How Does Tayo Lose Cultural Identity

Tayo’s choices are influenced by his mixed ancestry, which reveal a sense of insecurity. When asked to deliver a note from Uncle Josiah to his girlfriend, Tayo agrees and unexpectedly has sexual relations with the woman. Her name is Night Swan, and her Mexican ancestry encourages Tayo to confess something personal after the encounter: “‘I always wished I had dark eyes like other people. When they look at me they remember things that happened. My mother.’ His throat felt tight. He had not talked about this before with anyone” (92). Tayo chooses to reveal how he feels othered by the Laguna society because of his light-colored eyes. His revelation is made possible

These are only a few examples of discrimination that are shown throughout the novel. Deadly, Unna? is a great example that shows the unfairness and inequality towards Indigenous people, because situations like these don't only happen in the novel, it also happens in the real world.

The concepts of change and identity are problematic for the characters within Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. Tayo’s hybridity represents all that the Laguna people fear. The coming of change and meshing of cultures has brought an impending threat of ruin to Native American traditions. Although they reject him for his mixed heritage, Tayo’s journey is not his own but a continuation of the storytelling tradition that embodies Native American culture. Through tradition he learns to use his white and Mexican heritage to identify himself without abandoning his Native American practices.

Everyone is unique in this world. They may be different because of their background culture, customs and beliefs as it changes them throughout their lives. In the novel “The Light in the Forest”, a 15 year old boy called True Son experiences two very different cultures that has irreconcilable differences. When True Son was 4 years old, he was adopted by an Indian tribe. Since then, he has been taught the cultures and customs of Native Indians. But soon afterwards, he was exposed to the “Whites” cultures and beliefs. Within the novel, there are characters who play parallel roles from both sides of each culture (Indians and “Whites” that relate to True Son).

Purpose: Alexie highlights how he ultimately overcame the hardships suffered during his early years due to his Indian ethnicity and displays how Native Americans were, and continue, to suffer from discrimination.

As the story progresses and Tayo becomes healthier the story becomes clearer and much easier to understand. This is showing the progression of Tayo finding himself and recovering from his struggles with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tayo’s journey to find Josiah’s cattle is more than just a journey to find the cattle. His journey is to rediscover and heal himself after learning from the old medicine man Betonie who teaches Tayo what he needs to do to complete the ceremony and heal himself from his mental struggles from the war. In Ceremony Betonie tells Tayo “‘One night or nine nights won't do it anymore,’...’the ceremony isn't finished yet’...’this has been going on for a long long time now. It's up to you. Don't let them stop you. Don't let them finish off this world’”(152). In other words your healing and the health of this world is up to you. Do not give up on yourself in your quest, and do not let others change your journey. If you do your ceremony will never be complete and you might never be healed. Betonie is warning him that he must not lose himself. This warning becomes extremely important when Tayo is faced with discovering Emo and Pinkie conducting the purging ceremony of Harley because he is of mixed blood. Tayo is faced with the decision to help Harley and endanger himself or to stay behind in the rocks and watch as his friend is tortured and

Tayo’s interactions with Ts’eh guide him closer to completing his ceremony and ultimately move him closer to reconnecting with Native American

She teaches him the importance of certain plants, flowers, and ceremonies and how they are significant to Indian culture and survival. Tayo falls in love with her, and through his love, he begins to feel alive again. He realizes that he does have a place and that he is not invisible to everyone and

This makes hard to fully integrate into either of the communities. Due to the struggles of searching for her niche in society, she contemplates following her mother’s will so that she may also be accepted in the white society or rather remain reserved to her tribe. It however subsequently turns out for her being assimilated into the native Americans traditions and

Discrimination is the biggest challenge an immigrant can face, because it makes it difficult for them to get a job, and it makes their lives less safe. Danny’s girlfriend, Tiffany Marie has a brother named Frank. He is in a gang of white supremacists, and they abuse anyone who is not white. Danny and Sang Le face discrimination from not only them, but from naive Americans and shopkeepers. When Sang Le is trying to get a job at Tilson’s Grocery Store, Mr. Tilson says, “‘I heard you were a Vietcong’” This is a great example of how Sang Le and Danny face discrimination, which makes it a struggle to find a job. Mr. Tilson assumes that Sang Le was apart of the brutal, communist Vietcong, just because he was Vietnamese. Another reason discrimination

     Throughout Ceremony, the author, Leslie Silko, displays the internal struggle that the American Indians faced at that time in history. She displays this struggle between good and evil in several parts of the book. One is the myth explaining the origin of the white man.

Growing up as a child Brando’s life was built upon lies and stories. He was told by his mother that he was Native American, and his father was an American Indian political activist and his mother was pure Indian as well. None of this were true and it took him some time to realize that. The real truth was Brando was a Mexican American and his father abandoned him and his mother at a young age. Growing up Brando had to face many challenges such his family and the place he grew up.

As for me, I immediately started making fun of them” (Satrapi 97). Emo’s abuse of Tayo reinforces the notion that the native community disapproves of Tayo’s presence and of his white blood, which leaves Tayo feeling as an outsider which lasts his entire life. For Tayo to spend eight hours a day, five days a week, for who knows how many years, hanging out with Emo and others like him, to live in fear of what they are going to say and do, must have been traumatizing to him. They hate him for no reason other than his white blood, something Tayo can never fix, leaving Tayo feeling out of place in his own skin and community. By contrast, Marji’s experience at school helps to enable her rebellious attitude and mischievous personality.

In order to rid him of the physical and mental sickness that the war and the racial issues brought Tayo, Betonie takes him through a ceremony.  In order to complete the ceremony, Betonie tells him to find a woman, stars, cattle, and a mountain.  The woman he meets knew beforehand that Tayo would come to see her.

In a small town they tell the story of the Pearl of the World. The story is retold again and again, and is deeply rooted in the minds of the reader. Family and loyalty play a major role in the novel. Kino, a fisherman, is motivated by his love for his family and fidelity to the tradition of his people. The loyalty of his wife, Juana, and his brother, Juan Tomas, deeply affect the actions taken by Kino.