Ceremony Tayo, By Leslie Marmon Silko

In Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony Tayo suffers from PTSD after he serves in a American War. Tayo only decides to sign up for the army because his brother Rocky decides to join, Rocky is later killed in the war right in front of Tayo. Tayo later goes through many different ceremonies and finally comes up with his own in hopes to cure his culture and the world. Tayo rebels with white culture many times when he does these ceremonies after he gets out of the hospital, the white people think they are crazy and believe in witchcraft. The ceremonies conflict with white culture and Indian culture and create rebellion because it's more belief based.

At the beginning of the book when Tayo comes back from the war and is home, his Grandma suggests a medicine man but Auntie says “You know how they are.You know what some people say if we ask for a medicine man to help him. Someone will say it's not right. They'll say, Don’t do it.”(Silko 30) This shows that Indians are not completely sold on getting a medicine man, as a matter of fact they think it's wrong and has no place in their society. They disagree for the same reason the white people disagree with it, they consider it to be too belief based and not in touch with modern society. Even if a medicine man is used, they do the same ceremonies that have been used for hundreds of years so some …show more content…
You can tell he is confused because Ku’oosh will say something and he will kind of act like he is focusing on something else such as all the old stuff lying around. Tayo was also nervous as it says “Tayo could hear his own pulse sound in his ears.He wasn't sure what the old man was talking about, but he had an idea.”(Silko 112) Obviously he was nervous because of going but he wasn’t very optimistic either because the white people couldn't so how would the traditional old man cure