Preview

The Whiteness of Ceremony

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
632 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Whiteness of Ceremony
Scott Smith
Professor Barrett
World Liturature
8 November 2008 The Whiteness of Ceremony Throughout Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, there is a constant reminder of the “whiteness“ surrounding the Laguna Pueblos. Through this reminder, Silko proves that the Native Americans gain nothing but pain and sadness from this “whiteness.” The whiteness looms over the Pueblos like clouds over the plains. The “whiteness” shown in Ceremony is represented by the white smoke, the white people, and the white man’s war, are all symbols of the sense of nothingness. The first example of “whiteness” is illustrated by Tayo, a half-breed Pueblo Indian and the protagonist of the novel, who was “mentally damaged after his time in the white man’s war” (Cutchins 77). His experiences left him unable to think clearly, and he kept flashing back to his experiences in the war. He was highly medicated at the veteran’s hospital. His thoughts were scattered into white smoke. The doctors had him heavily medicated for a while; “For a long time he had been white smoke” (Silko 13). The white smoke symbolizes nothingness “because white smoke had no consciousness” (Silko 13). His thoughts were white smoke. His body was white smoke. White smoke was nothing. He was nothing. The perfect example of white smoke and the nothingness that it embodies. The white people themselves brought nothing but shame and misfortune to the Pueblos. Tayo’s half-blooded heritage brought shame to his family; “Since he (Tayo) could remember, he had known Auntie’s shame for what his mother had done, and Auntie’s shame for him” (Silko 52-53). White people would have meaningless sex that brought dishonor and shame. Tayo’s mother was a victim of this shame and because of it, her fellow Pueblos viewed her as nothing. One morning she stayed out until sunrise and came home completely naked except for her high heeled shoes and her purse



Cited: Carter, Nancy Carson. “Spider Woman as Healer: Donna Henes’s Dressing Our Wounds in Warm Clothes and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony.” Mythosphere. 1 (1999): 282-303. Cutchins, Dennis. “’So That the Nations May Become Genuine Indians‘ Nativism and Leslie Marmon Silko‘s Ceremony.” Journal of American Culture 22. 4 (1999): 77-89. 4 October 2007. Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony 30th Anniversary Edition. New York: Penguin books, 2006

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away gives an in-depth history of the Pueblo Indians before and after the Spanish conquest. It describes the forced changes the Spanish brought to the Indians, and also the changes brought to the Spaniards who came to “civilize” the Indians. The author's thesis is that the Pueblo Indians and other Indians were treated cruelly by the Spanish, who justified their crime by claiming they were civilizing an uncivilized nation, by changing their way of culture, social standing, marriage and sexuality practices to what the Spaniards deemed as correct. The Spaniards refused to acknowledge the Indian's culture as culture and set out to forcibly change the Indians. Even while the Spaniards themselves were influenced by the Indian way of life, the Indians continually suffered under the Spanish rule.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thesis: Modern Native American traditions reflect the history of struggle, strife and triumph they experienced in history.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Silko’s novel, Ceremony, depicts the struggles of an individual who is seen as the “different” one. Tayo’s mother has been shunned by her community for deciding to interact with the White population that had dehumanized and took advantage of the First Nations. It is noted in the book that the Laguna community has suffered harm, and pain because of Tayo’s mother’s mistake which results in the community perceiving her as the outcast.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Walia, Shelley. "The Heart of Whiteness." Free Book Reviews | Book Summaries | Shvoong - Summaries & Reviews. 19 Nov. 2007. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. <http://www.shvoong.com/humanities/1708546-heart-whiteness/>.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Leslie Marmon Silko’s story entitled The Man to Send Rain Clouds describes a funeral service carried out by a Native American Pueblo family. Though many perceive the funeral service narrated in this story to be lacking in emotion and also lacking respect for the passing of their loved one, it portrays a ceremony that is quite common for the Native American communities. There is also a hint of conflict occurring between the characters in the story that are carrying out their traditions while including an outside religious figure in the ceremony.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dorothy Lee

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the western culture of today's society, we strongly stress the respect for other people's decision and the freedom for individual thought and belief, yet we are so accustomed to constantly judge and attempt to control others if their opinions or manners are not in an accordance with ours. Dorothy Lee is an anthropologist who studies and compares the western culture and the culture of the Navaho Indians. Through many aspects of this society she provides insight and alternative approaches into problems we experience from examining a culture that values freedom as something sacred, where individual autonomy is supported by the entire community and not subjected to age or gender. Simply put, the cultural framework of the Navaho Indians is the prospective goal of what the western society attempts to strive and achieve.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Elk Speaks

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The author was just describing the day-to-day life with all the rituals and traditions it did portray the feeling they had towards the whites. This book…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ceremony: A Monomyth

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is about the hardships faced by Tayo, a returned Native American World War Ⅱ Veteran. Tayo struggles throughout the novel to ascertain a resolution to the internal pandemonium he experiences in the form of battle fatigue. The story exhibits the stages of the Monomyth: a protagonist's quest in relation to culture and self growth. Tayo experiences all three stages of a monomyth; the departure, the initiation, and the return that are all constitutive fragments that make up one whole.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Twentieth-century American fiction firmly locates narrative in the individual consciousness. Yet it also presents an image of the self struggling for autonomy and meaning against the bonds of history or the emptiness of the present.…

    • 3511 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In modern world, humans looked at as a certain race, color, physical appearance, social status, wealth etc. Now a day if someone gets a cosmetic surgery to obtain "beautiful" face or body, they no longer try to hide it nor shy to discuss it. On the other hand, Pueblo culture celebrated the differences in physical appended and even comparing one to another considered silly. In Pueblo culture, being unique was considered as blessing.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author starts off the story with “From the time was a small child, I was aware that I was different” (Page 60) stating that there is a problem and introduces the reader to it. Silko shows how the integration of the White people and Laguna Pueblo people lead to her difference as she’s half White and half Laguna. She spent a majority of her childhood with Grandma A’mooh nearly everyday because they lived next to each other. “”Not you,” he said and motioned for me to step away from my classmates.”(Page 63) is a scenario where Silko is treated as an outcast, different from her friends because she was different. She was ordered to move away from her friends based off her complexion and…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Roma and Julie: Indians in Duality” by Barney Bush and “Looking for Hiawatha” by Andrew Connors are two short stories selected from “Blue Dawn, Red Earth,” a collection of contemporary Native Indians literatures (Trafzer). Bush is a Shawnee who grew up in Karber’s Ridge in Hardin County, Illinois (Bush). Connors is a Bad River Ojibwe from Wisconsin (Trafzer). In both of these stories, the theme of Western cultural colonization in Native American culture is very conspicuous. Bush and Connors are likely referring to the titles of the stories, “Roma and Julie: Indians in Duality” to “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Looking for Hiawatha” to “Song of Hiawatha”. The former is an English classic Western written by William Shakespeare. The latter is written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a famous white American poet (Maine Historical Society). The authors deliberately chose the titles to represent the cultural oppression from the Western colonialists. In addition, readers may experience the idea about the cultural conflict between Native Americans and the white people throughout the stories. In order to illustrate the oppression of Western culture in the stories, the article would compare and contrast the cultural conflicts from a Marxist’s conflict perspective. In addition, the paper would analyze the literature elements such as the characterization and style of the stories and how they related to the main idea of the stories.…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Navajo Indians

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this essay I hope to educate some of the people that read it about the economic struggles that the Navajo tribe has endured, because of the white men laws and the government being thoughtless. The Navajo have been uprooted and placed on reservations; where the government wanted them.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once More to the Lake

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The imagery White uses in his essay mirrors poetry. He makes a very strong point with the painting of his statement. For example, when speaking of his imagery of the lake; “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot—the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” he paints a picture. Once again, when reflecting how beautiful the mornings were; “The lake was cool and motionless, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and the wet woods whose scent entered through the screen”. Very valid details and descriptions are made when he reflects. This is great. All great authors should make very detailed descriptions when stating or telling something that they really want the reader to capture. White actually takes you to where or what he is talking about.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story “An Indian Father’s Plea”, the story shows how culture is oftenly affecting how one views others and the world by showing what Wind-Wolf did as a child before he went to school. For example, throughout the story, the father of Wind-Wolf shares to his teacher what Wind-Wolf was exposed to as a child, “. Because of this, Wind-Wolf’s educational setting was not only a “secure” environment, but it was also very colorful, complicated, sensitive, and diverse.” This can show that the child is exposed to his Native-American culture and later in the story, the father talks what the child does spiritually with his mother and what he experienced in his tribe. “Wind-Wolf was with his mother in South Dakota while she danced for seven days straight…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays