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American Studies: Introduction to U.S. Literature and Racial Capitalism

2 August 2023

Cultural Identity and linked struggles of the Laguna Pueblo:

Unraveling Leslie Marmon Silko’s short story “Tony’s Story“

Introduction

Leslie Marmon Silko’s short story “Tony’s Story“ deals with the portrayal of

cultural identity and conflicts that might occur in certain social spheres, with differen-

tiating experiences, depending on an individual’s attitude and their handling and pro-

cessing of certain conflict situations.

The story follows the namesake of the story, Tony, a young Native American

man, as he is struggling with finding balance between his traditional views and the

influence of general American culture. Since the story is set in the Southwest of the

United States it is worth mentioning that Leslie Marmon Silko, the author, is Laguna

Pueblo herself - a Native American tribe in the Southwest of the United States. So, it

is natural to directly connect those two tribes. This paper will take a closer look at the

before mentioned conflicts and how they impact Native American lives daily. To do

so, it is sufficient to briefly mention the history of Native American tribes. Afterwards,

this paper will examine parallels between Tony’s tribe and the Laguna Pueblo, dis-

cussing the meaning of cultural identity and the clash of cultures by looking at the

symbolism and imagery used in the short story and finally conclude whether Native

American communities or society must change their perspectives.

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Historical Context

To fully understand all aspects of “Tony’s Story” it is fundamental to illumi-

nate the history of Native American tribes and their customs, especially the Laguna

Pueblo. Like many Native American tribes, the Laguna Pueblo suffered from the con-

sequences of colonization. They lost parts of their lands and their cultural heritage due

to forced assimilation (Piper 491-493). When reservations were established, it had a

huge impact on the Laguna Pueblo tribe and zoning made people who lived on the land

for centuries seem out of place. How utterly wrong this assumption turns out to be

shows Piper in her analysis of Silko’s “Ceremony” by offering a meaningful statement

of the character Betonie: “It is that town down there which is out of place, not this old

medicine man” (491). On this note it is worth mentioning that the “Laguna Pueblo is

some 70 km to the west of Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico.” (Grugel

792).

The Laguna Pueblo people have a rich cultural heritage with the main city of

Laguna dating back to the fifteenth century (Grugel 792). People of the tribe are

strongly religious and believe in the supernatural. As Grugel mentions in her paper the

Pueblos “do a lot of things based on traditional facts.” (794), meaning they heavily

rely on socially normalized values and religious practices. This strong connection to

their religion and the supernatural is clearly recognizable when Tony hands Leon the

arrowhead and tells him that it is meant to protect him. Besides their strong bounds to

the before mentioned topics of religion, social values, and spiritual beliefs the Laguna

Pueblos also keep a close connection to the land, as their home territory is viewed as

a gift by the gods themself (Grugel 798)

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Cultural Identity

The core idea of Silko’s short story revolves around the topics of cultural iden-

tity and conflicts linked to living it out. The main character, Tony, is torn between his

Native American heritage and the influence of general American culture, depicting a

clash of cultures many young Native Americans are facing every day. Silko displays

this internal conflict, likely drawing inspiration from her own experience, by showing

Tony’s desire to stick to his cultural identity while nonetheless being curious of the

influences of the Western culture. A very direct representation of those influences of

the outside world is the character of Leon. Like Tony, Leon is a Native American man.

Contrary to Tony though, Leon left their home and has only recently returned from the

army, leading to Leon having a rather modern attitude and set of beliefs. The change

is shown very early on in the story when he shakes Tony’s hand like “a white man.”

(Silko 175).

On the opposite side of this stands Tony himself, who seems very eager to

preserve their cultural heritage and religious practices. As explained by Grugel the

Laguna Pueblo honor the Kiva (793). The Kiva are central spiritual and communal

figures in the Laguna Pueblo culture, that “used to dance in the villages” (794). Those

dancers are briefly mentioned in the story by Tony, when him and Leon got pulled

over by the cop. It is clearly recognizable that Tony, especially in moments of high

stress, turns to his religious and spiritual beliefs as some kind of coping-mechanism.

Through these situations as well as Tony’s interactions with his family, Silko empha-

sizes the importance of cultural identity. She underlines this importance on the one

hand for shaping an individual’s character, values and identity and a collective identity

on the other.
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The Clash of Cultures

The cultural clash between the Native American tribe in the short story as well

as the Laguna Pueblo and the vastly dominant general American culture is very present

and obvious to the reader or observer. Silko uses the character of Leon to portray what

impact general American culture can have on Native Americans and how it changes

their views of identity and heritage in contrast to the character of Tony who sticks with

his Native American beliefs.

Leon leaving his cultural heritage behind, helps him deal better with the con-

flict at the end of the story, being familiar with the behavior of white people towards

Native Americans. Thinking rationally, it is easier for him to ‘keep his cool’ while

Tony gets lost in his superstitious beliefs, dehumanizing the cop, calling him ‘it’ and

ultimately killing him. As mentioned by Evers this is not an exception. Spiritually

thinking people can exhibit psychotic behavioral patterns: “Willie Felipe was psy-

chotic on the basis of his transformations of cultural beliefs about witchcraft into pri-

vate, personal and paranoiac ideas.” (Evers 21).

Through the story Tony is constantly struggling between his traditional beliefs

and the new impressions provided by Leon. Grugel talked to one of the Laguna Pueblo,

who described themselves as followed: “We are not a pro-active people. We merely

respond.” (797). If Tony’s tribe and the Laguna Pueblo are considered identical it leads

to the conclusion that Tony acted outside of the normal attitude that is attributed to his

tribe, most likely because he was involved in a situation outside of his stable commu-

nity. While he would never have attacked the cop initiatively, Leon mentioned early

on that he “will kill the big bastard if he comes around here again.” (Silko 176).
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Another approach on Tony’s behavior might be that he acted exactly as the

interviewed person explained. While he would have never harmed the cop proactively,

he merely responded to the unnecessary violent and disrespectful behavior of the state

cop to save himself and Leon from further harm. One could boldly state that actions

have consequences. Consequences that could have been avoided if the cop had acted

respectfully.

Conclusion

In “Tony’s Story” Silko creates a narrative that goes beyond the surface of an

individual’s struggle with heritage and identity. It delves deeper into collective expe-

riences and struggles of Native Americans. Tony’s struggle with identity and linked

conflicts represents difficulties many non-white Americans must face every day, es-

pecially in connection to law enforcement. It is easy to blame a person’s spiritual or

religious beliefs, something that is uncommon or foreign for most people, rather than

the institution that is meant to keep peace and order.

After examining this story thoroughly, it can also be said that people like Leon

even though they are giving up their cultural identity will still suffer from the same

injustice, no matter how hard they try to fit in. Leon and Tony are two very different

personalities that are treated the exact same in the end.

So instead of abandoning it, everyone should celebrate and embrace their back-

ground to ultimately create a more inclusive and just society, one that values and re-

spects cultural diversity.

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Works Cited

Evers, Lawrence J. “The Killing of a New Mexican State Trooper: Ways of Telling a

Historical Event.” JSTOR, 1985, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1409417.pdf.

Grugel, Andrea. “Culture, Religion and Economy in the American Southwest: Zuni

Pueblo and Laguna Pueblo.” SpringerLink, 27 Aug. 2010,

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-010-9376-4.

Piper, Karen. “Police Zones: Territory and Identity in Leslie Marmon Silko’s ‘Cere-

mony.’” JSTOR, 1997, www.jstor.org/stable/1185519.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. “A Collection of Critical Essays.” New York: UNM Press,

1999.