Naima van Tyn

Race and Identity in US Literature

Ashley Carruth

24 April 2021

Ceremony Close Reading Analysis

Through Tayo’s ceremony, Leslie M Silko suggests remembrance is the way to heal

oneself and the world. She illustrates how the stories of the past teach how to connect to the land

and the community. If they are forgotten, the world is split apart into disconnected individuals

and the people have nothing guiding them back to harmonious interconnection. Through her

incorporation of traditional ceremonial poems and encounters Tayo has that are parallel to those

stories, she shows the reader how the present can mirror the past unless people, like Tayo,

remember the old lessons.

In the beginning of the book, Silko offers the reader a poem about the importance of

ceremony in preventing witchery from taking over. When witchery is brought up, it is really a

metaphor for the pieces of human nature that drive one away from connections to the past, their

community, and the land. This lesson warns, “their evil is mighty but it can’t stand up to our

stories. So they try to destroy the stories/They would like that/Because we would be

defenseless”(2). The stories save people by reminding them who they are and their place in the

larger whole. Those who have forgotten these things have no power over those who are

supported by their network of relations. When people forget the stories, the world cracks apart:

“You don’t have anything if you don’t have the stories”(2).

 As Tayo embarks upon his own ceremony, the medicine man Betonie explains that the

power of a ceremony lies in the way it adheres to tradition while also responding to the needs of

the present. Betonie says, “You see, in many ways, the ceremonies have always been

changing”(116). In this, Silko is not saying that old ceremonies were wrong. Rather, she is

emphasizing the importance of basing new ceremonies upon the groundwork of tradition in order

to stay connected to the wisdom of the past. It is “the growth that keeps the ceremonies

strong”(166). Tayo’s ceremony with Betonie allows him to recognize the witchery that has been

overtaking him. He begins to remember his connection to the land, his people and his own

identity.

Towards the end of the novel, Tayo is confronted with the blunt evil that runs rampant all

around him and sees what happens when the old stories are forgotten. When Tayo is forced to

hide and watch as Harley is killed by Emo and the others, Silko writes, “the witchery would be at

work all night”(231). In this case, Silko is referring to the forces of destruction that these men

bring with them as a result of having forgotten who they truly are and the collective they belong

to. Again, Silko brings back the idea that making the people forget the stories is how the

witchery wins: “It would work to make the people forget the stories of the creation and

continuation of the five worlds”(231). Those who used to be Tayo’s friends become so removed

from their culture and stories that they have lost their way. Through showing the behavior of

these men, Silko illustrates how forgetting the old stories inhibits one from truly healing. This is

why Tayo must return to the ceremonies in order to find his own healing.

Silko extends this theme of remembrance throughout the novel to emphasize how

important it is to not only heal the self, but also the collective and the world. The stories and

ceremonies are there to help people live in alignment with cultural values. When they are
forgotten and the past becomes something separate from the present, the world has no chance to

heal and people must turn away from the things that saved their ancestors. By writing this into

the novel, Silko is offering a path to healing to the reader. She is showing that bringing the

stories of the past into the present allows for one to learn how to reconnect with their culture and

the values that come with it. For Tayo, learning how to appreciate his connection to the earth and

his own culture’s practices allows him to heal. This is what Silko is suggesting is needed for the

whole world.

Works Cited

Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. Penguin Classics, 2020.