Tayo's Enlightenment In Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko

Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria tells the story of a young woman, Waterlily, and her family as they experience the every-day life on the prairie as Oceti Sakowin. Through the clever storytelling of Waterlily’s childhood, Deloria’s novel covers the Oceti Sakowin family life, camp circle, ceremonies, hunts, and war parties, and the introduction of white presence in the Midwest. Themes of reverence for tradition and honoring of beings and nature span the book; however, the story also exceptionally demonstrates the Oceti Sakowin way of life in a way that illuminates many of the beautiful pieces of the Oceti Sakowin culture. Waterlily displays two particularly significant aspects of the Oceti Sakowin culture: kinship and generosity.

The first powwow that Sawaquat went to taught him that people viewed his heritage as a pastime. The powwow featured hobbyist who dressed up as Native Americans and acted like Native Americans would at a traditional powwow. This made Sawaquat feel ridiculous and it made it look like Native Americans were a joke. It was even harder for Sawaquat to see what the hobbyist were doing to his heritage because he was in a time of questioning and searching for his identity and this event was a step back for him. Sawaquat’s search for self-discovery led him down a path of disappointment.

'Keeper N Me ' by Richard Wagamese, is a novel based on the necessary balance between life and the culture in which one belongs to. This is a necessary aspect in order to maintain a steady relationship with one 's self. In this novel passing on traditions or a certain way of life from generation to generation is one of the most important aspects of guiding someone of the Ojibway culture, as the Ojibway people have very strong beliefs and take their culture very seriously. The people of the Ojibway culture believe that through storytelling and dreams one can realize the importance of tradition and its influence on their identity. Wagamese throughout his novel tries to teach the readers the power of one 's community and traditions as he

This paper addresses the results of interviews, observations, and research of life in the Ottawa tribe, how they see themselves and others in society and in the tribe. I mainly focused on The Little River Band of Ottawa Indian tribe. I researched their languages, pecking order, and interviewed to discover the rituals, and traditions that they believe in. In this essay I revealed how they see themselves in society. How they see other people, how they see each other, what their values were, what a typical day was etc. I initially suspected that I would have got different responses from these questions but in reality the results in the questions were almost completely the same. I studied this topic because mostly all the people that are

He gives up on recovering, and thinks his pain is all he has left. Robert, his uncle, finally persuades him to visit an old medicine man named Betonie. Most people do not trust Old Betonie because of his light Hazel eyes. (insert quote) Tayo did not trust him at first either, because he didn’t have faith that he would be able to help him. Betonie talks with Tayo about the loss and emotional pain he had to deal with. (insert quote) Old Betonie also performs a ceremony. In this ceremony, all of the evil, and pain that has gripped on to Tayo is being released. Tayo is able to think straight again and the sickness his body was overcome with has finally vanished. Old Betonie tells Tayo of a vision he had about a girl, the mountains, and the stars.( insert quote)Along with the vision, he also gives Tayo hope. Even though Tayo still has some issues, he finally feels he has a purpose as

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.

“This is where the white people and their promises had left the Indians.”Indians wake up every morning of their lives to see the land which was stolen… its theft being flaunted.” Tayo’s interaction with Betonie really set this theme in the novel into focus and as the novel progressed, further events and characters strengthened this idea.

Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria tells the story of a young woman, Waterlily, and her family as they experience the every-day life on the prairie as Oceti Sakowin. Through the clever storytelling of Waterlily’s childhood, Deloria’s novel covers the Oceti Sakowin family life, camp circle, ceremonies, hunts, war parties, and the introduction of white presence in the Midwest. Themes of reverence for tradition and honoring of beings and nature span the book; however, the story also exceptionally demonstrates the Oceti Sakowin way of life in a way that illuminates many of the beautiful pieces of the Oceti Sakowin culture. Waterlily displays two particularly significant aspects of the Oceti Sakowin culture: kinship and generosity.

She teaches him the importance of certain plants, flowers, and ceremonies and how they are significant to Indian culture and survival. Tayo falls in love with her, and through his love, he begins to feel alive again. He realizes that he does have a place and that he is not invisible to everyone and

On page 210, a woman says to Tayo “It won't be ready for a while, but i’ll show you which one it is, and maybe you can gather it for me, in case I have to go before it's ready,”. When the woman says this it makes Tayo panic. He doesn't want the woman to go away. This show us that Tayo is captive because he is relying on the ceremony for his future to be positive. The woman is keeping Tayo captive by telling him he may have to finish the ceremony on his own.

Ku’oosh referred Tayo to Betonie because Betonie practices evolving ceremonies. These ceremonies carry on the traditions but are more applicable to present day. Betonie, a half-breed like Tayo, lives atop a cliff overlooking a run-down white town. Initially Tayo questions Betonie’s surroundings and wonders if this medicine man will help him. Betonie explains to Tayo his different approach to performing ceremonies. He tells him that some think the ceremonies must be performed exactly the same as they had been for many years, but rather the ceremonies must evolve over time or else become ineffective. Betonie said, “But after the white people came, elements in this world began to shift; and it became necessary to create new ceremonies…only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong” (126). Betonie stresses that the white world has affected the Indian too much for the old rituals and chants to be effective. Betonie also believes that in order to cure Tayo he must combine

The reservation pastor, Father Travis Wozniak, also feels the turbulence brought upon by the gifting of the child through Emmaline’s confessions to him about her true feelings. The intimacy of the conversations Emmaline has with Father Wozniak show how essential he is to the community and its inner workings. Since this situation is not common, the reader can feel excluded from the rituals of the Native American reservation. Thus, the ability to look on from afar is something that should be appreciated for it gives a glimpse of a sacred community that most do not

Like I said before, Silko writes through eyes of an Indian. In studying Native Americans, one can easily lump all Native Americans into one homogeneous cultural group. This is a grave mistake because Native American groups can differ as much as English from Africans. She is very well educated to understand the intricacies of various Native American groups. She must truly understand them to write through their eyes. Silko is trying to break the myth that Indian cultures are dying. Native Americans must adapt under pressure of whites, but a great deal of tradition is still intact. Silko is a voice of truth and reality for the Native

First off, when Tayo is challenged by illness due to his PTSD, he agrees to visit a tribal Native-American medicine man instead of being treated with traditional Western medicine: “[...] Even while the white doctors were telling him he could get well and he was trying to believe them: medicine didn't work that way, because the world didn't work that way. His sickness was only part of something larger, and his cure would be found only in something great and inclusive of everything” (Silko 125). Although it would be much easier to believe that medicine can help him, Tayo recognizes that his problem is too complex for simple western medicine, and as a result turns to more traditional practices. Westerners do not understand what Tayo needs, and would hospitalize him, only to release him in a few days without any help. Mainstream society simply would turn its back on Tayo, just as it has already has to many former soldiers suffering from PTSD. Additionally, after realizing modern medicine is not the solution, Tayo goes to visit a Native American medicine man, Betonie. While getting to know Betonie, Tayo decides to open up to the process of ceremony that Betonie is going to use in order to heal him. Tayo says, “I never told you about Emo, [...] I never told you about what happened to Rocky. [...] Something about the lights down there, something about the cars and

In "The Man to Send Rain Clouds," and "One Holy Night," Leslie Marmon Silko and Sandra Cisneros discuss the traditions and myths of their cultures. Silko states her beliefs in the rituals or ceremonies that her culture performs when one of her own has passed on. On the other hand, Cisneros explains the struggles of being a teenage girl of another culture in American society. While both writers agree that keeping their traditions and myths alive is important, Silko’s story of Native American rituals gives awareness on the tradition in the pueblo world that even in modern times they practice, Unlike Cisneros, who’s story of an unplanned teenage pregnancy after a short-term relationship with a man she barely knew, surveys what can be believed either an unfortunate or simply a typical tradition that all teenagers are in a personal phase of rebellion against people of parental authority, and often end up wanting to experiment with other cultures or figurative patterns of behavior, to interchange the traditions they were raised with.