Ceremony Comes to a Close

Throughout the long journey of reading the novel, Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, it has become clear that Tayo has grown from his difficult life of discrimination and his horrific experiences in war that ultimately led to intense Post traumatic stress. "A year ago he and Harley had ridden down the road on the burro and mule, but this time the grass along the road was green and thick, and to the east, south, and west, as far as he could see, the land was green again" (Silko 234). Within this text, Silko is emphasizing how far Tayo has come within his healing process. At the beginning of the year the land was dry and dead like how Tayo was feeling coming right out of the war. Yet a year later, after all of his therapy with Betonie and his own lessons to help find himself again, the land is green and alive. However, the more and more that Tayo was reviving from his horrific past, the more and more everyone around him thought that he was going crazy. "It was easier to feel and believe the rumors. Crazy. Crazy Indian. Seeing things. Imagining things" (Silko 242). Tayo did not want to go back to the hospital where he would be drugged up but in a sense he found it may be easier to just give up and stop fighting everyone around him. Yet, he has grown. He has grown to stand up for himself and make his own decisions. This is most admirable about Tayo. At the beginning of Ceremony Tayo was helpless, lifeless, and afraid. Now, a year later, he is confident, alive, and for once he is feeling the love of a significant other.

In this next week our SLCC class will be watching Smoke Signals where we will be viewing yet another perspective and given more insight on native life. Personally I think I will find it very fascinating and I anticipate that it will closely relate to Tayo and help the class further understand all that Tayo has gone through. Personally I didn't find this novel to be very good, I thought it was a very confusing read because it jumped all over the place, however the ending was very surprising but I'm still not even sure what happened. Hopefully after the class closely analyzes this last piece of the book I will be able to better appreciate and understand it.