Sensory Descriptions In Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony

In Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko uses sensory descriptions to place the reader in better understanding of the story. Silko demonstrates all types of descriptive writing to appeal to taste, smell, sight, touch, and sound. Even for the smallest of events, she has showcased many exceptional examples and descriptions for the reader to sink into. Her use of adjectives and sentence structure to carry the tone of the situations, as well with her excessive use of describing the various senses, make a remarkably interesting novel. The most difficult descriptions to make up in the literature include taste and smell. Silko uses these senses to a rather extraordinary extent, seeming to use the two at any given chance in the writing, whether it be indoors …show more content…
The author uses descriptions like this to help set the overall tone of the scene, whether the character presented happens to be serious or comical in the situation. It also should be considered, that sound is best used when tied in with another action or description, “Someone was yelling, someone was shaking him out of the tall tree he was in(page 167).” This description shows panic, and a sizable concern for the situation. When sounds occur in both novels, and real life, something happens to cause it, whether it be a person, or an inanimate object, it came out for a reason. People express their emotions to make a point, and Emo shows his disliking for Tayo towards the beginning of the novel with hateful remarks and insults with the fact that he(Tayo) is a native/white mixed individual. Leslie Marmon Silko demonstrates astonishing descriptions for the novel, by not only comparing the scenes with themes that the reader could relate to, but she also paints an elaborate picture for the reader to comprehend the moment. This being said, one may definitely consider Silko’s writing as an exceptional example for demonstrating extraordinary examples sensory descriptions in literature.