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Ceremony By Leslie Silko Ceremony Analysis

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In the novel Ceremony by Leslie Silko, the main character, Tayo, shows apparent madness as he suffers from PTSD due to fighting in World War II. Madness can be defined as mental delusion or the behavior arising from it. The delusions that result of Tayo’s madness, hallucinations of important people he has lost and frequent flashbacks of the worst parts of the war, occur in a reasonable manner because it is common for people to be affected by war in such a negative way and fail to understand what is truly real. The product of Tayo’s madness gives truth to the fact that if one holds on to someone or something for too long, it is impossible to move on in a positive direction.
Tayo’s madness is shown in how he experiences and is impacted from …show more content…

Furthermore, Tayo’s issue with differentiating reality from his hallucinations was a great contribution to Tayo going mad as that would distort all of his actions and thoughts. After going through all of the scarring events he did in the war, it would be reasonable to suffer from PTSD and have the loss of his uncle weigh him down even more. Holding onto Josiah for so long after his death only brought greater misfortune to Tayo’s mental well-being, as he would not allow himself to move on. Tayo was unable to effectively move past the harder parts of his life because he hung on so tight to the idea of Josiah. The inability for Tayo to move on from Uncle Josiah’s death ultimately brought upon hallucinations that considered him to have gone mad.
Another instance that brings about Tayo’s madness is his flashbacks to difficult and demanding events of the war that end up being the reason behind his unhealthy thoughts of the present. For example, Tayo has a major flashback where his cousin, Rocky, who he was close to, gets shot at a point in the course of the war and Tayo must carry him through the forest in the pouring rain, so he “damned the rain until the words were a chant, and he sang it while he crawled through the mud to find the corporal.” (Silko 12) Prior to the flashback, Tayo had

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