Analysis Of Ceremony, By Leslie Marmon Silko
Although they come from two different worlds, Marji and Tayo learn, experience, and grow to become the people they are in the end of their novels. To become who they are, Tayo and Marji change their outlooks and perspectives. In Iran, Marji’s school taught her that God chose the leader of the country. Marji believed this throughout most of her childhood. Marji tells her father, “As for me, I love the king, he was chosen by God” Marji’s father tells her the story of how the British took an uneducated man and made him the dictator of Iran in exchange for some of the countries oil. He says, “And that’s how he became king and naturally his son succeeded him. God has nothing whatsoever to do with this story” (Satrapi 19-20). Growing up in
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Due to Marji living in Iran, which has very limited religious freedoms, she feels that she must conform to the country. However, Marji’s family is very progressive; this creates a confusion for her. Because she lives in Iran, and is taught in school that she must by Islamic, Marji has to face the internal struggle of choosing between her family and her country. Tayo goes through a similar struggle in the novel “Ceremony” by Leslie Marmon Silko. Tayo being of mixed race, is constantly ridiculed and treated as an outsider by both sides of his culture, the whites and the Native Americans. Throughout “Ceremony” Tayo and a few other Native Americans frequently go to the bar. During one night out at the bar, Tayo and Emo, another person living on the reservation, get into a fight. At the bar, Emo says about Tayo, “There he is. He thinks he’s something, alright. Because he’s part white. Don’t you, half-breed?” (Silko 52). One of tayo’s biggest struggles throughout the novel is coming to terms with himself as a person of mixed race. He is treated differently by people on the reservation and people like Emo use his race to try and bring him down. Much like Marji is at odd with herself having to choose between the ways of her family and the ways of her
Due to Marji living in Iran, which has very limited religious freedoms, she feels that she must conform to the country. However, Marji’s family is very progressive; this creates a confusion for her. Because she lives in Iran, and is taught in school that she must by Islamic, Marji has to face the internal struggle of choosing between her family and her country. Tayo goes through a similar struggle in the novel “Ceremony” by Leslie Marmon Silko. Tayo being of mixed race, is constantly ridiculed and treated as an outsider by both sides of his culture, the whites and the Native Americans. Throughout “Ceremony” Tayo and a few other Native Americans frequently go to the bar. During one night out at the bar, Tayo and Emo, another person living on the reservation, get into a fight. At the bar, Emo says about Tayo, “There he is. He thinks he’s something, alright. Because he’s part white. Don’t you, half-breed?” (Silko 52). One of tayo’s biggest struggles throughout the novel is coming to terms with himself as a person of mixed race. He is treated differently by people on the reservation and people like Emo use his race to try and bring him down. Much like Marji is at odd with herself having to choose between the ways of her family and the ways of her