Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko follows a Native American war veteran named Tayo on his pilgrimage to rediscover his place in the world while suffering from battle fatigue. Battle fatigue, presently known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, creates various challenges for Tayo at each point of re-entry. He suffers with bouts of sickness and physical detachment while flashbacks of his encounters with violence flood into his consciousness. Because of these episodes, Tayo loses his sense of identity and connection to his environment: oikos. Overcome by isolation, Tayo is encouraged to seek help from medical professionals. After little success with the first medicine man Ku’oosh, Tayo visits Betonie in his hometown of Gallup. In a series of mixed
…show more content…
Silko describes the town of Gallup as a dangerous place after dark but ‘interesting, even funny if you were just passing through’ (pg.99). It is clear early in the narrative that Gallup is not a good place to spend much time at all, especially not in your formative years. But for young Tayo, Gallup was home and it was where he learned how to live in the world. In a sequence of learned behaviors, we are given context for how long Tayo has been living in survival mode. Some examples include learning ‘how to avoid fists and feet’ and ‘to stand at a distance’ from his mother, ‘to see if she would throw them food’(pg.100). Through Tayo’s first encounters with suffering, we can begin to notice patterns in his struggles to find security in the present. Along with these learned behaviors for his own survival, he was faced with external violence that tainted his experience of home. Tayo recalls watching a woman who he was neighbors with under a bridge, carrying bloody rags into nearby hills. Having spent the night listening to close cries, he went to find the site where she buried the rags in yellow
Silko describes the town of Gallup as a dangerous place after dark but ‘interesting, even funny if you were just passing through’ (pg.99). It is clear early in the narrative that Gallup is not a good place to spend much time at all, especially not in your formative years. But for young Tayo, Gallup was home and it was where he learned how to live in the world. In a sequence of learned behaviors, we are given context for how long Tayo has been living in survival mode. Some examples include learning ‘how to avoid fists and feet’ and ‘to stand at a distance’ from his mother, ‘to see if she would throw them food’(pg.100). Through Tayo’s first encounters with suffering, we can begin to notice patterns in his struggles to find security in the present. Along with these learned behaviors for his own survival, he was faced with external violence that tainted his experience of home. Tayo recalls watching a woman who he was neighbors with under a bridge, carrying bloody rags into nearby hills. Having spent the night listening to close cries, he went to find the site where she buried the rags in yellow