Ceremony Analysis

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Questions on Ceremony Kaye Harris Northern Arizona University What does this text communicate about the meaning of the Southwest, its places or its people? This text, Ceremony (1977) communicates to me about the native people of the Southwest such as Tayo, were very much struggling with trying to stay true to their past ways of their ancestors and also wanting to learn to fit in with white ways. Tayo saw how his friends turned to alcohol and violence and Tayo turned to his Indian traditions to deal with what he had been through in the war. Tayo was sad that his friends wanted to be like white men and that they admired them when they would never be considered an equal according to the white society. Waters states, “subjected to the whites'…show more content…
I have not considered this time period of natives lives before. This was indeed an unwanted transitional period for all native peoples. They were still not accepted by Anglo people and they were not considered United States citizens. I have the ideas of the old Southwest, where there were Indians and cowboys having shootouts in old town legends such as the OK corral in Tombstone. My own experiences are suburban living and just enjoying the weather and scenery. Many of the ways of living from that era that Tayo and his family experienced are all but gone now. Tayo describes a place in Ceremony, (1977) that I love and have believed about the Southwest, “There was a peaceful silence beneath the sounds of the wind; it was a silence with no trace of people.” To me, this is what I think of as the Southwest and want to think of as the Southwest, although it is not as true as it once was. How does this book challenge or support other ideas or works you’ve encountered in the course? Are its themes related to any other concepts you’ve come across? Is it similar or different to other artworks you’ve read/seen? How…show more content…
This is similar to other artworks I have read in this course, that since the Spanish came, Indians have been regarded as inferior (Wallace, 2013). This book also brings up the fact that many white men had sexual relationships with native women and Indian men were with white women. Many of these relationships resulted in children that were half Indian and half white as Tayo was (Silko, 1977). Even though these children were half white they were still being discriminated against, many times more so and even from their own families. Being a “half-breed” would have been even more difficult than being a full blooded native, because of the discrimination from all sides. At the same time, Tayo had to learn how to be both white and Indian. References Silko, L. M. Ceremony (1977). New York NY: The Viking Press Wallace, T. (2013). NAU.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from https://bblearn.nau.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_21_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_54356_1%26url%D Wallace, T. (2013). NAU.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from https://bblearn.nau.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_21_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_54356_1%26url%3D Waters, F. (1973). Masked
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