Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony is about a boy named Tayo, who is half Native American and lives on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation around the time of WW2. He was born to his Native American mother and a white man that he does not know. Tayo talks about the memories of his mother, and living by a bridge on a river. He did not see much of his mother, and when he did she was with men. When his mother died, he lived with his aunt and uncle. His family was embarrassed if him though, and his mothers actions because he is half white. This is a disgrace to his family and his community, and he has to deal with it even though it was totally out of his control. His aunt does not like him, and never wanted him to be with her son, Rocky. This did not happen however, and Rocky and Tayo became good friends. They went to war together in order to feel like they were not inferior to the white people. While a soldier, they felt more respected, and were able to fight for their country without the worry of feeling inferior to the white race. In the war, Rocky was killed. This takes a huge toll on Tayo, and he feels that the reason Rocky died was because of him, even though this was not the case. His Aunt only enforces this thought, basically saying that "He should have died out there instead." Rocky was successful in high school. He was good at sports and had a girlfriend. He was going to go somewhere in life, so when he died, the whole community knew about it and sent the condolences to his mother. During the war, it was very rainy where they were stationed. One day, Tayo wished for the rain to stop. Later on when he got home, there was a drought. Tayo believed that he was the reason that the drought occurred, which sends him into more panic. When Tayo gets home from the war, he has post traumatic stress disorder and is constantly freaking out. His friends from the war also have this problem, only less severe and they turn to drinking to cure it. This does not work for Tayo, so Tayo seeks more help. He goes to a medicine man, who helps him go through a ceremony to make him better. He only considers the old traditions and does not take new ones into consideration. This works a little bit, but not fully. When this doesn't work, he is sent to another medicine man named Betonie. Betonie is a medicine man that includes all of the traditional ceremony, only he adds in more influence from the white community. This is just what Tayo needs, because his problems are occuring in a mainly white dominated world. When Tayo leaves Betonie, his ceremony is not fully complete. Tayo is looking for his uncle's cattle, when he meets Ts'eh, who is a woman that is at one with nature and the world. He spends a lot of time with her, but eventually has to leave because his war friend Emo was spreading rumors about him and the police are after him. While he is out and hiding from Emo and the police, he realizes the last step of his ceremony is to stay somewhere an entire night and watch his friend, Harley get killed by Emo.

Tayo is the major character in this book. He is a young man who is half mexican with green eyes and is hated for it. He was also in the war, coming back with post traumatic stress disorder and needing to be healed by a ceremony.  Because of his experiences, he knows a lot about the white culture surrounding him. He also knows a lot about the Native American culture. This is the reason why his ceremony must involve both parts, because he is aware of the surrounding white community and his feeling if inferiority.

Harley, Emo, and Pinky are all childhood friends of Tayo and also went to war with him. They became raging alcoholics when they came back, because it helped them deal with their feelings.

Betonie was the medicine man that finally cured Tayo and allowed him to finish a ceremony. He includes white culture with the native american culture in the ceremony, which is exactly what Tayo needed to be cured. He is a more current medicine man, even though he is not trusted by the very traditional native americans.

Aunt is of course, Tayo's aunt, or his mothers sister. She does not have a good relationship with Tayo at all, starting from when he was born. (Half white) She did not want her son to acquaint himself with Tayo, even though he did. She was upset when Tayo came back from war instead of Rocky. She has made him feel excluded since the beginning.

"Accidents happen, and there is little we can do. But don't be so quick to call something good or bad." this is bentonie speaking to Tayo and giving him life lessons. This is a great thing for Tayo to hear because he is always blaming things on himself.

The narrative voice in this novel is in third person, only we do see into Tayo's thought process, dreams, and ideas. We also see that the voice is subjective, giving opinions on different events and people. Emo and drinking in this book are always described in a negative tone that is almost gross to read. When Tayo and the descriptions of him and Ts'eh are very light and cheery. Overall a very subjective piece. There are examples of imagery everywhere in this book. The entire book is basically one big picture of imagery. "The smell of clay and mountain sage stirred old memories." The plot in this book is a little different. Normally in western literature it is in a linear storyline but this book is in a circular storyline. This makes it more interesting and does quickly from the current story to a story of the past.

THEME: It is essential to preserve tradition, no matter what, in order to keep communities alive.
this is supported with the ideas in the book. Tayo must go through a ceremony, which is an extremely traditional event, in order to get better.