Ceremony

Ceremony

According to Silko’s Ceremony, both old and new must be used to heal the world.

The book is set on a Native American reserve, but flashes back to various parts of Tayo’s life in a non-
linear fashion, breaking barriers between past and present. It is by incorporating revelations from these
various times that Tayo is able to compete the ceremony (Book title!) required to heal not only himself
but the reservation.

Tayo is the main character of the novel, at the start of which he is broken. He has returned from war
unable to distinguish past and present, and begins “becoming white smoke.” This image demonstrates
many ideas: He’s smoke, so he has no form, and is subject to the slightest breeze. Smoke also, however,
fills the space of its container, expanding and drifting to occupy each crevice. Tayo, in his amorphous
state, has a breadth of being that few possess, and this allows him to see what others can’t: Old,
new good, and bad. The white bit is interesting as well. On one level, white is associated with purity.
However, white people are on the whole the protagonists of the story, causing pain with their greed and
ignorance. Silko, however, makes it clear that there are no absolutes: There are good white people, and
there are evil Pueblo people. These inconsistencies with the color white help us see how lost Tayo is, but also how even here he has potential to heal.

"It seems like I already heard these stories before—only thing is, the names sound different."

Grandma says this at the end of the novel, and here Silko is poking a bit of fun at herself – she
understands that there is only one story, and hers is merely a retelling. This concept is prominent
throughout the novel as the cyclical, all-encompassing nature of life and literature is reinforced in
various ways: The juxtaposition of scenes separated by years but parallel in theme, such as Tayo’s curse
upon the rainforest and the draught on the reservation; Betonie’s explanations of the ceremony to Tayo,
in which he emphasizes both the new and old; and the very fact that Tayo himself is a “half-breed”.