Legacy of Leslie Marmon Silko Essay

The concepts of change and identity are problematic for the characters within Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. Tayo’s hybridity represents all that the Laguna people fear. The coming of change and meshing of cultures has brought an impending threat of ruin to Native American traditions. Although they reject him for his mixed heritage, Tayo’s journey is not his own but a continuation of the storytelling tradition that embodies Native American culture. Through tradition he learns to use his white and Mexican heritage to identify himself without abandoning his Native American practices.

To expand on the intricacy of the speaker’s life, symbolism is applied to showcase the oppression her ancestors etched on her quilt were facing for their “burnt umber pride” and “ochre gentleness” (39-40). Once again, the theme of absence is introduced as there is a sense of separation among the Native American culture as their innocent souls are forced onto reservations and taken away from their families. This prolonged cruelty and unjust treatment can be advocated when the speaker explains how her Meema “must have dreamed about Mama when the dancing was over: a lanky girl trailing after her father through his Oklahoma

Her path became rocky quickly. At first she wanted to make the students in her school aware of the mission/goals of the Black Lives Matter. She was met with dismissal of this movement by students, as well as, teachers. She was shunned by some she considered her friends. She felt an issue so important to the safety of her fellow students and those in her community would be embraced. It wasn’t, but this did not deter her from continuing to share the voice the movement, even when she stopped being so popular.

In her early years, Shirley Chisholm was separated from her parents and lived in the Barbados. Through this experience, she was able to prove her willpower by being a studious student in school despite the hardship she faced of being away from her parents. This determination benefited her when she came back home to the racist and misogynistic United States at ten years old. Her exceptional grade statuses helped her graduate at the top of her class and earn a scholarship to college so that she could pursue her dream as a school teacher. After she became a teacher, she was content with her position; but after observing lower wages, verbal assaults such as a woman being asked, “Do you type?” when given an interview, and many other discrepancies that blacks and women endured, she became more alert in the brutal society around her and turned to politics.

made it possible for herself to go to college and get a law degree. "I want to go the

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a novel written multidimensionally to portray the traditions and ceremonial practices of the Native American. Silko describes the rebuilding of the Native American culture by writing the real story and poems in the alternate story. The animal symbolism is an integral piece of the novel’s importance that reflects characters and the Native American culture with the use of them in metaphors. Silko respectfully depicts the animals, such as cattle, Fly and Hummingbird, and mountain lion that represent Tayo and the Laguna people, Betonie, and the cultural relationship with nature.

Maya Angelou was inspired to read by several amazing authors and an educated Black woman. “She read books by Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar”. .”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya said, “Even though she and Bailey were discouraged from reading the works of white writers at home, Angelou read and fell in love with the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe.”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Mrs. Flower’s was someone who also once played a wonderful role in her life. She was the person whom was able to get Maya to speak again when she was young. Mrs. Flowers was a charming gentlewoman who was an aristocrat in the small town of Black Stamps. She would give Maya books to take home, and she would tell her to read the books aloud. “She explained the importance of education, importance of the spoken word, and instilled in her a love of poetry. ”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya became so interested in writing that she moved to New York and joined the Harlem Writers Guide in the late 50’s and began her writing career.

Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, reveals how the crossing of cultures was feared, ridiculed, and shunned in various Native American tribes. The fear of change is a common and overwhelming fear everyone faces at some point in their life. The fear of the unknown, the fear of letting go, and the fear of forgetting all play a part in why people struggle with change. In Ceremony the crossing of cultures creates “half-breeds,” usually bringing disgrace to their family’s name. In Jodi Lundgren’s discourse, “Being a Half-breed”, is about how a girl who struggles with understanding what cultural group she fits into since she is a “half-breed.” Elizabeth Evasdaughter’s essay, “Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony”: Healing Ethnic Hatred by

　　Natalie Diaz's debut collection, When My Brother Was An Aztec, is a book of poems that accounts Diaz's skills in imaginative and lyrical language. The collection explores her past in unexpected form and images, tackling the subjects of her family, most notably her meth addicted brother, life on the reservation, and being a Native American woman. In this collection Diaz has filled the pages with rich and interesting images that rely on Native American culture, experiences of her own as a Native American woman, and mythology. As I read this collection I was struck by how heavy her images rested on the page and yet how weightless they seemed to fly off.

     Her parents nurtured the background of this crusader to make her a great spokesperson. She also held positions throughout her life that allowed her to learn a lot about lynching. She was

Throughout the novel, Ceremony, has made an imprint that there is a significance in ceremonies when it comes to the Native Americans and how it ties in with their culture. There is a decrease in seeing that there is a significance in Ceremonies and that is what Leslie Silko does throughout the novel. Noticing that any type of ceremony should not be negative only because Ceremonies is what keeps the natives going in their culture and what they believe in. One of the themes that I have seen through the novel is the use of ceremonies and how they weigh heavily in the novel and on the main character. Within the novel, Tayo, the main character goes through difficulty as he is sent off to

     Throughout Ceremony, the author, Leslie Silko, displays the internal struggle that the American Indians faced at that time in history. She displays this struggle between good and evil in several parts of the book. One is the myth explaining the origin of the white man.

Her Wild American Self by Evelina Galang is a collection of short stories that reflects on not only what it means to be A Filipina-American but a woman in society. Being both of those things subsequently leads to everyday struggles that involve interpersonal conflicts, societal pressures, and familial obligations. Women often sacrifice so much of their feelings and consequently themselves when trying to deal with such a harsh reality. This reality which relies heavily on society also forces women to become subservient in many aspects of their lives and does not allow them to speak out and defend themselves in times of need. Myself, like so many of the women in Galang’s stories, have gone through feelings of shame and guilt while trying to

The next poem “Loose Woman” by Sandra Cisneros is also about a woman with all these stories

Leslie Marmon Silko uses the idea of being speckled and/or spotless in her book Ceremony. To try to be spotless is the Laguna people trying to become a part of white society, hence, becoming separated from the Earth and from the roots, tradition, beliefs, rituals and customs of the Native American way. It is letting in white society with the belief that it can somehow improve you. It is destructive change that takes a person away from the Earth. It is change that specifies and names possessions and makes you question your own beliefs.