Ceremony Paper Essay Research Paper In the

Ceremony Paper Essay, Research Paper

In the novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, we see how Tayo(the main character) a half breed being half Indian and half White appreciatesand accepts his Indians roots more than the full breed Indians that have gone tothe war as well as his Aunt. It is ironic how a person like Tayo is not accepted byeither cultures, but at the same time he wants to be a part of his Indian culturewhile people like his cousin Rocky, his aunt, and the other Indian veterans wantto be a part of what they believe is a “superior” culture, the white culture. Dueto Tayo not being accepted by either culture he is as well forced to isolatehimself specially from The Indian culture and is unable to deal with his emotionsand problems that he was faced with because no one, such as his aunt hadmade it evident since his youth that he was not part of the family and thereforemust learn by himself how to deal with his problems. Since Tayo was born he was looked down upon just because of themere fact that his mother slept with white men. Ever since he was young andlived with his mother’s family members, his aunt made sure that he realize thatfor her as well as the other Indians he will always be looked at as an outsidereven amongst his own family members. It was a private understanding between the two of them. When Josiah or old Grandma or Robert was there, the agreement was suspended, and she pretended to treat him the same as she treated Rocky, but they both knew it was only temporary…. She was careful that Rocky did not share these things with Tayo, that they kept a distance between themselves and him. But she would not let Tayo go outside or play in another room alone. She wanted him close enough to feel excluded..(67) This however did not affect the relationship between his cousinRocky who he learned to love as a brother and his uncle Josiah and hisGrandma. The only person who saw Tayo as a disgrace to the family was hisaunt and she felt that because of this now she had to work harder to show therest of the community that she was a good aunt and that she had to deal withmuch suffering. . The reasons behind why she feels ashamed of her sister and hernephew is rather ironic however.. She feels ashamed because her sister waswith a white man and had a white man’s child, but at the same time she wantsher son Rocky to be part of that White society that she has looked down upon inTayo. Rocky, who is a full breed Indian, does not believe in and is ashamed ofhis culture. He sees his culture as old fashion and superstitious. He believes inthe white man’s answers to the questions that life brings up. He turns to thesciences and a white man’s logic to find answers to his questions and looksdown upon Medicine Men like Ku’oosh who are very wise and have the answersthat he is looking for. Those books are written by scientist. They know everything there is to know about beef cattle. That’s the trouble with the way the people around here have always done things-they never knew what they were doing.” (76)The only one that can be blamed for this is Tayo’s aunt. She has always wantedher son to succeed in the white man’s society and if it meant forgetting aboutyour culture then that should be the way. She wanted him to be a success. She could see what white people wanted in an Indian, and she believed this way was his only chance. She saw it as her only chance too, after all the village gossip about their family. When Rocky was a success, no one would dare to say anything against them anymore. (51)The aunt did not understand what it was that she was actually acuring by lettingher son forget about his own culture and embrace a culture in which he doesnot belong to. Even if he did embrace that culture and would live amongst thewhite people, he would have never been looked as a part of their society, butas an outcast like Tayo. These, however, were not the only people that thought the sameway. The Indian men who Tayo and Rocky fought along with in the war also hadsomewhat of the same thinking pattern. While they were U.S. Marines in theiruniforms they were given respect. However, the respect that they were given,was not because they were Indians who were wearing uniforms, but becausethey were soldiers and therefore they were the same as any other White manfighting in the same war. The were saluted and thought of as brave and whenthey went to bars or to the stores they were given respect and they were looked upon as soldiers fighting the “White” man’s war. “White women never looked atme until I put on that uniform, and then by God I was a U.S. Marine and theycame crowding around… ” (40) That was everything that they have ever wantedfrom these white people. The truth hit them when they returned from the war and they were

once again treated as Indians. Soldiers like Emo and Harley bought into thatfake ideal world that the white people were putting in front of them. In realitythough, the white people did not care for making these Indians a part of them. What they cared about was the fact that these were people that were buying intothere “fighting for their country” slogans. ” ‘Anyone can fight for America,’ hebegan, giving special emphasis to ‘America,’ ‘even you boys in a time of need, anyone can fight for her.’ ” (64) It was very subtle, but what this quote comesright down and says is the fact that when these white people need help, theneveryone is part of “America” and everyone is equal. People