Ceremony: A Reconciliation

Since the early colonization of the Americas, instead of absorbing the natives into the new culture, history reveals that the prevailing culture attempted to destroy the Indian culture through repeated efforts of re-education and annihilation. Even the name, American Indian, was pressed upon them by the conquering culture.  Only since the late 1970’s and early 1980’s has the United States and its people realized the value of tribal culture, a way of life that incorporates the individual within nature.

In Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony, as members of the conquering race, we can view the conflict our culture has placed upon a small tribe, the Laguna Pueblo, after World War II. Tayo, a half-breed of this tribe, must reconcile the two sides of his nature, the psychological damage he received in the war, and his tribe’s place in the Anglo culture. He does this through a ceremony that has never been performed before, by magic that can only be performed by a half-breed: a member of both cultures.

Reconciliation

To understand the reconciliation of the two sides of Tayo’s nature, we must first understand the guilt Tayo feels for his mother’s betrayal of his people. She betrays her people by having sexual relations with white men and Mexicans.  As a half-breed, his very existence reminds the Laguna Pueblo tribe and specifically Tayo’s aunt that their world is in danger of extinction. 

When Little Sister started drinking wine and riding in cars with white men and Mexicans, the people could not define their feeling about her.  The Catholic priest shook his finger at her drunkenness and lust, but the people felt something deeper: they were losing her, they were losing part of themselves. The older sister had to act; she had to act for the people, to get this young girl back.  (70)

Little Sister, Tayo’s mother, loses her identity as a Laguna Pueblo because she cannot reconcile her boarding school education with the teachings of her people.  She starts on the road to destruction, becoming a symbol of the destruction of her own village – for according to tribal wisdom – what happens to a single person would eventually happen to all.  The sins of Tayo’s mother hang heavily on Tayo because her sins remind Tayo that he is neither Indian nor white.

However, Tayo must reconcile his two natures.  Two inset stories in the novel Ceremony hint that Tayo can reconcile himself. The first story chronicles the life of the old Mexican woman named Night Swan.  As a young woman, she dances the flamenco (83-6), a wild magical dance.  During the first season that she performs, she takes a married man as a lover. He blames her for his unfaithfulness to his wife and children. In her pain over his accusations, she dances his death. That night, his horses crush him underfoot. He does not survive.  This inset story reveals the magic contained in a child of two cultures.  The Mexican woman, who carries the same hazel eyes as Tayo, can carry out her own ceremony, implying that Tayo through his heritage will have the magic to create his own ceremony.