Ceremony Part Four

Within part four of Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, Tayo begins to really search for the mexican cattle of which Josiah had bought and cared for before and during Tayo's time in war. After Tayo's visit with Betonie and the start of his search for the cattle, Tayo has begun to heal from his Post-traumatic stress. "...he smiled. Being alive was all right then: he had not breathed like that for a long time" (Silko 181). This feeling of finally enjoying life occurred after Tayo had just slept with Ts'eh. It was meaningful and not just drunken sex, therefore it made Tayo feel loved and wanted by someone which is something that Tayo has rarely experienced in his life so far. In addition to this, Tayo had just began his search for the cattle which, once they are found and brought back home, will finally provide closure for Tayo surrounding Josiah's death. "He would take the cattle home again, and they would follow the plans Josiah had made and raise a new breed of cattle that could live in spite of drought and hard weather" (Silko 187). The idea of caring for the cattle as Josiah had wished for gives Tayo his closure because it allows him to pick up his life where he left it off before he had gone to war. It is comforting to him to have the cattle once more because it it the only thing left that Tayo has of Josiah.

"The spotted cattle wouldn't be lost anymore, scattered through his dreams, driven by his hesitation to admit they had been stolen, that the land- all of it- had been stolen from them" (Silko 192). During his search for the spotted cattle, Tayo began to think about his connection to the earth. He began to realize how ruined the earth was becoming because of the white people and how much he hated them for it and for stealing a majority of the land, animals, and resources and abusing their power. "He lay there and hated them. Not for what they wanted to do with him, but for what they did to the earth with their machines, and to the animals with their packs of dogs and their guns. It happened again and again, and the people had to watch, unable to save or to protect any of the things that were so important to them"  (Silko 203). Tayo had learned all about the history of the white people from Betonie. Betonie had told him about how the destroyers had created the white people to ruin the earth but the question still remains to why they would want the earth to be destroyed.