Leslie Nielsen

Most traditional stories are transmitted orally from one generation to another, thus there did not exist an identifiable storytellers being the authors of those stories (actually every storyteller could be one of the authors of the traditional stories). Meanwhile, the contemporary stories always have one claimed author to them in this all-rights-reserved modern society. Compared to the modern writers, who are entirely responsible for their stories, storytellers of the traditional stories seem to…

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…

After reading the book Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, it is clear to see that she had involved a lot of elements throughout this literature. Storytelling and witchery, which are two of the most important elements in the book, have helped people bond, made them suffer from their own believes, and illustrated how modern scientific knowledge eventually takes over traditions. Storytelling is a part of the Indians’ tradition. Different stories that explained why and how things are the ways they…

In Louise Erdrich’s enthralling novel Tracks, Pauline Puyat is a young woman of Chippewa and Canadian descent. Throughout the course of the story, it is abundantly clear that Pauline wishes nothing more than to shed her Native American culture. Instead of embracing her Chippewa roots, she wants be like her mother, “who showed her half-white”, and her grandfather, who was “pure Canadian” (Erdrich 14). While it is easy for the reader to assume that Pauline is willingly rejecting her Chippewa…

Much like Tayo, I’ve also had friends through the years that have brought out some not so great parts of me. Granted, my friends (as far as I know) haven’t tortured, maimed, or killed, any men, which unfortunately, isn’t something we can say about Tayo’s friends. Like Tayo’s friends, sometimes my friends drink too much, and sometimes they do stupid stuff with their cars. But unlike Tayo’s friends, my friends who do that are good friends and good people, which is not something I’m sure that Tayo…

Alcohol, in Leslie Marmon Silko’s, Ceremony, is used as a coping mechanism for veterans, while at the same time this substance brought to them by the white men is destroying the Native American community. Alcohol was previously alien to the Native American culture, and when brought over with such an abundance, so quickly, it was hard for the Natives to pace themselves as community. Furthermore, because alcoholism hit the Natives so quick, it was not likely that there were ceremonies were made to…

DREAMS VS REALITY "The yellow woman ." A short story written by Leslie Marmon Silko about a woman who meets a man while she was traveling along the river whom she believed was the "katsnia spirit" . The woman was told stories by her grandfather about a "yellow woman" who was taken by a spirit in the night , she lived with him until she was able to leave and return to her village . The young woman in the story is referred to by the man whom she believes to be is a spirit as "yellow…

¬¬ Leslie Marmon Silko’s book, Ceremony, expresses many issues faced by Native Americans, specifically the Laguna Pueblo people living in New Mexico during the 1940's. The central character, Tayo, a man with mixed ethnic heritage, survived being a soldier during World War II and suffered from post-traumatic syndrome. After Tayo falsely believes he observes his uncle’s death, the military releases him to his family's home on the Laguna reservation. He still suffers mentally, not getting cured…

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…

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…