Sandia Pueblo

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…

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…

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…

“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,…

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…

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’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…

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 speech uses a number of Pueblo influences: written and…

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…