Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko

 

More than thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing. Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. Ceremony is a novel by Leslie Marmon Silko that was first published in 1977.

Most of us have read “that book”: the book that changes the course of our life or changes our mind or our hearts. For me, one of these books is Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. I first read it in my sophomore year of college, and have been rereading it contemplatively ever since. For those who haven’t read it, it is difficult to explain exactly what gives this novel its incredible power… The language is gorgeous, but also gritty when it needs to be. The structure is non-traditional, interspersing oral poetry amidst a storyline that is cyclical, fragmented, and out of chronological order. The plot edges along the realm of the spiritual as well as the political, but really stays centered on the fate of one man, Tayo. The story is his ceremony of healing for an impossible wound, and in many ways he stands for much more than himself. In my eyes, every reading of this book is a ceremony of sorts, and it works on its readers in unique, spellbinding ways.

I could go on, but I think I’ve sufficiently conveyed my personal investment in this beautiful work of literature. So why do I bring it up now? Because I finally got to teach it for the first time this past semester! The decision to include Ceremony was an unexpected but strong compulsion—one that caused me to deviate from the original syllabus and made me require my students to buy the novel, since the school didn’t have copies. (This strategy is actually a good one in a pinch—used novels go for about one cent plus shipping on Amazon; since it was my last minute decision, I offered to cover costs for any students who legitimately couldn’t spare a few bucks.) That’s how bad I wanted to teach this book, and how convinced I was that this was the right time to teach it.

I did have some worries, though, as I contemplated how to present and teach the novel, which is so embedded in Pueblo culture, in a socially responsible way. Here’s a segment of an email I wrote to one of my former literature professors about my concerns:

I’m wondering about the sacred nature of so much that Silko weaves into her writing. I mean… “ceremony”, ritual, story… the whole thing is sacred. I guess I want to be able to help my students understand this culture that surrounds the narrative, this culture so foreign to their conservative, Christian, small town community. But I don’t feel qualified to do that in ways other than drawing from my own very basic knowledge or pointing them to (who knows what this even means:) internet resources. I fear presenting them with an oversimplifed charicature, which might actually be worse than leaving them completely in the dark. Especially since the Laguna are a very private cultural community, it seems intrusive as a non-member of their community to be spouting secondhand information about their religious beliefs in my classroom. At the same time, my students’ current knowledge of indigenous people is limited to Disney’s Pocahontas, superficial history textbooks,and (for some) local stereotypes about reservations. We’ve already been through Native Son, and other demanding texts dealing with cultural boundaries and the tension of power structures, so they’re used to me pushing on their worldviews. But Ceremony is new teaching territory for me. And I want to do it right.

My professor was kind enough to write me back, reassure me that my own respect for the story would likely translate, and recommend some resources, including “Special Problems in Teaching Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony” (Allen 1990) and a chapter from Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel (Owens 1994). I also scouted out a fantastic, illuminating article by Silko herself, “Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective” (1979). With these readings, I was able to figure out my teaching plan. Since I had a hard time locating any other high school teaching resources for Ceremony online, I figured I’d include some of the resources I created and approaches I used. Teaching this novel is a difficult but intensely rewarding process.

*My “Day One” presentation included information on the novel’s renown, the non-traditional structure of the book, connections to Laguna Pueblo culture, and some reminders about approaching indigenous writing. There is also an introductory discussion and writing activity at the end. [CEREMONYintro.]

Ceremony leslie marmon silko quotes

*I had students freewrite about sacred spaces (this could be anything from grandpa’s garage to a secluded lake bluff to a church altar) to help them understand Tayo’s connection to his homeland. After sharing our writing, we talked about what makes a place “sacred” and how we would feel if anyone ever vandalized or violated our sacred spaces.

*As students read each section, I expected them to interact with the story in a blend of analysis and personal response. I created a response guide [ceremonyresponsequestions] to help them come prepared with writing for discussion. This helped immensely, as they came prepared to offer a variety of ideas in the discussions we had in class each day. I tried to stay as hands-off as possible, and my students generated many unique responses. [Click here for some samples of their response writing.]

*When it made sense, I shared segments of the scholarly articles mentioned above to help students understand why the book is written the way it is, and to enhance their understanding of the book’s cultural foundation.

*We did some drawing to help envision and talk about scenes. A very successful application of this was a sketch of Betonie’s cabin. This is a striking and important setting, and the things students included in their drawings helped them decode what could have been dismissed as a crazy man’s junk collection.

*We wrote an informal literary/comparative analysis of the lyrics to “The Humbling River” by Pucifer, interpreting and connecting the speaker’s struggles and realizations to those of Tayo. I provided the lyrics and played the song for my students while they wrote. Check out this gorgeous, haunting song. (However, fair warning: much of their other material is explicit. Tread carefully.)

While I have much to add and develop as far as this unit is concerned, many of my students came away with a love for the novel. This student’s writing shows one of the overall reactions that make me feel like I at least did partial justice to Ceremony, one of “those books:”

One of the most important or the most powerful messages that I got from Ceremony was about the interaction of the world. There are different levels, different worlds that all blend together, influencing the other worlds. These worlds involve the past, present, and future, the land, history, people, animals, witchery, love and so much more, but they are all circling and whirling around at the same time. When they are out of balance, there’s grief, almost like the nausea that Tayo experiences. Balance is achieved when these worlds align. The cycle continues in a circle, over and over, like the star picture in the book! This culture’s view of an individual as a part of the world rather than as a separate, detached being is striking.

Thank you, Leslie Marmon Silko, for your gift to us. If any other teachers out there have awesome ideas for teaching this novel, please leave us your ideas in the comments!

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko Characters

Returning home to the Laguna Pueblo reservation from WorldWar II, via a Veteran's Hospital, Tayo must find a way to cure himselfof his mental anguish, and to bring the rain back to his community. Combiningprose and poetry, Ceremony interweaves the individual storyof Tayo and the collective story of his people. As Tayo's journeyunfolds, it is paralleled by poems telling old stories.

The trauma of thinking he saw his uncle Josiah's faceamong a crowd of Japanese soldiers he was ordered to shoot, andthen of watching his cousin Rocky die, drove Tayo out of his mind.A period of time in a Veterans' Hospital gets him well enough toreturn to his home, with his Grandmother, his Auntie, and her husbandRobert. This is the family unit that raised him after his mother,who had conceived him with an unknown white man, left him for goodat the age of four. In his family's home Tayo faces not only theirdisappointment at the loss of Rocky, but also his continued grievingover his favorite uncle Josiah's death. He also contends with hisguilt over a prayer against the rain he uttered in the forests ofthe Philippines, which he thinks is responsible for the six-yeardrought on the reservation.

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko Quotes

As he slowly recuperates, Tayo realizes that he is notalone. His childhood friends Harley, Leroy, Emo, and Pinkie whoalso fought in the war contend with similar post-traumatic stress,self-medicating with alcohol. The company is little comfort. Hisold friends spend their drunken hours reminiscing about how greatthe war was and how much respect they got while they were in uniform.These stories only make Tayo think about the tremendous discrimination theNative Americans face at the hands of the whites, whom they nonethelessseem to admire, and he is even more saddened and infuriated. Justas Tayo begins to give up hope and to wish he could return to theVA hospital, his grandmother calls in the medicine man, Ku'oosh.Ku'oosh performs for Tayo a ceremony for warriors who have killedin battle, but both Ku'oosh and Tayo fear that the ancient ceremoniesare not applicable to this new situation.

Tayo is helped but not cured by Ku'oosh's ceremony. Itprompts him to consider his childhood, especially the summer beforehe left for the army. Although Auntie did her best to keep the twoboys separate, Tayo and Rocky became close friends, and the summerafter they graduated from high school, they enlisted in the armytogether. That summer, Josiah fell in love with Night Swan, a Mexican womanwho lived just outside the reservation. At her urging, he investedin a herd of Mexican cattle, which Tayo helped him to care for.As so often happens, there is a drought that summer. Having heardthe old stories of how droughts are ended, Tayo goes to a springand invents a rain ceremony. The following day it rains. In additionto helping the crops and the cattle, the rain keeps Josiah fromvisiting Night Swan. He asks Tayo to bring her a note. Tayo deliversthe note, and in the process is seduced by Night Swan.

Realizing that his ceremony has not been enough for Tayo, Ku'ooshsends him to the nearby town of Gallup to see another medicine man,Betonie, who knows more about the problems incurred by the contactbetween Native American and white cultures. Although he is skepticalof Betonie's strange ways and especially high connection with thewhite world, Tayo tells him of his what is troubling him. Betonielistens and explains that they must invent and complete a new ceremony.Tayo accepts. Betonie tells Tayo stores of the old ceremonies ashe performs them. Then Betonie tells Tayo stories of his grandfather,Descheeny, and the beginning of the creation of a new ceremony tostop the destruction the whites, an invention of Native Americanwitchery, are wreaking on the world.

Betonie sends Tayo back home, reminding him that the ceremonyis still far from complete. When he meets Harley and Leroy on theway home, Tayo slips back into their lifestyle for a moment, but soonmoves on, heeding the signs Betonie told him of as he searches forJosiah's cattle. Tayo follows the stars to a woman's house. After spendinga night with the woman, Ts'eh, Tayo heads up into the mountains.He finds Josiah's cattle fenced into a white man's pasture. WhileTayo breaks into the pasture, the cattle run off to its far reaches,and Tayo spends all night looking for them. As dawn approaches,Tayo is about to give up when a mountain lion comes up to him. Tayohonors the mountain lion, and follows its tracks to the cattle.Just as he herds the cattle out of the pasture, two white patrolmenfind Tayo. Not realizing that the cattle are missing, but knowingTayo has trespassed, the patrolmen arrest Tayo. Before they canbring him to town, however, they notice the mountain lion tracksand let Tayo go in order to hunt it. As Tayo heads out, it beginsto snow. Tayo knows this will cover the tracks of his cattle andof the mountain lion, making the patrolmens' efforts fruitless. Onthe way down the mountain, Tayo meets a hunter, who lives with Ts'eh.When they arrive back at her house, she has corralled Tayo's cattle,which she keeps until Tayo and Robert return with a cattle truckto gather them up.

Returning home with Josiah's cattle, Tayo feels cured.However, the drought persists, and Tayo knows the ceremony is notcomplete. He goes to the family's ranch with the cattle, where hefinds Ts'eh . They spend the summer together, but as it draws toan end Robert visits and warns Tayo that Emo has been spreadingrumors about him. Shortly thereafter, Ts'eh tells Tayo that Emoand the white police are coming after him. Before she leaves, shetells Tayo how to avoid capture.

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko Audio

Following Ts'eh's instructions, Tayo easily evades thewhite police. Still running from Emo, he meets Harley and Leroy.Almost too late, Tayo realizes that Harley and Leroy have joinedforces with Emo. Running again, Tayo finds himself in an abandoneduranium mine. As he looks at the gaping hole left in the earth,Tayo realizes that this is the last station of his ceremony, theone where he incorporates an element of white culture, the mine.All he has to do is to spend the night there and the ceremony willbe complete. Soon Emo and Pinkie arrive. From a hiding place, Tayomust watch them torture Harley to death, and restrain himself fromkilling Emo in order to save Harley. With the help of the wind,Tayo survives the night. He returns home and goes back to Ku'oosh.After hearing all about Tayo's ceremony, Ku'oosh pronounces thatTs'eh was in fact A'moo'ooh, who has given her blessings to Tayoand his ceremony; the drought is ended and the destruction of thewhites is stopped. Tayo spends one last night in Ku'oosh's houseto finish off the ceremony, and then he returns home.