Summary Of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony

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Monica Morgan Professor Broeckel English 241 October 12, 2009 Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony”: The Tale of Two Literary Styles “Ceremony” is a tale of a young man’s struggle with coming to terms with himself and the present state of his Indian people. Being of bi-racial descent and the struggle between beliefs in old and new traditions are the root problems that manifest themselves within the protagonist’s graphic mental and physical illnesses. Leslie Marmon Silko prepares us for a harmonious resolution within self and tradition by weaving poetry and prose together. Throughout the story the free verse poetry either sets up the following prose or completes or explains it, showing that two completely different styles can co-exist, or indeed depend upon each other to complete…show more content…
To reinforce this point, the following free verse poetry shows how the people were taken in by the magic of a Ck’o’yo medicine man. They thought “this magic could give life to plants and animals” (44). In retaliation mother Nau’ts’ity’i took the plant, grass, and rainclouds away. Throughout this story the journey of Tayo, told in prose, is paralleled with the journey of the Hummingbird which is told in free verse. Hummingbird’s assignment is to restore to the people that which was taken away by Nau’ts’ity’i, while Tayo’s is the merging of old and new traditions. This amalgamation of traditions can be seen, in some respects, as the restoration of the Indians who have lost so much. While Hummingbird describes his task as “it sure wasn’t very easy” (237), this depiction is much more fitting for what Tayo
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