Ceremony free essay sample

Cultural Collision in Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko’s enlightening Pueblo Indian, mixed heritage perspective in her novel Ceremony represents significant progress for the oppressed culture and identity of Native Americans. European Colonizers entered America with a society focused on exploiting all the country had to offer. Unfortunately the manipulation and deception that accompanied this society came at a colossal cost to the countries natural resources and native people. In her novel Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko illustrates the â€Å"witchery† of white society and its destructive affects on the Native American WWII veterans: Tayo, Rocky, Emo, Harley, Leroy and Pinkie. The stories of these individual characters portray the blinding destructiveness of white society; as well as the hopes and possibility of freeing mankind from the manipulative leash of â€Å"witchery. † Understanding the â€Å"witchery† and Native American traditions mentioned throughout the novel are essential in order to properly scrutinize the devastating impacts imposed by white society. According to Betonie, the wise medicine man who guides Tayo through his struggles, â€Å"it was Indian witchery that made white people in the first place. † (132) Betonies rebuttals the common Indian misconception that white people are solely responsible for the evils in the world; addressing that they â€Å"are only tools that the witchery manipulates. † (132) He believes the manipulative aspects of â€Å"witchery† divert individuals from a relationship with the natural and spiritual world to a more modernized relationship with the material world. This ideal is illustrated in the story of the ancient witches who’ve gathered from around the world to show off their special charms and powers; â€Å"The contest started like that. Then some of them lifted the lids on their big cooking pots, calling the rest of them over to take a look. † (134) Similar to a modern day fashion or technology show; the witches valued and compared their material objects. Later in the fable, a witch shares a horrifying story that introduces white people to the other witches. The witch says that they see no life when they look they see only objects. The world is a dead thing for them and that â€Å"they will kill the things they fear, all the animals, the people will starve. † (135) The withes are terrified by his story and ask, â€Å"to call it back† but it’s too late. In contrast to â€Å"witchery† the Pueblo Indian traditions revolve around the concept that everything is interrelated; believing that humans must respect the natural and spiritual world. Tayo exemplifies this custom when he encountered the mountain lion and â€Å"poured yellow pollen from Josiah’s tobacco sack†¦ into the four foot prints. Mountain lion, the hunter. Mountain Lion, the hunter’s helper. † (196) Recalling the Pueblo Indian myth of the hunter and mountain lion, Tayo respectfully honors the spirit. Tayo, Rocky, Harley, Emo, Leroy, and Pinkie are affected by the â€Å"witchery,† when they are persuaded to enlist in World War II in order to prove themselves patriotic Americans. They were America the Beautiful too, this was the land of the free just like the teachers said in school. They had the uniform and they didnt look different no more. They got respect. (42) Similarly to how the witch’s â€Å"jumped into [the] animals skins,† (134) to experience a different reality; the American uniforms gained the Pueblo men respect and a glimpse of the white American lifestyle. However, the respect and lifestyle were abruptly taken from the men upon the return of their uniforms. When everyone but Rocky returns to the Pueblo Indian Reservation from war, Tayo suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and turns to drinking with his other veteran friends. \After Emo’s exposure to the white world during his time in uniform, he returns to the Pueblo Reservation as a representation of â€Å"witchery,† and its manipulative ways. Emo results to alcohol and forgets his Native American roots, replacing traditional stories with ones of white woman and fighting ‘Japs’. Emo was envious of the white society and he believed that â€Å"belonging was drinking and laughing with platoon, dancing with blond women, buying drinks for buddies born in Cleveland, Ohio† (43) Emo’s brutal enthusiasm of war is portrayed when he states, â€Å"we were the best. U. S. Army. We butchered every Jap we found. No Jap bastard was fit to take prisoner. † (61) His souvenir bag of Japanese teeth further depicts his cruelty and wickedness. Emo has always disrespected Tayo because of his mixed heritage, however towards the end of the novel Emo acts boldly by telling the community that Tayo has gone crazy. Just like the â€Å"witchery† that manipulated the men into war; Emo manipulates the other alcoholic veterans: Leroy, Harley, and Pinkie into searching for Tayo. Emo eventually kills his veteran supporters and leaves for San Francisco. Emo’s escape symbolizes that just like the â€Å"witchery,† he still exists. Harley, Leroy, and Pinkie represent the week Native American war veteran alcoholics who are easily manipulated. Leroy’s purchase of his no money down truck from a white many portrays a â€Å"ripped off† Indian, when Tayo â€Å"could smell fumes from the loud busted muffler. † (157) Harley, Leroy and Pinkie are manipulated by Emo to turn against Tayo; and as a result they all die. Tayo addresses that there cause of death was a result of witchery either way, when he says â€Å"it was not much different than if they had died at Wake Island or Iwo Jima: the bodies were dismembered beyond recognition and the coffins were sealed. † (250) When Tayo return from war, he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome; unable to be cured by western medicine. Critic Roland Barthes has said: Literature is the question minus the answer. Using Ceremony, consider Barthes observation and write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the authors treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. completion of his mythical ceremony heals his Reservation. Silko hopes that her novel, just like Tayo’s ceremony, has the power to heal mankind from the manipulation of â€Å"witchery. †