Individuality_Versus_Community_in_Leslie_Marmon_Silko’S_Ceremony_and_Barbara_Kingsolver’S_Animal_Dreams

The role of the individual and their relationship with the community is an important thematic issue that is observed in the works of Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams. The authors deal with individuals who have been dislocated from the community that eventually saves them from disintegration. Structurally, both novels are very different despite setting their protagonists on a journey of self-discovery that takes them through the American Southwest using memory flashbacks and Native American Mythology. Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony uses the protagonist Tayo to tell his story but the narrative is disturbed by analepsis memories, initially when he is still ‘sick’; the narrative is also disrupted by Silko’s use of myth, both traditional Native American Myth and contemporary interpretations of the myth form. The Hummingbird myth is a continuous yet interrupted tale of a society who has been tricked into ignoring its own roots and has to make amends to the Mother Spirit before healing can begin. Nelson refers to this myth as the backbone of the story and how it acts like ‘trail markers’ for the reader (2001 p4) so the tale foreshadows Tayo’s story of damnation from his Native American roots by his family and himself. It is only his journey through the ceremony of purification that he connects with his roots and therefore begins to heal himself and his community. Silko allows two women, who are minor female characters, to assume the narrative. Night Swan takes up the narrative after we have been introduced to her via Josiah and the spotted cattle episode. She recounts her past through the story of her lover’s death and the power of the dance, here she gives an example of magic; perhaps there is a parallel to the Green Fly who has been introduced into the song narrative. Much later Helen-Jean takes over the narrative after Tayo has returned from his incomplete ceremony when Harley, Leroy and Helen-Jean pick him up on his way home and they all end up in a bar getting drunk. From her perspective we see another example that shows us of the degradation of an individual when she is separated from her community. Helen-Jean finds the ‘easy way’ of making money through prostitution, an evil side effect of the white society. Like Tayo in Ceremony, the protagonist of Animal Dreams undergoes a transformation through a journey. Codi journeys from a life she believes has always been dislocated, even while growing up in Grace. She cannot wait to escape and is constantly searching for her place in the world. It is not until she returns to her childhood home, sees the truth of her father and loses her beloved sister that she ultimately realises that her family community has always been there for her in her fifty mothers. Kingsolver uses a structure that tells the narrative from three perspectives. Codi, in first person, tells her story of isolation from all but her sister; while the distance of Homer’s third person narrative exemplifies his distance from his children, and his family community; and although Hallie is never met directly in the narrative her first person letters continue to develop a picture through images of the only member of the family who is connected to life, ironically while being the absent daughter/sister who is working out of the country in Nicaragua. Silko and Kingsolver deal with the dislocation of the individual from his or her community. In Ceremony we are clearly shown that the ‘Whites’, Rocky and Auntie tell Tayo to not believe in the stories that anchor the Native Americans firmly into their world. The schoolteachers and the doctors continually reinforce the message that it is all superstition and that science has an explanation for everything. “Rocky deliberately avoided the old-time ways…he called it superstition” (p51). Rocky too has become dislocated from his community, first by his change of name and plans to leave the reservation to attend college aided and abetted by his mother, the character referred to as Auntie. This dislocation ultimately leads to his death when he enlists in the army during World War Two and takes Tayo with him, who is left to suffer the guilt of loss and remorse resulting from Rocky’s death. Tayo’s Auntie has always treated him differently to her own son Rocky, as a consequence of his mixed blood. She didn’t really let Tayo learn the stories and ways of the Community of ‘the people’ (as Silko refers to them throughout the novel). Tayo has some knowledge of the ‘old ways’ (his instinctive use of pollen) and has had some teaching from Josiah, who told him praying “should be something he felt inside” (p93) and later from Robert. “The things he did seemed right, as he imagined with his heart the rituals the cloud priests performed during a drought” (p94). In Animal Dreams the theme of the individual versus the community is reflected in the isolation of both Codi and Doc Homer from their community, which is seen through the women, especially Doña Althea. When Homer marries the girls’ mother, he removes himself from his community because he feels his family is white trash. “We were a bad family… I became a man with no history” (p 287). However he returns and spends his life fulfilling a need in that community. Unfortunately, his choice to distance himself (always remembering his narrative is seen through third person) has an adverse affect on his daughter, Codi, as she never feels that she truly belongs anywhere, especially in Grace. It is not until she finds the photographs of herself and Hallie included amongst Homer’s great life work of documenting the phenomena of the eerie birth eye colour of children who have two parents native Grace descendants of the original Spanish sisters. “He was proving we belonged here, were as pure as anybody in Grace” (p284). As a contrast to Codi’s dislocation from her community, her sister Hallie seems to be able to join with all communities, hence her helping people on the Underground Railroad and subsequently her work in Nicaragua. Hallie and the protagonist, Codi had seemingly “grown up in different families” (p283). Hallie is actually living in a foreign country doing volunteer work and, due to her own connectedness to her communities and the world, is able to tell Codi “What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive” (p224). Finally, Codi realises that the difference between the two is that she had “spent a long time circling above the clouds, looking for life, while Hallie was living it” (p225). Native American mythology is an integral aspect of Ceremony and it also plays a significant role in Animal Dreams. The clan story of the Ck’o’yo, the gambler tricking the people into “neglecting their care of the corn fields and their devotion to the corn mother” (Irmer p2) fools the people with promises of ease and good things, is an obvious parallel to the lure of ‘white’ society with its promises of pleasure and good times; but for both groups it ultimately leads to their own destruction because of the Mother’s condemnation through drought and in today’s society with the condemnation of drugs, alcohol and loss of community culture. This story is the backbone to Silko’s narrative of Tayo and his redemption of both himself and his community (Nelson, 2001 p4). It is through Codi’s love interest, Loyd, we see the importance of the Native American point of view in Animal Dreams. Loyd, like Codi, is an outsider (due to his mixed race) in his community but he is accepted and loved by his family. He tells Codi, at a time when she is searching for meaning, of the Native American stories and beliefs and shows her the ceremonies of his people. He explains kachinas and balance and it gives her “a new angle on religion” (p240). Kingsolver shows us the importance of Native American stories as they give a different interpretation of world, earth and life. Both novels involve their protagonists doing battle to save their respective communities. Codi joins the fight, initially unwillingly, to save the town of Grace from extinction as the river is to be diverted because of pollution. According to Diefenbach, Kingsolver believes that salvation or “grace lies in having faith in the future and doing good deeds in the present, and both actions depend on memory” (2003, p1). So it is when Codi, despite her unwillingness, takes part in the Stich and Bitch Club’s successful drive to save the town, that she begins to relive her memories, most presenting her as a protector (Jacobs: 2003, p2) that enable her to connect with her lost community. Codi, or Cosima, finally lives up to her name of ‘Order in the Cosmos’ by creating order through coming to terms with her past through memories; her present with her relationships; and the saving of the town and hope for the future in her pregnancy (Jacobs: 2003, p2). Tayo also saves his community when he finally undergoes the ceremony of cleansing. The importance of the ceremony to Tayo and the community according to Betonie is that Tayo will also be redeeming the community. Here Silko is showing how all things must change, especially the contemporary ceremonies to cope with the increasing dislocation by the modern white world that is eroding the traditional ways of the Native American people. Betonie changes the ceremonies to make them work to deal with the changing world. “I have made changes in the rituals… but only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong” (p126). As Tayo fulfils all the aspects he realises that he must keep the stories safe from the destroyers who are embodied in the character of Emo with the torture and death of Harley. Tayo takes centre stage in the kiva (the traditional ceremonial room) and tells his story of his ceremony “Remember these stars… and the spotted cattle; I’ve seen a mountain and I’ve seen a woman” (p152). There are many similarities and differences between Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams. Both texts deal with characters who for various reasons have been separated from their communities and consequently suffered severely. As each protagonist undertakes a personal journey of self-discovery they both ultimately save their respective communities. Furthermore, both texts are set in the American Southwest and deal with Native Americans and their mythology to varying degrees. Total word count: 1743 Quotes: 154 words Therefore new total word count: 1589. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Craig, Maureen. “Personal and National Paternalism in Barbara Kingsolver’s Novels: A Literary Analysis” AT http://home.uchicago.edu/~mcraig/kingsolver.html Diefenbach, Tenley Bank. “Memory, Continuity, and Community in Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams” 2003 AT http://artisanitorium.thehydden.com/nonfiction/litcrit/Kingsolver.htm Irmer, Thomas. “An Interview with Leslie Marmon Silko” (Alt-X Berlin/Leipzig correspondent) AT http://www.altx.com/interviews/silko.html Jacobs, Naomi. “Barbara Kingsolver’s Anti-Western: ‘Unravelling the Myths’ in Animal Dreams” IN Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture (1900-present), Fall 2003, Volume 2, Issue 2. University of Maine. AT http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/fall_2003/jacobs.htm Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams. New York: Harper Collins, 1990. Lit Chat with Barbara Kingsolver, "I'm a horrible eavesdropper" pages 1 and 2 at http://www.salon.com/16dec1995/departments/litchat.html and http://www.salon.com/16dec1995/departments/litchat2.html Marx, Steven. “Notes on Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko.” English 346--Cal Poly San Luis Obispo--November 23 1999; updated November 24 2002 AT http://cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx/courses/346/Silko/Ceremon.html Nelson, Robert M. “Rewriting Ethnography: The Embedded Texts in Leslie Silko's Ceremony.” [This article appeared originally in Telling the Stories: Essays on American Indian Literatures and Cultures. Eds. Elizabeth Hoffman Nelson and Malcolm Nelson. New York: Peter Lang, 2001.  47-58.] AT http://www.richmond.edu/~rnelson/ethnography.html Rider, Shawn. “Interpretation Brings Us Closer Together: Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony and the Hermeneutic Circle.” 1999 AT http://www.wdog.com/rider/writings/silko.htm Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Penguin, (1977) 1986 Study Guide LCS33 American Literature, 2005, School of Arts, Media and Culture, Griffith University, Brisbane. Vianes, Jessica M. “American Paradoxes in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony” AT http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/218/projects/vianes/ceremony.vianes.htm