Ceremony (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Leslie Marmon Silko
- First Published: 1977
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The post-World War II 1940’s
- Setting: The Laguna pueblo, New Mexico
- Principal Characters: Tayo, Rocky, Auntie, Josiah, Betonie, Night Swan, Ts’eh, Robert, Emo, Harley, Pinkie
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism, Mythological literature
- Subjects: Values, Self-discovery, Mythology or myths, Race, Nature, Social issues, 1940’s, World War II, Alienation, Guilt, Spiritual life or spirituality, Mental illness, Native Americans or American Indians, War, Multiculturalism, Illegitimacy, Mysticism, Southwest, Mexico or Mexicans, Rites or ceremonies, Time, Smoke
- Locales: Laguna Pueblo, NM
Form and Content
Ceremony traces the journey of Tayo, an abandoned mixed-blood Laguna Indian, from mental fragmentation, alienation, and despair to spiritual wholeness, reconciliation, and peace. The novel not only describes a healing ceremony for the characters but also becomes a healing ceremony for the reader. His cousin Rocky’s death in World War II has destroyed Tayo’s life; the sense that Tayo, as a prisoner of war with Rocky, killed his cousin will not leave him. It began when he cursed the rain in the Philippine jungles that worsened Rocky’s leg injury,...
[The entire page is 2256 words long]
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