CEREMONY ESSAY In her novel Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko illustrates Tayo’s search for a ceremony to cure him of his mental anguish – a journey to salvation that can only be completed by overcoming the traumas of his past and accepting his mixed heritage. His return from the war represents Tayo’s first step in his journey to salvation. Haunted by memories and nightmares of the devastation he had both witnessed and inflicted in war, Tayo’s thoughts are possessed completely by visions from his past. The specific image of Josiah, his uncle, among a crowd of Japanese soldiers he was ordered to shoot is particularly troublesome for Tayo. Though this clearly could not have been his uncle, his confusion between Laguna men and these Japanese soldiers stems from the notion that Tayo does not see people as separate races and groups but as single entity with the same roots.
This is first seen through jealously. Carlos describes how he could ‘barely look’ at Francesco’s wife due to the fact that ‘she had known the pleasure of his body in a way that I could never know’. The ending of the sentence ‘I could never know’ shows the sad acceptance of Carlo due to the fact that Carlo was already in a relationship and also because he is dead. The second notion of sadness can be seen in the death itself in the form of grief. As Francesco was dying Carlo describes how his eyes were ‘blinded with tears’.
Reb Molinsky is shown to be almost a slave of his own religion, to the point that he is willing to sacrifice the integrity of his household just to serve his God. Like Sara, his will and faith in his goals are so strong that he completely turn his head away from his family’s needs and chooses to lock himself in a room filled with his books while everyone else starves. This is perceived as an inhumane action, but we need to consider that Sara’s actions are no better than her father’s. Once she is an accomplished woman she goes back to her parents, just to find her mother laying on her deathbed. In other words, she turned her head away her family in order to study and fulfill her goals.
Marilyn, who held a strong will to live, steadily accepts the fact that she must be released. The feeling of guilt showers over her as Barton informs her about the reality that her being there influences “the life of not one person but the lives of many.” (6) Her beg for mercy decelerates as she ponders about the seven other people’s lives that have to be sacrificed if she clings for her life. Her will to write her family letters depicts her acceptance towards death and her love she feels towards her family. Before she dies, she is given the opportunity to talk to her brother, Gerry. Both Gerry and Marilyn feel venerable to her death because they don’t have the power to alter the law of science.
They are no longer the important aspect of his life as all focus shifts to himself to become important to others who seemingly don’t care about him. Helen’s response to a company friend stating, “I know how much you will miss him,” with “I already have” shows the significance of her and the family moving on from Phil and his workaholic self. Later, while attending Phil’s funeral, the company president asks, “Who’s been working the hardest?” and provides the audience a sense that nobody noticed Phil’s hard work and dedication to the company, making Phil appear invisible to the people he was intending to impress. By doing this, Goodman illustrates the
In Chapter 4 the narrator describes how his life is before he and Rafa were sent to the campo. He lived with Rafa, his mother and grandfather. He and Rafa had a good relationship with their grandfather because if they ever got in trouble with their mother he would always go easy on them by not making them go through to punishment their mother gave them. During this chapter their mother is working long hours just to take care of her children. At one point she goes into a state of shock and depression because Yuniors father told her he was coming home to see them but he never showed up.
First of all, Wharton’s subtle action toward Ethan’s torn feelings for Mattie and being loyal to his wife. Ethan was unfortunate to have a choice in leaving his wife to be with Mattie but, tried a futile decision to both trying to do suicide. In the novel there were events in which Ethan was indecisive over rebelling against Zeena’s decision of firing Mattie. I was very compassionate toward Ethan when he heard that Mattie was being sent away as for his reaction was as said “now his one ray of light was to be extinguished”. The moments between Ethan and Zeena showed me how miserable he truly was and made me sympathize with him for their
There is no longer a reason to be angry. The irony of these two stories is in Ordinary People, a death tore the family apart, where in this story, it brought them together. When George dies, Sam completely realizes how much he loves him. He will do anything to keep his father alive, so he finishes the house. Sam’s loss lets him love, and appreciate the rest of his family even more.
After Gatsby asks Nick to help him get his love, Daisy, back. Nick agrees and tells Gatsby he is “going to call up Daisy tomorrow and invite her over” (Fitzgerald 87) to his house. This shows that Nick cares about Gatsby and Daisy and is willing to do whatever he can to help them be happy. Nick proves to be generous to Gatsby and Daisy’s feelings. Nick also shows that he is caring at Gatsby’s funeral when he tells Gatsby’s father that him and Gatsby “were close friends” (Fitzgerald 176).
And so, when George killed Lennie, he did it painlessly and with love. He made sure that Lennie was happy before he died. It was the best thing that he could do. The sacrifice he made by doing this was that he lost his best friend, and by his own hands. Throughout the book, other characters had spoken of the importance of having a companion and had suffered from loneliness because they did not have one.