Laguna Pueblo

Leslie Marmon Silko novels, Ceremony and Storyteller, both use figurative language and point of view in order to express her culture in a way the readers may understand. Although both novels are alike, they differ through the structure and format of the novels - storytelling and nonlinear narrative. In “Ceremony” Silko use of images center Laguna life and Native American culture, while “Storyteller” is structured through short stories of Laguna people. Both texts explore the similarities of culture, with one story representing oral traditions and ceremonial practices of the Navajo and Pueblo people, and the other communicating Native American notions regarding storytelling- exploring tribal traditions. Also, Silko uses figurative language and…

Ceremony with a Postmodern Twist Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony provides a glimpse into the life of one half Laguna/half white man’s life and his search for identity before, during, and after World War II. Tayo, the protagonist, remembers something of life with his Laguna mother and knows nothing about his white father. He was raised by his mother’s family, attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, fought in World War II as a member of the US Army, was treated for battle fatigue in a…

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a story about reconstruction, redemption, and the salvation of oneself and world. The mixed narrative of prose and poems follows the recovery of Tayo, a Native American man who returns home to the Laguna Pueblo reservation after fighting in World War II riddled with PTSD and hatred towards the outside world. Tayo 's struggles represent the struggles of the clashing of Native American and White culture both in physical space and within people, as Tayo represents…

Leslie Marmon Silko begins the text by describing her difference. Silko then uses this difference as the groundwork for the rest of the text, describing how differences are viewed in the Laguna culture, followed by stories on Yellow Woman and what makes her beautiful. Silko bases the entire text around difference, surrounded by details of beauty and her culture as backing, creating a sense of resolution. In the beginning of the text, Silko states “From the time I was a small child, I…

Leslie Marmon Silko has an enormous garden. It was started at her home in the Laguna Pueblo reservation, and took root in the desert there. While, like all the other Laguna families there, her home did have a vegetable garden and some flowers to add splashes of lively color, when Silko would come to grow her own garden, it would be planted with words instead of seeds. Nourished by sun-warmed sand and supported by the spirits of her ancestors, Silko’s words would grow, never to be cropped short…

of the Indians, and now they are suffering from this witchery because they have been taking apart the Indians. Storytelling has been taking apart the Indians, too. Since The Indians believe that their Indian Witchery created the white people, now the Indian descendants have to pay for what their own people had done in the past. Witchery “works to scare people” (116): when one of the witches created the white people, the witch said that the white people “will turn on each other, (and) they will…

Much of the story does follow Tayo’s life, but it also follows the journey of the Laguna people as a whole, and more generally, the Native American experience. Multiple characters in the book discuss the importance of Tayo in an interesting way. It’s not so much that Tayo himself is an individual that’s any more important than any other, Tayo is important because of what he represents. Ku’oosh and the others are so interested in hearing Tayo’s story because it’s a story of redemption, an…

“Lullaby” is one of Leslie Marmon Silko’s most noted pieces out of her collection of short stories in her book “Storyteller.” In this short story, it starts off with an old woman named Ayah, who is reminiscing on life experiences. Silko writes the story as if it were told from a storyteller, just as the Natives shared stories amongst each other in order to heal and transform the experience of loss in both personal and culture. (Taibl) With storytelling, Silko includes Native American culture,…

In Storyteller, Silko emphasizes the concept of human nature through the usage of register, spacing, and semantic choices in an effort to help the reader gain a clear understanding of people and their instincts. The marxist lens shows how Silko employs purposeful spacing and analogies to highlight the innate temporal instinct that humans ultimately possess and how that leads to direct consequences. In Silko’s story regarding the Ck’o’yo medicine man (105-113), she employs poetry style writing…

Leslie Marmon Silko states her view on the significance of oral tradition in the Pueblo community. Silko begins her written speech by saying, “The words most highly valued are those spoken from the heart, unpremeditated and unrehearsed,” (467). Storytelling lies at the heart of Pueblo culture, for it brings their heritage together no matter the time or distance (Silko 470, 479). Pueblo oral tradition differentiates from English writing; oral tradition challenges academic writing. Silko’s written…