Ceremony Summary and Analysis

Main info:

• Leslie Marmon Silko
• Novel (with poetry)
• Genre:  postmodern, Native American story

 Setting:

• Time: mid-1970s
• United States (New Mexico - main place, California), Phillipines
• Set in New Mexico, Laguna-Pueblo territory
• Auntie and Josiah's home
• Where Tayo spent his later childhood, grew up in culture clash, shunned by Auntie, loved /taught by Josiah, surrounded by Western influence
• Cattle Plains
• Where Tayo and Josiah raise cattle, where Tayo travels to find them 
• Mountains
• Where Tayo meets T-seh, the Night Swan, hides from Emo, undergoes the ceremony with Beunito
• Phillipine jungle
• The war, where Rocky dies, source of Tayo's psychological trauma
• Gallup bars
• Stage of melding of western influence - alcohol, women, drinking, Native American stereotypes, etc.

• Social environment: 
• Power structure/struggles: 
• Laguna Pueblo vs. Western - Western cultures oppressing and infrginring on LP's cultures, rights, traditions, etc.
• Tayo vs. Emo - basic physical dislike and confrontation (Tayo stabbing Emo at the bar)
• Tayo vs. witches - whether taken for face value (Tayo vs. Emo, Pinkie, Leroy, etc.) of for a larger, metaphorical sense of all witches, Tayo definitely faces opposition in the sense of Western people and regulations
• Yellow women - all three yellow women (Bentoine's ancestor), Night Swan (...maybe not T'seh) have faced opposition in the face of society. Outcast in one way or another, they are adventurous, bold, and daring in the face of their kin
• Christianity/witchcraft vs. Laguna Puebo tradition - in the old poetry stories and present day, the forces are always clashing against one another
• Vulnerability: characters (Tayo especially) are vulnerable emotionally & physically - sometimes one affects the other (like when something prompts Tayo and he throws up/feels ill)

• Passage of time:
• So confusing! There is the present and "flashbacks" (Tayo living in another moment)
• Present time takes place over a span of 1-2 years

Plot: 

• Freytag's Pyramid: The Elements of Plot
• Status Quo: intro of characters, setting, & conflict at the beginning
• Introduce Tayo - setting, sickness, war, flashbacks, intro poem (sets up traditions and the Laguna Pueblo vs. Western culture)
• Rising Action: events that complicate/intensify the conflict
• Meet other characters/times - Night Swan, Josiah, Laura, Rocky, etc. - learn about Tayo's  childhood, history, Laguna Pueblo traditional stories
• Looking for cattle, meet T'seh, undergo ceremony, etc.
• Climax: point of greatest tension
• When Tayo hides/runs from Emo and the other witches
• Resolution: where conflict may/may not be resolved
• finishes ceremony, goes home, and returns to T'seh
•  What conflicts does it dramatize? 
• Identity, fate, tradition, etc.
•  Qualities of protagonist & antagonist:
• Protagonist: Tayo - sincere, confused, traditional, solitary, learning/growing, Father Sun
• Antagonist: Emo - temperamental, violent, alcolohlic, reckless (witches)
• External/Internal conflicts
• External: physical sickness, alchoholism/greed/sex/power (Western influences), war
• Internal: sick minds, conformity, "death spirits" (chased out in the ceremony)

Significant Characters: 

• Tayo - dynamic, depressed, "internal", clash of cultures/demon-spirits/witchcraft. Starts off weak, slowly learns, adapts, grows stronger. Ties to culture/conflict
• Josiah - static, stable. Tayo's father figure/teacher/rock. Brings traditional LP culture to forefront, teaches Tayo
• Auntie - static. martyr conflict, Rocky over Tayo, religious
• Rocky - static, wants Western success, Auntie's planned "success", 
• Bentoine - static, doesn't change himself, but serves as an incentive for change within Tayo
• Yellow Women - ...both?, Bentoine's ancestor, Night Swan, T'seh serve as the white women in the story, With their sexuality and aura they draw the main male characters (especially Tayo) towards them. Serving as advice and root for change they bring about a difference.

Narrative voice/author's style:

• Point of view:
• mostly third person limited
• Tone: (I'm a bit confused about this bit.)
• Serious
• Hopeful
• Imagery/Symbolism
• repeated images/symbols: colors (yellow), directions (N/S/E/W), 

Quotes

• "Nothing was all good or all bad either it all depended."

•  This quote is in the middle of Tayo's being surrounded by rain in the jungle. It explains that not everything can be just one thing or the other. It goes along with the idea of BALANCE. A cycle.

•  "It seems like I already heard these stories before - only thing is, the names sound different."
•  After Tayo comes home and tells his story Grandma shares this sentence, applying to his whole journey. Comparing to Father Sun, showing that Tayo has, in a sense, saved them all.

Course Response (4/14/13)

Once upon a time there was an class...an AP Lit class...a quiet AP Lit class. When they discussed, a hush fell over the room. So tangible was this quiet, that one could hear the hum of the lights, and the crinkle of granola bar wrappers. Some half-hearted attempts at conversation were made, tossed back and forth between the few individuals who dared to break the strain of silence. Half BS, half founded theory, these wisps floated across the room, held aloft by long pauses. Ms. Holmes sat at the back of the classroom, wondering how these lazy second semester seniors would pull it together in time for the AP exam.
Suddenly, a voice pierced the haze of hesitation, "So...maybe it's just me...but I have no clue what all the different directions are supposed to represent."
The class stirred, spurred into motion by mutual frustration.
"I know, right?"
"And the colors!"
"And the animals!"
"Oh my gosh, yes."
"Different types of yellow are good -"
" - and some are bad, right?"
"Isn't water supposed to be good?"
"Yeah, but it brings bad omens too."
"How are we supposed to know the difference?"
"What about the clouds captured by the Gambler?"
"Is Emo really supposed to be a witch?"
"What about the fly?"
"Isn't that Josiah?"
"Who are the other animals then?"
"I don't know!"
"I know, right? There's all this stuff but it's so confusing."
"I can't keep it straight."

"Wait!...Guys, connection. All these different symbols, and stories, colors, and directions, and stuff? They're all connected on so many different levels. Kind of intertwined....like a spiderweb!"

And that is the story of my AP Lit epiphany. That pretty much sums it all up.
Oh! And thinking about the exam is stressful.
And I'm excited for our t shirts.