Jessica Webb
Professor Rouzie
ENG 254
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Annotated Bibliography of Critical Sources for Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony
In Silko’s Ceremony, the “witchery” of white colonialization is, in part, what makes Tayo need to undergo any type of healing at all. In this case, nativism also refers to the effects of colonization on the Native American population, usually in regards to the geographical land. Nativism (the negative reaction against immigrants) also in this case in not purely a Native American issue, though they were there first, because they are no longer in control of their ancestral land. Nativism and racism are similar, however; racism is strictly a race disliking another, while nativism can literally split races with hate. The effect on culture so tied to the land, which are deprived of their very ethno-cultural soul and the land which provides them with their identity is astonishing in this novel. This is, in part, to the effects of nativism on the Laguna population. Therefore, I make the case that Ceremony is, at least in part, a nativist text, as the characters’ progression is heavily fueled by this nativist agenda, not just by the whites, but also by the Laguna themselves.
Bennani, Benjamin and Catherine Warner Bennani. “No Ceremony for Men in the Sun: Sexuality, Personhood, and Nationhood in Ghassan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun, and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony”. Critical Perspectives on Native American Fiction. Ed. Fleck, Richard F. Washington, D.C: Three Continents P, 1993, 246-255.
The Bennanis make a claim in this article for the characters’ “loss” of personhood, and thus, nationhood. The Laguna, because they are a conquered people, must keep re-inventing themselves. This draws them farther and farther away from a culturally-accepted concept of nationhood. The colonialization process is robbing them of their nationhood and their sense of individual purpose. They cannot fit in in any “new” world. The Bennanis also make a case for this sense of loss driving Silko’s characters through their meaningless, empty lives. This loss of person and nation fuels the sense of nativism in the Laguna people. The Lagunas have become a people who do not love as they should, but instead hate: whites, other Indians, and themselves- the very definition of nativism.
Cutchins, Dennis. ""So That the Nations May Become Genuine Indian": Nativism and Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony." Journal of American Culture 22.4 (1999), 79-91.
(Unfinished Annotation)
Holm, Sharon. "The "Lie" of the Land: Native Sovereignty, Indian Literary Nationalism, and Early Indigenism in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony." American Indian Quarterly 32.3 (2008), 243-274.
(Unfinished Annotation)
Piper, Karen. "Police Zones: Territory and Identity in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony." American Indian Quarterly 21.3 (1997), 483-497.
Piper opens her article the concept of Laguna oral tradition. Via these stories, the Laguna’s geographic home becomes part of their legends, their landscapes, and their lives. The whites view land as property, a dead thing, while the Laguna view their land as alive and constantly in flux, much like themselves. Though the Native Americans have been granted “sovereignty”, they only get a little, enough to appease the Indians who live on these reservations. In reality, the whites have already stolen all of their land and own it without saying so. The landscape, as Piper says, becomes a palimpsest in this manner. The witchery of the whites has diffused into the Laguna’s very landscape, becoming attached to the Laguna themselves. Through this witchery, the Indian culture is being destroyed from the inside out. The landscape becomes the way to constantly re-enter discourse against their colonizers. Silko’s Ceremony seeks, in Piper’s eyes, to dissolve their colonizer’s power that is keeping the Native Americans under its thumb.
Wilson, Michael D. “‘Authenticity’ and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony”. Writing Home: Indigenous Narratives of Resistance. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2008, 21-42.
Wilson makes a case in this chapter about “authenticity”. Colonialism puts indigenous cultures in rigid boundaries that the cultures cannot fit into, as Fleck states. Thus, the colonialists can easily rob most indigenous cultures of any type of logical authenticity. Indigenous peoples usually cannot verify any type authenticity to their colonizers, keeping them at a perpetual disadvantage. Authenticity is also questioned, being called not fixed or natural. Thus, it may not be a reliable, logical tool in decision-making. The struggle for Native Americans to achieve authenticity is an uphill battle that they must win because of the cards they have been dealt. Nativism results from this- resentment that they must justify their existence to the white man. Once tribes are “authenticated”, more doors (regarding economics, justice, social issues, etc.) are opened for them. Fleck describes an “authentic core” of indigenous literature, also making a case that Silko’s Ceremony does not belong in this category. The concept of ‘inauthentic’, will always taint what is believed to be authentic.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Summary/Application Assignment
Summary:
Gloria Bird’s essay discusses the decolonization of her language and culture. Before she heads into these, Bird starts off by showing the influences of colonization on native peoples, using a song she learned as a child as an example. The possession of language is then spoken about because Bird feels like she stole the native language even though she grew up only knowing English. She feels the same way about the song itself. She feels a kinship with the white man, who stole the Indian language from the children in Silko’s grandmother’s generation though missionary work and “American” schooling. Repression of the native languages, she feels, is the essence of colonization. In this, she asks: How can one become decolonized? She argues that through literature, culture, and language people can literally unlearn things. Ceremony breaks down the Native Americans’ inferiority complex to further this point, according to Bird, and is also what she calls a piece of “critical fiction”. Ceremony is written, she argues, to show that all peoples can and are slowly becoming decolonized, or should be.
Bird shows us that Tayo is striving in the dark towards finding what is holding him back from returning to his culture once more. This thing not only holds Tayo back, but also makes him feel guilty for not being white! Guilt becomes irrevocably linked to colonization. Bird then goes on to discuss Tayo’s journey towards his own person decolonization and related that to how the current Native Americans need to accept this journey.
Bird also makes a case for how Silko addresses time in Ceremony. Silko’s use, Bird claims, of nonlinear time and space helps to further decolonize the Indians, banishing the feeling of “otherness” in the culture. It also helps her to “collapse time” to show how all things are connected; usually via the landscape, only re-enforcing the point of decolonization (the fact we are all one people). She re-tells the reader here that repression of language is the essence of colonization. Bird ends her article on the hopeful note that perhaps Indian culture will not always be seen as “other”, rather as a sibling-type of culture to the classical, colonized, American mainstream. We must be willing to see the world differently.
Application:
Bird’s essay was unique for me in its approach to how Ceremony should be looked at. It was critical, of course, but was also always finding new ways to see the novel differently. Bird gives the reader a great feel for how Ceremony tries to decolonize by questioning the fabric of the colonization model. The process is under scrutiny in her essay and she invites Native Americans to look at their culture in this new way as well in an attempt to regain what they have lost. The process of decolonization threatens not just Native American views and teachings of language and culture, but also the fact that the whites have been using the Indians somewhat as scapegoats. This process may also one day make Native American morals mesh with Americanized, colonial moralities.
What I found interesting in Ceremony was to examine the characters who do nto focus on fitting into this colonialized society (Auntie and Emo are decent examples here), but instead take an individual approach (Bentoie is a good example here) 9 and try to make their own way. I feel neither Silko nor Bird discusses this situation well and I feel that it may be a highly profitable and extremely beneficial route for these characters to take.
Racism is never directly addressed in Bird’s essay, which I found surprising because it is well-discussed in Ceremony. Racism is nearly the ultimate hurdle in the way of achieving decolonization and dispelling the feeling and stigma of being “other”. In Ceremony, when Tayo trespasses on the grounds and is caught by the armed cowboys, Tayo expresses even in thoughts the ingrained racism that exists in his world: “it was a lot of trouble just for an Indian; maybe it would be too much trouble, and they would let him go” (186). I want to shake Tayo for this. He’s better than that. They are worth more than that! Other times it is brought up in the novel , I feel like Silko only addresses it briefly, never resolves it, and then brushes it off. However, maybe this is supposed to show that it will exist even after decolonization is completed? Or perhaps she simply thinks it will evaporate? Racism is a product of colonization, not on the Native American’s side, but on the colonials’ side. Perhaps it is born of fear, because the Indians are so much more different than them or perhaps it is born because the status quo for the whites is much better now than it’s ever been and they don’t want to shake up the status quo, per se. This explains why when the Tayo, Rocky, and the others put a uniform on and fight in the war, they are no longer the subject of any racism; their hair is cut and they are not immediately recognized as being a Native American, they are simply a soldier first. Racism no longer plays a role into wht people perceive about these men.
Bird actually complicated Ceremony for me and now there’s so much information I don’t know what to do with it. I’m confused and now must re-read every part of Ceremony with a different critical view. Between Bird's complex language and her plethora of ideas, it was hard to stick with this article that was supposed to enrich my reading on Silko's Ceremony.
Works Cited:
Bird, Gloria. "Towards a Decolonization of the Mind and Text 1: Leslie Marmon Silko's "Ceremony"" Wicazo Sa Review, Vol 9, No. 2 Autumn 1993. University of Minnesota Press. 04 Jan. 2009 .
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
Gloria Bird’s essay discusses the decolonization of her language and culture. Before she heads into these, Bird starts off by showing the influences of colonization on native peoples, using a song she learned as a child as an example. The possession of language is then spoken about because Bird feels like she stole the native language even though she grew up only knowing English. She feels the same way about the song itself. She feels a kinship with the white man, who stole the Indian language from the children in Silko’s grandmother’s generation though missionary work and “American” schooling. Repression of the native languages, she feels, is the essence of colonization. In this, she asks: How can one become decolonized? She argues that through literature, culture, and language people can literally unlearn things. Ceremony breaks down the Native Americans’ inferiority complex to further this point, according to Bird, and is also what she calls a piece of “critical fiction”. Ceremony is written, she argues, to show that all peoples can and are slowly becoming decolonized, or should be.
Bird shows us that Tayo is striving in the dark towards finding what is holding him back from returning to his culture once more. This thing not only holds Tayo back, but also makes him feel guilty for not being white! Guilt becomes irrevocably linked to colonization. Bird then goes on to discuss Tayo’s journey towards his own person decolonization and related that to how the current Native Americans need to accept this journey.
Bird also makes a case for how Silko addresses time in Ceremony. Silko’s use, Bird claims, of nonlinear time and space helps to further decolonize the Indians, banishing the feeling of “otherness” in the culture. It also helps her to “collapse time” to show how all things are connected; usually via the landscape, only re-enforcing the point of decolonization (the fact we are all one people). She re-tells the reader here that repression of language is the essence of colonization. Bird ends her article on the hopeful note that perhaps Indian culture will not always be seen as “other”, rather as a sibling-type of culture to the classical, colonized, American mainstream. We must be willing to see the world differently.
Application:
Bird’s essay was unique for me in its approach to how Ceremony should be looked at. It was critical, of course, but was also always finding new ways to see the novel differently. Bird gives the reader a great feel for how Ceremony tries to decolonize by questioning the fabric of the colonization model. The process is under scrutiny in her essay and she invites Native Americans to look at their culture in this new way as well in an attempt to regain what they have lost. The process of decolonization threatens not just Native American views and teachings of language and culture, but also the fact that the whites have been using the Indians somewhat as scapegoats. This process may also one day make Native American morals mesh with Americanized, colonial moralities.
What I found interesting in Ceremony was to examine the characters who do nto focus on fitting into this colonialized society (Auntie and Emo are decent examples here), but instead take an individual approach (Bentoie is a good example here) 9 and try to make their own way. I feel neither Silko nor Bird discusses this situation well and I feel that it may be a highly profitable and extremely beneficial route for these characters to take.
Racism is never directly addressed in Bird’s essay, which I found surprising because it is well-discussed in Ceremony. Racism is nearly the ultimate hurdle in the way of achieving decolonization and dispelling the feeling and stigma of being “other”. In Ceremony, when Tayo trespasses on the grounds and is caught by the armed cowboys, Tayo expresses even in thoughts the ingrained racism that exists in his world: “it was a lot of trouble just for an Indian; maybe it would be too much trouble, and they would let him go” (186). I want to shake Tayo for this. He’s better than that. They are worth more than that! Other times it is brought up in the novel , I feel like Silko only addresses it briefly, never resolves it, and then brushes it off. However, maybe this is supposed to show that it will exist even after decolonization is completed? Or perhaps she simply thinks it will evaporate? Racism is a product of colonization, not on the Native American’s side, but on the colonials’ side. Perhaps it is born of fear, because the Indians are so much more different than them or perhaps it is born because the status quo for the whites is much better now than it’s ever been and they don’t want to shake up the status quo, per se. This explains why when the Tayo, Rocky, and the others put a uniform on and fight in the war, they are no longer the subject of any racism; their hair is cut and they are not immediately recognized as being a Native American, they are simply a soldier first. Racism no longer plays a role into wht people perceive about these men.
Bird actually complicated Ceremony for me and now there’s so much information I don’t know what to do with it. I’m confused and now must re-read every part of Ceremony with a different critical view. Between Bird's complex language and her plethora of ideas, it was hard to stick with this article that was supposed to enrich my reading on Silko's Ceremony.
Works Cited:
Bird, Gloria. "Towards a Decolonization of the Mind and Text 1: Leslie Marmon Silko's "Ceremony"" Wicazo Sa Review, Vol 9, No. 2 Autumn 1993. University of Minnesota Press. 04 Jan. 2009 .
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
Summary of Rice's Article
Gloria Bird’s essay discusses the decolonization of her language and culture. Before she heads into these, Bird starts off by showing the influences of colonization on native peoples, using a song she learned as a child as an example. The possession of language is then spoken about because Bird feels like she stole the native language even though she grew up only knowing English. She feels the same way about the song itself. She feels a kinship with the white man, who stole the Indian language from the children in Silko’s grandmother’s generation though missionary work and “American” schooling. Repression of the native languages, she feels, is the essence of colonization. In this, she asks: How can one become decolonized? She argues that through literature, culture, and language people can literally unlearn things. Ceremony breaks down the Native Americans’ inferiority complex to further this point, according to Bird, and is also what she calls a piece of “critical fiction”. Ceremony is written, she argues, to show that all peoples can and are slowly becoming decolonized, or should be.
Bird shows us that Tayo is striving in the dark towards finding what is holding him back from returning to his culture once more. This thing not only holds Tayo back, but also makes him feel guilty for not being white! Guilt becomes irrevocably linked to colonization. Bird then goes on to discuss Tayo’s journey towards his own person decolonization and related that to how the current Native Americans need to accept this journey.
Bird also makes a case for how Silko addresses time in Ceremony. Silko’s use, Bird claims, of nonlinear time and space helps to further decolonize the Indians, banishing the feeling of “otherness” in the culture. It also helps her to “collapse time” to show how all things are connected; usually via the landscape, only re-enforcing the point of decolonization (the fact we are all one people). She re-tells the reader ehre that repression of language is the essence of colonization. Bird ends her article on the hopeful note that perhaps Indian culture will not always be seen as “other”, rather as a sibling-type of culture to the classical, colonized, American mainstream. We must be willing to see the world differently.
Bird shows us that Tayo is striving in the dark towards finding what is holding him back from returning to his culture once more. This thing not only holds Tayo back, but also makes him feel guilty for not being white! Guilt becomes irrevocably linked to colonization. Bird then goes on to discuss Tayo’s journey towards his own person decolonization and related that to how the current Native Americans need to accept this journey.
Bird also makes a case for how Silko addresses time in Ceremony. Silko’s use, Bird claims, of nonlinear time and space helps to further decolonize the Indians, banishing the feeling of “otherness” in the culture. It also helps her to “collapse time” to show how all things are connected; usually via the landscape, only re-enforcing the point of decolonization (the fact we are all one people). She re-tells the reader ehre that repression of language is the essence of colonization. Bird ends her article on the hopeful note that perhaps Indian culture will not always be seen as “other”, rather as a sibling-type of culture to the classical, colonized, American mainstream. We must be willing to see the world differently.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Ceremony (p. 59-142): Cattle, the Hummingbird story, and Christianity
We learn of Josiah’s new cattle business and of the almost wild Mexican cattle he buys. What symbolic associations do the Mexican cattle carry? (Consider breeds and breeding, contrast with Herefords, where they go, and relation to nature, fences etc).
Rather than purchasing the usual Hereford type, Josiah buys a Mexican breed of cattle and crossbreeds these two together. The cattle, when breaking out of their pasture, moved immediately south. The importance of native land is underscored here, lp from the medicine man, Betonie, and find out what is really wrong with him. In the end, the animals end up collecting everything Mother Earth has asked for and the people are foras even the cattle try and return to where they safest. Perhaps the cattle represent, by the mixing of two breeds (cultures), the difficulties of the Indian cultures and the stereotypical American culture to fuse together in harmony. These cattle also represent the freedom that the Indians did not feel as they were being buried under American culture and their national identity was being lost. The fence that the cattle eventually broke through could possibly represent the eventual liberation of Indian culture from the white mainstream. Josiah purchased his cattle herd and, effectively, compromised his way of life. He wanted a method to live easier, much like his ancestors.
We get poetic installments of the Hummingbird tale on p. 42-45, 49-50, 65-66, 76, 97, 104-105, 140 (to this point) How might you relate this story to Tayo’s?
The Hummingbird tale and Tayo's story both lack something that the Indians find vital to survive: rain. Both peoples in the stories feel that the rain's been taken away from them. With Tayo's story, he feels he's prayed it away. With the Hummingbird tale, it's been taken away by Mother Earth as a punishment for neglecting her and being enraptured by a magician. In both tales, the respect the Indians should have for the rain and Mother Earth is paramount. In the Hummingbird story, the people seek forgiveness from Mother Earth just as Tayo seeks forgiveness in his story. Forgiveness, however, is never free and easy, there is a task that must be done or a a price that must be paid. This is also present in both tales. There's parallels between the Shaman and Tayo as well, with both of them trying to get the rain back and end their people's droughts. Tayo also can be compared to the Hummingbird, as both of these characters go on some kind of a journey to obtain their goals. Both stories are structurally similar and Ceremony even goes so far as to begin to blend these stories' beginnings together.
P. 62-63 covers the theme of Christianity as a coercive force of assimilation. By what means does this occur and what feelings does it evoke?
It evokes feelings of bitterness, as the spread of Christianity has effectively raped the Indian culture, spread by the white man. The feeling that this spread was more to gain power over the Indians rather than about "saving their souls" cannot be shaken off here. This religion starts to divide the close cultural ties these people feel with their clan and homeland, effectively making the Indians more complacent tools and trying to assimilate them into mainstream American culture. It's all about control for these priests: controlling temptation, controlling behavior, controlling the fate of these people's souls, etc. Are these people really doing good or just masking another motive? The spread of this religion separated individuals from the clan, something the Indian culture had never experienced in its thousands of years of existence. This, effectively, killed the Indian culture; it was associated with shame instead of cultural pride.
Rather than purchasing the usual Hereford type, Josiah buys a Mexican breed of cattle and crossbreeds these two together. The cattle, when breaking out of their pasture, moved immediately south. The importance of native land is underscored here, lp from the medicine man, Betonie, and find out what is really wrong with him. In the end, the animals end up collecting everything Mother Earth has asked for and the people are foras even the cattle try and return to where they safest. Perhaps the cattle represent, by the mixing of two breeds (cultures), the difficulties of the Indian cultures and the stereotypical American culture to fuse together in harmony. These cattle also represent the freedom that the Indians did not feel as they were being buried under American culture and their national identity was being lost. The fence that the cattle eventually broke through could possibly represent the eventual liberation of Indian culture from the white mainstream. Josiah purchased his cattle herd and, effectively, compromised his way of life. He wanted a method to live easier, much like his ancestors.
We get poetic installments of the Hummingbird tale on p. 42-45, 49-50, 65-66, 76, 97, 104-105, 140 (to this point) How might you relate this story to Tayo’s?
The Hummingbird tale and Tayo's story both lack something that the Indians find vital to survive: rain. Both peoples in the stories feel that the rain's been taken away from them. With Tayo's story, he feels he's prayed it away. With the Hummingbird tale, it's been taken away by Mother Earth as a punishment for neglecting her and being enraptured by a magician. In both tales, the respect the Indians should have for the rain and Mother Earth is paramount. In the Hummingbird story, the people seek forgiveness from Mother Earth just as Tayo seeks forgiveness in his story. Forgiveness, however, is never free and easy, there is a task that must be done or a a price that must be paid. This is also present in both tales. There's parallels between the Shaman and Tayo as well, with both of them trying to get the rain back and end their people's droughts. Tayo also can be compared to the Hummingbird, as both of these characters go on some kind of a journey to obtain their goals. Both stories are structurally similar and Ceremony even goes so far as to begin to blend these stories' beginnings together.
P. 62-63 covers the theme of Christianity as a coercive force of assimilation. By what means does this occur and what feelings does it evoke?
It evokes feelings of bitterness, as the spread of Christianity has effectively raped the Indian culture, spread by the white man. The feeling that this spread was more to gain power over the Indians rather than about "saving their souls" cannot be shaken off here. This religion starts to divide the close cultural ties these people feel with their clan and homeland, effectively making the Indians more complacent tools and trying to assimilate them into mainstream American culture. It's all about control for these priests: controlling temptation, controlling behavior, controlling the fate of these people's souls, etc. Are these people really doing good or just masking another motive? The spread of this religion separated individuals from the clan, something the Indian culture had never experienced in its thousands of years of existence. This, effectively, killed the Indian culture; it was associated with shame instead of cultural pride.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
"She Had Some Horses" Response
I can find clear evidence in the poem that the writer is trying to reconcile conflicting personal feelings: "She had horses who lied./ She had horses who told the truth, who were stripped bare of their tongues" (25-6), "She had horses who waited for destruction. /She had horses who waited for resurrection" (36-7) and "She had horses who had no names./ She had horses who had books of names" (31-2). However, at the end of the poem, the writer states that all the horses "were the same horse" (45) and this only intensifies the conflict between them. The speaker's obviously female by the feminine possessive pronoun at the beginning of every line. Usually, looking at these verses, these lines deal with broad, intimate, human feelings like love/hate, truth/deceit, creation/destruction, and how one can be both named and nameless.
I agree with Field that the horses are spirits, neither male nor female because typically, aspects of one's personality are not sexualized. I can see, as a writer myself, that I would probably not make a male/female distinction between my conflicting views of the world when writing a poem such as this.
I see many "clear truths" here being articulated. These "clear truths" are ones about life, about how one feels about oneself, about how being a human means you will forever be inherently conflicted with yourself. The last lines of the poem, for me, at least, help to provide a resolution. I feel this is so because the reader gets a sense of closure, that all of her "horses" are really just parts of herself that need expressing, the inherently conflicted, very human part of her soul. In the end, the reader feels the conjoined-ness of the horses and the poet. This helps to provide closure and resolution.
I agree with Field that the horses are spirits, neither male nor female because typically, aspects of one's personality are not sexualized. I can see, as a writer myself, that I would probably not make a male/female distinction between my conflicting views of the world when writing a poem such as this.
I see many "clear truths" here being articulated. These "clear truths" are ones about life, about how one feels about oneself, about how being a human means you will forever be inherently conflicted with yourself. The last lines of the poem, for me, at least, help to provide a resolution. I feel this is so because the reader gets a sense of closure, that all of her "horses" are really just parts of herself that need expressing, the inherently conflicted, very human part of her soul. In the end, the reader feels the conjoined-ness of the horses and the poet. This helps to provide closure and resolution.
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