Ceremony

Ceremony
The Native American author Leslie Marmon Silko wrote the novel Ceremony   to tell the story of how a grown man deals with postwar drama.   Tayo struggles to live a healthy life within society after his experiences during the war where he saw his close cousin die in his own arms. Tayo struggles with the effects of the war as well as his mixed heritage and how his treatment by both whites and Native Americans is poor.   Other characters in the novel that deal with being mixed are Betonie, Night swan and Ts’eh.   Silko uses Tayo’s encounters with these others who are of mixed heritage to enable him to accept his own identity as a half-breed.
Night Swan is an older and loving woman who shows Tayo that there is nothing wrong with being part Native American. Night Swan is a half Mexican woman who has experienced a lot in her days and creates a nervous and mysterious feeling for Tayo. It’s her knowledge of the past and what she has experienced that helps Tayo fully understand that there is no problem with having a mixed background. “I always wished I had dark eyes like other people” (99). Night swan replies to Tayo’s wish by telling him that the white people are intimidated of him and to never wish he was anyone he isn’t. She calls the whites “fools” for blaming “the ones who look different” instead of being able to take responsibilities for their own actions. She tells Tayo that the whites fear change which is why they don’t approve of people with different eyes and different skin colors.   Tayo starts to realize that his heritage is not a problem and that he must accept who he is because he can’t change his own blood. He begins to understand what Night Swan has said and how the white people blame the Native Americans for their own troubles because they refuse to accept that they have done anything wrong. Night Swan also shows Tayo that it is his background that makes him unique and different from others. “I saw the color of your eyes” (99). She lets Tayo know...