Critical Approaches to Ceremony

Critical Approaches to Silko’s Ceremony

Narrative structure: Is it as postmodernist text? Magic Realism? Or . . .
Folklore: How does the text use Keresan, Pueblo, and Dine (Navajo) oral stories? How does it negotiate these with the expectations of a novel in English?

Gender/feminism: Looks at how gender is represented and challenged in the text.

Postcolonial: Looks at the novel as a text that exposes and challenges the history and effects of colonization of the area, possibly offering counter-narratives.

Rhetorical: looks at the novel as a rhetorical act, as pitched toward specific, but quite different audiences and how the author does that. Can also look at the rhetoric of the criticism of the novel, reviews, the reception and analyze patterns of response.

Literary History: Looks at the novel’s place in the emergent tradition of American Indian literature written in English. Compares the novel to other novels in that ‘canon.’ Deals with all of the above in the context of representing a literary history.

Ideological/Marxist/semiotics: Analyzes the semiotic codes of the text in terms of belief systems, some articulated (as in “I believe in the American dream.”); some not articulated, but assumed (Property is a basic right of the people, er, uh, white people, that is.). Critiques the novel in terms of ideologies of class, race, gender. Sometimes combines with postcolonial, feminist, and others.

Eco-criticism/ecofeminism: Views the novel as a landmark text in revising our screwed up relationship with the earth. Its basic metaphor is ecology, seeing nature and people as intertwined in a complex, interactive web of life.

Psychological: May use Freud, Lacan, and others to discuss how the novel presents sanity, loss of sanity, oedipal relationships, family dynamics.

Rouzie's guide to Searching for Sources on Ceremony

Some general comments:
When researching a topic, theme, or claim about a text, it is desirable (some would say necessary) to do a thorough search for sources. We have a tendency to go for the easiest way (online only) and avoid the library, or just to use one database. But all databases are incomplete, only a small percentage of articles are available in full-text online (alas), and libraries have people called reference librarians whose job is to help us find stuff and teach us how to be better researchers and users of library resources. The effervescent Lorraine Wochna is the humanities ref. librarian. Use her!

On researching Ceremony: the novel has been around and receiving critical attention since 1976--33 years. Articles are still coming out. There are many articles on it and some book chapters, plus one book collection of essays.

I have placed some of the books on reserve in the library with an overnight limit. You can check out a book on reserve but have to return it the next day or face fines. These books mostly contain a chapter on Ceremony, but some of them have interesting introductory chapters on American Indian literature that may offer helpful ideas and provide historical and critical context. The one edited collection of essays has a range of approaches, some very good; most are useful in some way.

There are many good articles in journals that are not included in any of the above-mentioned books. These you need to access through databases, search engines, etc. There are two main types of databases. one kind has mostly citations. The MLA database is typical. It has a huge number of citations, although it is not complete because you have to pay (yes, pay money) to be listed in it. In the MLA database you can mark, save, and email citation lists to yourself. Then you go to Alden library and find the journal, volume, year, and the article. The MLA does have some full-text articles online. This is a recent and welcome development.

The second major kind has the entire article available, usually in .pdf format. JSTOR is typical. Libraries pay for access to JSTOR; access is therefore restricted to students and faculty--folks with OU IDs. You can log in from off-campus. JSTOR is a great source for articles on Ceremony; however, the number of journals they have in the field of English Studies is quite limited. But you can read around in a source on the screen, and then download it, print it, work with it, all without going to the library.

Academic Search Complete (an EBSCO database) is a good source for both citations and full-text articles, so it is a mix of the two types described above. I went there and used ‘Leslie Marmon Silko’ as the search term and got quite a list of both citations and full-text. Not all are on Ceremony, but many are, and some are ones I have not seen before that look promising. The citations have links, Find It, on how to find the journal. Note that some would have to be ordered through the annex or Ohiolink (takes a few days).

Example (also is listed in MLA):
Bassett, Troy J. “"My Brother": The Recovery of Rocky in Leslie Marmon Silko's "Ceremony.".” American Indian Culture & Research Journal, v. 28 issue 1, 2004, p. 35-40.

When you click on Find it, you are taken to a page with a window that tells you the journal is available on Alden sixth floor. Checking the years available, it looks like this 2004 article is available. The link to finding it on Lexis/Nexis was a bust, so you’d have to go to Alden to look at it.

*Beware of the very short pieces in Explicator. They may be useful, but you need to limit your use of them. They tend to focus on some small aspect, and so are called “notes” rather than articles.

Other databases: There are many! Go to the Library front page and then click on Infotree, then click on Humanities and you will see a long list. Or you can go straight to literature, under Humanities and get a smaller list. Keep looking and you will find JSTOR, MLA, and various others, including some web-based ones, such as Intute and Voice of the Shuttle. I went to Intute and entered Leslie Marmon Silko and got a link to the Nativewiki site, which then got me to their entry on Silko. There you can find some links to other sources, including articles, interviews, and more.

Sources to be wary off: the oft-maligned Wikipedia is good for initial searching, in the way most encyclopedias are. It’s best to double-check any facts you end up relying on to make an argument.

The quality of web sources varies greatly from excellent to execrable. For our research, it is best to use vetted sources, such as professional articles and books or materials on web sites that screen materials.

In class, we will do some searches in MLA, JSTOR, and Academic Search Complete. We may do some others. I might send you off to Alden to get something (if you come back!)

I do recommend printing out online articles and photocopying print journal articles. I hestitate to suggest it because of the use of paper (trees, you know), but it is worthwhile to do so on the articles you will use the most. Skim and read some first, and if it looks promising as major source, go ahead and spring for the print out/photocopy.

Research Resources
Databases (Use advanced search when available. Access these through the OU Libraries Web site)

MLA International Bibliography
Academic Search Complete
JSTOR
Alice Online catalogue
OhioLink
Humanities International Complete
Literary Reference Center

Style and Citations Guides

Purdue OWL
OSU

Rouzie's summary of Bird

Bird, Gloria. “Towards a Decolonization of the Mind and Text: Leslie Marmon Silko’s ‘Ceremony’” Wicazo Sa Review 9 (Autumn 1993) : 1-8. JSTOR. Ohio University Library, Athens, OH. 2 April 2009

According to Bird, Indians’ acceptance of the image of themselves as a vanishing and inferior people demonstrates the effects of colonization: they have internalized images and ideas about Indians from mainstream culture. Colonization works by converting the colonized people to the beliefs of the majority, creating self-hatred that leads them to abolish their differences in order to assimilate. An example of this is Bird’s mother refusing to teach her their native language, which left Bird feeling alienated from her history. Bird sees Silko's novel Ceremony as a ”decolonizing text” that exposes internalized oppression. Ceremony challenges these patterns of thought and representation by inviting readers to identify and name them, thus freeing readers, Native and non-native alike, to envision a future where difference from the white mainstream is not stigmatized. Ceremony is therefore a “critical fiction,” defined by bell hooks as works that use language and imagination to challenge readers’ acceptance of oppressive structures. Silko achieves this in Ceremony by employing a number of subversive strategies. Silko makes the reader view the world through native eyes, displacing the usual white narrator. She creates a close relationship between the mythic and realist worlds that Tayo must learn to understand, transcending western notions of linear time. Additionally, her use of fragments underscores the connections between the land, the people, and the stories that are so important to Indian cultures. Language and stories are demonstrated as a powerful means of challenging received ideas. Silko uses Auntie’s Christianity as a way of exploring that religion’s negative, colonizing effects. She employs mixed blood characters to challenge the separation caused by colonizing discourse and makes Tayo’s healing dependant on his understanding and rejection of the colonized version of himself and his culture. Bird teaches Ceremony to attempt to decolonize student’s minds.

My reflection on the above:
Reading this over, I think I expressed her main points and translated her jargon effectively. I did not focus on the autobiographical elements of her article. I chose to focus on her argument points about the novel, but I have to admit that the personal writing in the essay makes it more interesting. It also sets it off from your more standard lit crit essay. She has some absurdly jargoned out moments; I am baffled as to why she felt she had to do that. At other times, her theorizing is useful.

I could not have done a good job with 150 words. Reading my students’ summaries, I see that some are not summaries at all (worrisome), some cover one or two points of the article, some go for a general overall version. Some are really good, but few, if any, cover the main points completely. Many of you struggled with the typical features of a summary.

For Tuesday--Summarize Bird

For Tuesday we are reading and writing a summary of Gloria Bird's 1993 article on Ceremony. The article is available in BB in course documents. You should print a copy to work on the summary and bring the copy to class on T.

Write a 150 word summary of the article--what it says. First review the handout about summarizing that is available in course documents. Read the article once through, underlining what you think might be possible points to summarize.

The underlined parts will help you focus, but you will also need to do some synthesizing, that is, articulating what she is saying by taking the parts and whole of the essay into account. This is because most arguments are more than their stated main points. And in summaries you sometimes have to combine points.

Keep this in mind: a legitimate summary, one that avoids plagiarism of the source, alters the language and sentence structure of the original. This is more important when paraphrasing. Summarizing is more compressed but the rules still apply. Typically you need to use parenthetical citations, but do not do that for this summary.

Do put the entire citation, MLA style as much as possible, at the top of your summary. Skip a line before the summary.

Do use attributive tags such as "Bird asserts that Ceremony is a "decolonizing text." " and "according to Bird, . . ." etc.

Post your summary to your blog before class and do not read anyone else's summary before writing your own.

Other Don'ts: Don't write a journal entry on what this made you think about. Just summarize what Bird says. Don't use "I" or mention our class etc.



Dr R

Ceremony for Tuesday

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 story relates to Tayo because he can be identified with it's message and with the story as a whole. In the story the people allow themselves to be tricked by an outside influence and that causes them to neglect their own beliefs and work they do. In a reaction to the peoples disobedience their god takes away vital elements they need to survive. So the people enlist the help of the hummingbird that can fly from world to world and talk with the mother god. She tells the bird how to help the people get back what they have lost.

Much like Tayo he feels and knows that he has angered the god or spirits and it has affected not only him but his people and the land. He feels his decisions have directly effected the world and like the hummingbird and the people they he is searching and trying to find a way to make things right.


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?

The theme of Christianity occurs from the white man. It is used to confuse the Indian people and steal their identity. One example the text gives is how the Indian names that everything has get European names which cause confusion and strips the land and people of their heritage. It act as a divider and works to separate the people through it's messages. Christianity evokes many feelings among the people. Feelings of resentment and anger. Also feelings regret, pity, and sadness. It also cause individuality which goes against the Indian traditon of family and wholeness. This the narrator feels is attributed to the message of Jesus Christ and being able to only save the individuals soul.



The long story.poem, p. 122-128, is of how "witchery" created whites and the onslaught of Europeans and all the destruction they brought. Gloss this poem to identify how the story represents Europeans and their relationship with the world. Consider also: what is the point of Betonie emphasizing the American Indian role in the destruction? What IS his point? Why does he think it is important for Tayo to think about it in this way?

The poem identifies the relationship between the Europeans and the world as being careless and destructive to the world. They have no value or care for the earth and it's features and feel no connection at all. THe text say that, "The `trees and rivers are not alive. The mountains and stones are not alive." It also say if they fear something the destroy it. That includes the earth and the Indian people they will soon encounter. The text also say they will bring with them sickness and disease and that will lead to the destruction of the indian people. They will poison the water the poem says.

The role Betonie say the American Indians had in the destruction is in the poem about how the witches of every Indian tribe gather and created such an evil force that they caused the European to come, thir evil magic brang the white people to them. The poem said that it was because of the witches foolish competition and them trying to one up one another that they got carried away and it could not be undone. I think his point is that their people must be careful. I'm not quite sure why it's important for him to think about it in that way. I think it has something to do with deception and neglecting to pay attention to how your action may cause things to happen that will not only hurt you but also hurt other. I could be way off.

Ceremony for Tuesday

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 story relates to Tayo because he can be identified with it's message and with the story as a whole. In the story the people allow themselves to be tricked by an outside influence and that causes them to neglect their own beliefs and work they do. In a reaction to the peoples disobedience their god takes away vital elements they need to survive. So the people enlist the help of the hummingbird that can fly from world to world and talk with the mother god. She tells the bird how to help the people get back what they have lost.

Much like Tayo he feels and knows that he has angered the god or spirits and it has affected not only him but his people and the land. He feels his decisions have directly effected the world and like the hummingbird and the people they he is searching and trying to find a way to make things right.

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?

The theme of Christianity occurs from the white man. It is used to confuse the Indian people and steal their identity. One example the text gives is how the Indian names that everything has get European names which cause confusion and strips the land and people of their heritage. It act as a divider and works to separate the people through it's messages. Christianity evokes many feelings among the people. Feelings of resentment and anger. Also feelings regret, pity, and sadness. It also cause individuality which goes against the Indian traditon of family and wholeness. This the narrator feels is attributed to the message of Jesus Christ and being able to only save the individuals soul.

The long story.poem, p. 122-128, is of how "witchery" created whites and the onslaught of Europeans and all the destruction they brought. Gloss this poem to identify how the story represents Europeans and their relationship with the world. Consider also: what is the point of Betonie emphasizing the American Indian role in the destruction? What IS his point? Why does he think it is important for Tayo to think about it in this way?

The poem identifies the relationship between the Europeans and the world as being careless and destructive to the world. They have no value or care for the earth and it's features and feel no connection at all. THe text say that, "The `trees and rivers are not alive. The mountains and stones are not alive." It also say if they fear something the destroy it. That includes the earth and the Indian people they will soon encounter. The text also say they will bring with them sickness and disease and that will lead to the destruction of the indian people. They will poison the water the poem says.

The role Betonie say the American Indians had in the destruction is in the poem about how the witches of every Indian tribe gather and created such an evil force that they caused the European to come, thir evil magic brang the white people to them. The poem said that it was because of the witches foolish competition and them trying to one up one another that they got carried away and it could not be undone. I think his point is that their people must be careful. I'm not quite sure why it's important for him to think about it in that way. I think it has something to do with deception and neglecting to pay attention to how your action may cause things to happen that will not only hurt you but also hurt other. I could be way off.

Blog writing prompts for Tues. 4/14

Work with three of the following questions. Post your work to your blog prior to class on Tuesday. Copy and paste the question into your post above your work on it.

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?

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?

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).

We are also introduced to Josiah’s Mexican lover, the Flamenco dancer, Night Swan. What do we find out about her? What significance attaches to her character? What’s with all the blue? How does what she tells Tayo connect with elements that come up in other parts of the novel?

We read a flashback to Tayo's early years (0-4) with his mother in Gallup, then we meet Betonie, the mixed breed medicine man, who lives in the Indian area of Gallup. Discuss what we readers should take note of in the presentation of Betonie, his hogan, his views, and his collections.

The long story.poem, p. 122-128, is of how "witchery" created whites and the onslaught of Europeans and all the destruction they brought. Gloss this poem to identify how the story represents Europeans and their relationship with the world. Consider also: what is the point of Betonie emphasizing the American Indian role in the destruction? What IS his point? Why does he think it is important for Tayo to think about it in this way?

Ceremonies and Ethnicity

Carefully re-read the pages that involve the old medicine man, Ku’oosh, p. 31-34. Explain the significance of how Ku’oosh speaks, chooses words, and of his point about the fragility of the world.

In pages 31 to 34 Ku'oosh the medicine man has come to see Tayo. His grandmother has been concerned about him and his change in behavior. Ku'oosh speak in a concern yet understanding tone with Tayo and is careful not to offend him with his words. He uses native word and English word because he knows Tayo doesn't fully understand his vocabulary. Tayo has been traumatized by his involvement in the war. The fragility of the world to me represents the state that Tayo is in and how he thinks and sees the world, which is unbalanced and uneasy.

Describe, as best as you can, Auntie’s attitudes about Tayo, mixed blood, and religion.

Auntie doesn't fully seem too accepting of Tayo because he is half white. She care about him but doesn't try to force any of their cultural aspect on him because of that. She also doesn't try and force the religion on him because she feels he may not truly understand it or accept it because he is a half blooded.

Blog writing prompts for Th 4/09

Blog prompt for Ceremony, p. 1-58

Write on two of the following, of your choice. Please copy and paste those questions into your post. Please use the return key to add white space between paragraphs and post your writing into your blog.

Given what you have read so far (esp. the Pueblo stories, the Hopi film, and Silko essays), what connections can you draw between the first few pages (the poems) of Ceremony and these materials?

Explain why Tayo blames himself for the six year drought.

Carefully re-read the pages that involve the old medicine man, Ku’oosh, p. 31-34. Explain the significance of how Ku’oosh speaks, chooses words, and of his point about the fragility of the world.

Describe, as best as you can, Auntie’s attitudes about Tayo, mixed blood, and religion.

On p. 42-45 and 49-50, are fragments of the hummingbird story. Look at this and some of the other set off stories (centered on the page) and write some about any connections you see between the stories and Tayo’s narrative.

Explain, from what you see so far, how the novel represents race and racial politics.