The art of storytelling in Leslie Silko's Ceremony

Abstract

A high school teacher describes her use of Leslie Marmon Silko's novel "Ceremony." This novel incorporates the art of storytelling, myths, rituals and ceremonies of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians in the southwest US.

As an introduction to Native American culture, I teach Leslie Marmon Silko's novel, Ceremony (1986), in my American-novel class for college-bound juniors and seniors. Ceremony incorporates the art of storytelling and the myths, rituals, and ceremonies of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians in the southwest United States. Silko writes, "You don't have anything if you don't have the stories" (Mitchell 1979, 28).

The narrative structure of the novel is a challenge for students because there are no chapter divisions. Silko uses both prose and poetic forms to tell the story of Tayo, a young half-breed Laguna Pueblo Indian who has lost his will to survive after suffering through the Bataan Death March and a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. The prose sections provide the students with the events of Tayo's life before, during, and after World War II, while the poetic structures are the myths, legends, and chants of the Pueblo and Navajo tribes.

The difficulty in teaching Ceremony, however, is not in its narrative structure or its readability, but in students' lack of understanding of the Native American way of life. Therefore, I begin this unit with the following assignment. I give each student copies of the Cheyenne creation myth and the first three chapters of Genesis from the Bible. I emphasize that the material from Genesis is used as literature in this context. The students read these myths before the next class period and bring a list of differences between them using the following questions:

Who creates the universe?

How is the universe created?

How does each myth present the world and its inhabitants or the world view?

During the discussion, we develop a chart based upon the assigned questions on the chalkboard or overhead and list the differences. (See Figure 1.) (Figure 1 omitted)

I add to the chart the concept of time and space because my students are often mystified and confused by the movement of time in the novel. They complain that Silko jumps about from the past to the present and back again. The literary critic, Paula Gunn Allen, calls this "ceremonial time" in which "events are structured in a way that emphasizes the motion inherent in the interplay of person and event" (Allen 1986, 148). By using a circle and dividing Tayo's life into four time-periods and by continually reminding students that we are viewing time as cyclical rather than sequential, I help them comprehend why all the events in Tayo's life tie together. (See Figure 2). (Figure 2 omitted)

Throughout the novel, Silko weaves into Tayo's narrative the ancient myths of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes, their ceremonies, and rituals. Because Tayo is a half-breed who has neither training nor education in the Laguna way of life, he experiences profound alienation and despair. For Tayo and the students, these stories and traditions help "make the old ways understandable and relevant to the contemporary situation" (Mitchell 1979, 28). In the first four pages, Silko presents the Laguna creation myth, a ceremony, and a ritual. In the center of these are the myths or sacred narratives. For Native Americans, these stories concern the universe and the spiritual domain. They are didactic because they teach the history of the people, how to live, and how to survive. According to Allen, "myth is a story of vision;...a vehicle of transmission of sharing and renewal." It connects the past with the present. Silko's myths "show us that it is possible to relate ourselves to the grand and mysterious universe that surrounds and informs our being....The mythic heals, it makes us whole" (Allen 1986, 116-17). Folklorist Carol Mitchell explains that by using the Laguna creation myth at the beginning of the book "Silko recreates the power and time of creation. The cosmic creation is the exemplary model of all life," and Silko hopes that it will restore the patient, Tayo. Mitchell also believes that the use of this myth is a "spiritual means by which the novelist is inspired in her creative work" (Mitchell 1979, 28).

Ceremonies are the ritual enactment of the myths, that is, the actual telling of the stories by the shaman or storyteller. Silko states,

I will tell you something about the stories,

[he said]

They aren't just entertainment.

Don't be fooled.

They are all we have, you see,

all we have to fight off

illness and death.

And in the belly of this story

the rituals and the ceremony

are still growing.

(qtd. in Mitchell 1979, 28)

Finally, there are the rituals. These are the actual physical doing of what is told in the myths. The purpose of the procedure is to "transform something (or someone) from one state or condition to another" (Allen 1986, 103). The novel is a healing ritual which changes Tayo from a diseased state, one of isolation and despair, to one of health, incorporation with his people. I use a circle which places the myths in the center and the ceremonies and rituals around the edges. (See Figure 3.) (Figure 3 omitted)

As the students read the novel, they identify these three traditions and discuss how they are used within the text. By using the circle, the students begin to see the connections among them and why they are central to Tayo's story.

Myth, ceremony, and ritual converge at the center of the novel. Tayo is sent by his family and village elders to Betonie, a Navajo shaman, to help him recover. Silko, through the character of Betonie, narrates the Coyote Transformation story in which Coyote steals a son-in-law away from his family. Coyote transforms himself into the son-in-law while the young man becomes Coyote. The family searches for their child, and when they find him, they must ask the four old bear people for help in bringing the boy back to normal. The ritual described in this story is the actual procedure that Betonie uses for Tayo. Betonie creates a sand painting for Tayo's ritual.

He [Tayo] sat in the center of the white corn sand painting. The rainbows crossed were in the painting behind him. Betonie's helper scraped the sand away and buried the bottoms of the hoops in little trenches so that they were standing up and spaced apart, with the hard oak closest to him and the wild rose hoop in front of the door. The old man painted a dark mountain range beside the farthest hoop, the next closer, he painted blue, and moving toward him, he knelt and made the yellow mountains; and in front of him, Betonie painted the white mountain range. (141-142)

The hoops "represent a space so narrowed down that it is under ceremonial control, an area from which evil has been ritualistically driven and within which power has been concentrated" (Kingsolver 1990, 299).Tayo re-enacts the mythological events, and when he is lifted through the hoops, he is symbolically freed from evil. Tayo then experiences a cosmic sense of the universe.

He took a deep breath of cold mountain air; there were no boundaries; the world below and the sand paintings inside became the same that night. The mountains from all directions had been gathered there that night. (145)

At the end of the ceremony, Betonie has a vision for Tayo. "Remember these stars," he said. "I've seen them and I've seen the spotted cattle; I've seen a mountain and I've seen a woman" (152). This concludes the ceremony, and now Tayo must complete the ritual by seeing the stars, finding the cattle and mountain, and discovering the woman.

Ceremony is a complex novel, but its richness and texture provide students with an accurate depiction of Native American ways of life. Because Silko is a remarkable and accomplished storyteller, the students have no difficulty identifying or analyzing the theme of alienation. When they complete this unit, they come away with an understanding and appreciation for this culture. I ask the students to evaluate the novel.

Aaron: This novel made me think about and question our Western traditions. This not only made me realize our wrongdoing but to detest it.

Mary Beth: This is the most spiritual book I have ever read. What an ending when Tayo refuses to fight Emo. I know Tayo will be at peace. That's comforting.

Barbara Kingsolver best states my hope for teaching Ceremony as we approach the twenty-first century: "The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be neither the destroyers nor the destroyed" (Kingsolver 1990, 299).

WORKS CITED

Allen, Paula Gunn. 1986. "The Ceremonial Motion of Indian Time: Long Ago, So Far." The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Boston: Beacon. 147-54.

--. 1986b. "Something Sacred Going on Out There: Myth and Vision in American Indian Literature." The Sacred Hoop: Recognizing the Feminine in the American Indian Traditions. Boston: Beacon. 102-17.

Mitchell, Carol. 1979. "Ceremony as Ritual." American Indian Quarterly 5 (Feb.): 27-35.

Bell, Robert C. 1979. "Circular Design in Ceremony." American Indian Quarterly 5 (Feb.): 49.

Kingsolver, Barbara. 1990. Animal Dreams. New York: Harper.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. 1986. Ceremony. New York: Penguin.