destruction. 
• Tayo meets a women and becomes the happiest he has been. He then takes off again to find the cattle; taking Betonie's advice and following the stars to the woman and now up the mountain.
• Finally Tayo finds the cattle in a white mans corral. Tayo breaks but can't find the cattle. A mountain lion appears and leaves behind helpful tracks. 
• Tayo leads the cattle out of the corral but is captured by the patrol but ditch him when they see the mountain lion tracks. 
• Tayo meets a hunter and head to the woman's house who has captured the cattle.
• Tayo comes back to the house with Robert but the women and hunter are gone but the cattle well taken care of. 
• The woman tells Tayo she is the Monta-o (mountain/part of the land)
• The woman also warns him that Emo and police are after him and that he should hide but be wary of Emo's determination. 
• Tayo hides but eventually hitches a ride with Laroy and Harley who are actually taking him to Emo. Tayo escapes again to a Uranium mine and understands this is the last part of the ceremony.
• Tayo watches Emo, Pinkie, and Leroy torcher Harley but resists saving him when a strong wind comesand alerts him. 
• Tayo gathers the final plants that the woman requested.
• Sitting in the kiva Tayo speaks to Ku'oosh and some elders discussing the ceremony. They then chant and perform the ending of the ceremony. 
• Harley and Leroy were found dead but honored for their military duties, Emo runs away to California, and Pinkie was killed by Emo.
• Auntie begins to treat Tayo like family. 
• A concluding poem states that the witchery is gone for now but has a tone of warning. 

Motifs:

• Wind
• Eyes
• Stomach
• Cattle
• Direction
• Colors - esp. yellow

Author's Style:

    Perspective:
 - This story is mostly told in the perspective of Tayo's reactions and emotions.
 - There are some times when the paralleled story is mentioned and emphasizes the outcome of the ceremony.
    Tone:
 - Changes several times. At times it was hopeful because Tayo was trying to save himself and complete the ceremony to better things.
 - Other times it was dreary because Tayo was depressed from the war and things would continually go against him.
    Imagery:
 - The land was often times described in great detail, adding to its significance.
 - The character's appearances were usually described in great detail, usually focusing on the eyes and skin color. This drew a further separation between the different races.
 - The spots on the cattle were necessary to show they represent the clouds.

Quotes:

1) "They are afraid...they think that if their children have the same color of skin, the same color of eyes, that nothing is changing...they are fools. they blame us, the ones who look different. That way they don't have to think about what has happened inside themselves" (92). Night Swan --> Tayo
  I think this quote is significant because not only does it show the separation of whites and the Laguna people but it is also a way of Silko digging at whites and their inability to accept other cultures.
 
2) "He trampled the ants with his boots, and he kicked dirt over the seeds and pulp" (57).
   The significance of Emo squashing the melon and then the ants goes to prove he was evil before the war and supports he is a witch. He is not caring and does not follow the Laguna traditions.

Theme:

   In Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, it is suggested that adopting and blending cultures is the best way to avoid destruction and promote human unity.
  Silko supports this statement many times throughout the book by providing examples such as the cattle that go to prove that hybrids essentially survive better than pure breeds. Tayo, also being a hybrid also goes to prove this because he performs the ceremony and is ultimately the sun father, having many more powers than others to do so. Silko demonstrates that it is necessary to not only live at peace with other cultures but to accept and adapt aspects of it but still valuing one's original culture.