Ceremony

Ceremony

by Leslie Marmon Silko

This novel is a story of a Native American boy, Tayo, who returns from war. The whole story deals with the troubles that he is experiences post war along with returning to the inequality of Native Americans. Tayo explained that when they were over seas fighting next to each other the Native American and the white man were equal, but since they have returned from war that is not the same. The novel continues following Tayo's struggles of ridding the hauntings of war in his past. These trials that Tayo faces are part of his Ceremony of healing, eventually they perform the ceremony where "every evil which entangled him was cut to pieces" (Silko 240).

Ceremony

I will tell you something about stories,

[he said]

They aren't just entertainment.

Don't be fooled.

They are all we have, you see,

all we have to fight off

illness and death.

You don't have anything

if you don't have the stories.

Their evil is mighty

but it can't stand up to our stories.

So they try to destroy the stories

let the stories be confused of forgotten.

They would like that

They would be happy

Because we would be defenseless then.

He rubbed his belly.

I keep them here

[he said]

Here, put your hand on it

See, it is moving.

There is life here 

for the people.

And in the belly of this story

the rituals and the ceremony

are still growing. (Silko 2)

The novel Ceremony portrays the struggles not only of a Native American Indian, but also a returning war soldier. The suggested age of the readers was 9th through 12th grade. I find this a difficult read and struggle seeing this as a culturally relevant text. With the Tayo's age being relatively close to the reader an argument for that connection could be made, but high school students now do not have to worry about being drafted into the war. Many Americans today could read this just to grasp some insight on what our soldiers returning from war may be experiencing. I think by Tayo mentioning how when Native Americans and white were fighting war together they were equals, but once home the Native American men returned to being seen as unequals. This novel exposes Native American hardships in vivid, brilliant ways, but does not relate to the young adult readers of today. Novels like Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven are Native American pieces that could be considered culturally-relevant to young adult readers of today.

Works Cited

Silko, Leslie. Ceremony. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.