Holm Silko's Ceremony

Holm discusses literary nationalism within the Indian literature. It operates on several different levels to include political aesthetics, advocating for rights, signals responsibility, and even engagement. Tayo likewise takes on this form of literary style by interacting with the oral tradition and even creating his own contemporary stories. Narratives of the Natives like the Laguna are to readdresses issues as well as represent the original Indigenous land claims. Ceremony forms this strong component of political unrest and exposes the strong Indian nationalism. Silko reveals the conflicts dealing with the “Americanness” citizenship as well as assimilation into the very culture that tries to erase their history and take their land. Holm …show more content…
The soldiers would never be truly accepted by the white soldiers because of their native origins. The communities they left behind to go fight in the U.S. government’s war would never fully understand these soldiers’ choice to leave and abandon their native community. The novel Ceremony reflects the Indian identity crisis with the landscape on which they reside. With this conflict of identity comes some sort of compromise between the America liberal ideology and tribal loyalty. This assimilation into the American society over their own cultural heritage has left devastating effects on the intangible aspects of their original identity. What drew them in was the promise of economic gain as well as individual expression. But these expectations were not met upon returning as veterans. Instead they are met with depressed reservation economies and an increasing number of unemployment. Holm analyzes Silko’s novel as critiquing the Laguna tribe becoming involved with capitalism. Characters within the novel must make a choice about assimilating into the contemporary culture of the U.S. With assimilation, there is an opportunity for economic advancement and social …show more content…
He becomes aware of the violence that has taken place before and is even apart of it. He becomes angry and bitter until he meets Betonie and his different perspective of the land. Betonie rejects the white narrative of history and ownership of property. Betonie helps Tayo confront the lies that were not only told to him, but also the many Indian tribe before. He takes away the notion of ownership on the part of people, and insists that the people belong to the land. Holm believes this connection is a crucial part of the novel and for the Indian identity. Tayo comes to the realization that even though the whites have taken everything, it is the Indians’ responsibility and duty to assure its return. The encounter with Betonie and new insight that came along helped Tayo develop a political mindset of the events. This new perspective did instigate an anger within him, but he was able to convert this anger into a subversive geographic narrative instead of violence, like before. Tayo uses walking as a form of writing in which he starts a dialectc between his feet and the land. He takes this time to reflect and remember, self- remember, and place-remember. Through his walking through the Indian land Tayo symbolically reclaims the lands and ignores the legal settler boundaries. Holm believes that Ceremony offers a critical discourse about land and the material issues of