Ceremony

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko writes of a torn character, Tayo, in her book Ceremony. Her character, Tayo is stuck between the two cultures he is a part of. This becomes a main theme of the book and there is even a parallel between the structure of the book and this theme. Tayo is of mixed blood, a living dichotomy. He is half Native American half white, and because of this both Native Americans and whites alienate him. Emo shows disgust for Tayo when he says, “There he is. He thinks he’s something all right. Because he’s part white. Don’t you, half-breed' (57)” The discrimination that Tayo as well as the rest of the Laguna people receive also becomes apparent when Tayo mentions to his friends, “Don’t lie. You knew right away. The war was over, the uniform was gone. All of a sudden the man at the store waits on you last, makes you wait until all the white people bought what they wanted.(42)” The fact that he does not belong in either world further impacts his ability to come to terms with the deaths of Rocky and Josiah. ceremony, tayo, white, world, old, native, laguna, both, silko, prose, poetry, book, because, american, ways, tayo’s, struggle, similar, person, parallel, own, modern, mixed, man, little, ku’oosh’s, half, find, character, between, becomes, writes, without, warfare, vehicle