Response to Course Material Blog (4/27)

Oh My God! We're almost done. AHHH!

So since the last blog post I feel like there hasn't been too much we've done, at least in variety.

We finished Ceremony. Overall I didn't think it was a bad novel and I liked it as a whole but looking closer at it was not fun for me. I got frustrated because I wasn't picking up the little nuances that Ms. Holmes wanted us to be picking up and I just didn't have much to say about the novel in general, which was not good for discussion. This has been the piece of literature that I've struggled with the most this year. I think the last time I struggled so much with a piece of literature was Of Mice and Men back in English 10, but for different reasons.

We've done some odds and ends things. There was the Woman Hollering Creek forum post, that wasn't too bad. It was definitely an interesting thing to read and then looking for symbols was sort of fun since they didn't scream symbolism, they were more subtle so you really had to read into the piece to find them. I wasn't there the day we did the poetry stuff so I don't really have anything to say about that. The different criticisms of Ceremony were fun to read. My criticism examined the deer, mountain lion, yellow woman, and bear in the text. As cool as it was to read at times it was a bit weird, like when Tayo was compared to the Sun God who is sometimes the lover of the Yellow Woman and sometimes the brother or son (I don't remember which it was, sorry). That sort of incest idea reminded me of Hamlet and scared me for the next few paragraphs. I think the class discussion of those articles was a little strained, for my class it was sort of a "just summarize the main points of your criticism and sit back and listen to what everyone else has to say about their own article", there wasn't a lot of discussion involved. Oddly, it reminded me of classes where the teacher gives a lecture and no one is really paying attention or when people give presentations and really you're only thinking about the one you have to give. We also have done some more multiple choice and prompt practice, which I've found helpful, I only wish we had more time to practice before the test.

Last week we spent a lot of time working on the Weebly site essay. While I liked the idea I feel that in practice it may not have been the most practical way of getting us to work across classes. I understand that in college we will have to work with people outside of our class completely in an online situation, but I think for what this assignment was it made it very difficult. Or maybe I was just stressed about the amount of work that needed to be done in the time period we were given, I don't know. In the end I liked the finished product my group created. My group did an analysis of Ophelia's role in Hamlet and how her relationships with Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet drove the play to its tragic end. Doing this essay reminded me of the huge research essay we did in Brit Lit with Patnoude, where we had to use a literary criticism to examine a book from book circles and write an essay about it.

So we have like 2 weeks until the AP test? While I'm excited for the wait to be over and the test to be done with I'm nervous for the test. I feel like I'm only really starting to understand how to write the essays to get high scores and with the multiple choice I just never know. Hopefully these problems resolve themselves before the test.

Open Prompt Blog part 2 (4/20)

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range 

of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, 

or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay 

analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or 

themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

     In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Yoric's skull plays a key role in helping Hamlet determine who he is and whether or not he will kill Claudius. Yoric's skull is discovered late in the play during a scene that is meant to give some comic relief. Despite the lighthearted nature of the scene, the weight of Yoric's skull is the key turning point for Hamlet in the play. Through the discovery of Yoric's skull, Hamlet decides who he is and and the path he wants to take, all while showing that things work themselves out when you leave everything to providence.

     Since the beginning of the play, Hamlet struggles with killing his uncle to avenge his father. His duty to avenge his father stirs up conflicting feelings that are not resolved until Yoric's skull is discovered. Upon discovering the skull, Hamlet realizes that the court jester, Yoric, was more of a father to him than his biological father ever was. By deciding that Yoric was in reality his father, Hamlet no longer feels the need to avenge Old Hamlet's death. This decision takes away the conflict of killing Claudius and when Hamlet went to fight Laertes he had no intention of killing his uncle. 

     Avenging his biological father's death brought up a moral conflict within Hamlet. He became caught between the duty to avenge his father and leaving everything to providence like his religion says. In the moment he decides on who his father really is Hamlet also decides to leave everything to providence. Hamlet had no intention of killing Claudius when he went to duel Laertes, but that is where his uncle died. Since Hamlet left Claudius' death up to providence, providence intervened to have Claudius killed. Yoric's skull led Hamlet down a path not of killing but of having faith that his god would do what is right. 

     Yoric's skull reveals a key theme of Hamlet. Throughout the play Hamlet struggled with choosing between what society and tradition stated and what his religion stated. Hamlet's epiphany, caused by the discovery of Yoric's skull, led him to leave Claudius' death in God's hands. By deciding to side with his religion's ideas rather than society's, the scene with Yoric's skull revealed that when things are left in God's hands they work themselves out. Discovering Yoric's skull is a symbolic event that reveals things work out for the best when they are left in the hands of a higher, divine being.

     The scene involving the discovery of Yoric's skull is a small scene that has a major impact on the rest of the play. Symbolizing Hamlet's real father and the choice to leave things to providence, Yoric's skull leads Hamlet down a new path. Yoric's skull helped Hamlet see that his real father was not his biological father, thus erasing Hamlet's need to kill Claudius and in effect letting him leave everything to be worked out by providence. This also reveals the importance of providence in the work as Claudius dies after Hamlet gives up the desire to avenge Old Hamlet's death. By revealing the importance of providence in the work and helping Hamlet decide who his father really was, the symbol of Yoric's skull helps Hamlet forge his own path.

Ceremony Summary and Analysis Blog

     Ceremony was written by Leslie Marmon Silko. Silko is part of the Laguna Pueblo tribe and she was part of the first wave in the Native American Renaissance. Her mixed nationalities (Laguna Pueblo, Mexican American, Anglo American) can clearly be seen in Ceremony.


CHARACTERS:
     Tayo: a World War Two veteran, Tayo struggles with being mixed race (Laguna Pueblo/Anglo American) and balancing his Laguna culture and the ideals of white society. He is aware of how the world really is towards natives. He is tasked with stopping the destroyers/witches. Tayo mourns the deaths of Rocky and Josiah, is friends with Harley and Leroy, does not get along with Emo. He blames himself for the drought and is determined to get Josiah's Mexican cattle back.

     Betonie: Medicine man who helps guide Tayo towards curing himself and stopping the witches. He is sort of an outcast due to his contact with whites and struggles to change and create a new ceremony to help the modern world.

     Auntie: Tayo's aunt, a Laguna Pueblo who has chosen Christianity over her culture. She thinks of Tayo as an embarrassment to the family and is a constant reminder of her sister's (Tayo's mom) trist with a white man. Auntie runs the household and is a proud and spiteful woman.

     Josiah: Tayo's uncle who died while Tayo was in the Philippines fighting. He taught Tayo about Laguna Pueblo traditions and fell in love with Night Swan (a Mexican) who convinced him to by hybrid cattle which he then tried to raise.

     Harley: a World War Two veteran, Harley is one of Tayo's friends. Unlike Tayo, Harley seems to be less troubled but is an alcoholic. He seems to only want to remember the good times and not accept that those times are over.

     Rocky: Tayo's cousin/adoptive brother who dies in the Philippines during World War Two. He was a football star, smart, and the "perfect" integration of Laguna Pueblo and White culture.

     Grandma: Tayo's grandmother who is old and wise. She takes Tayo to a medicine man and supports/protects him from Auntie.

     Night Swan: Josiah's girlfriend who also seduces and sleeps with Tayo. She is a Mexican and former cantina dancer but she is very self-aware. Night Swan helps Tayo begin to accept his differences and change.

     Ku'oosh: an old Laguna medicine man who is very traditional. He tries to cleanse Tayo of killing with the Scalping Ceremony (though Tayo had never killed anyone before) and proceeds to send Tayo on to someone else.

     Emo: a World War Two veteran, Emo degrades Tayo  for his mixed race status. He likes killing, drinks a lot, and is constantly trying to relive his glory days. A destroyer, Emo has had a few altercations with Tayo (including being stabbed in the stomach by him). He carries around the teeth of a Japanese colonel he killed during the war.

     Robert: Tayo's uncle and Auntie's husband, Robert is mild-mannered and quiet who truly cares for Tayo and welcomes him home from war. Robert is the one to warn Tayo of Emo's attack.

     Ts'eh: Helps Tayo complete the ceremony, find the cattle, and evade his pursuers. She has sex with Tayo.

     Descheeny: Betonie's grandfather, he began the creation of a new ceremony years before and recognizes the need of Native Americans and Mexicans to work together.

     Leroy: a World War Two veteran, a friend of Tayo's, and Harley's drinking buddy.

     Pinkie: a childhood friend of Tayo and Emo's drinking buddy/sidekick. He is later betrayed and killed by Emo.

     Laura: Tayo's mother and Auntie's sister who has an interracial relationship. She is unable to care for Tayo which leads to him staying with Auntie.

     Helen Jean: a woman Harley and Leroy pick up in a bar. She is representative of young Native American women looking for jobs but end up turning to prostitution and alcoholism.


SETTING:
For most of Ceremony, the setting is the Laguna Pueblo Reservation; the Philippines during World War Two; the 4th and 5th worlds. Ceremony is mainly set shortly after World War Two but also contains flashbacks to before and during the war.


PLOT:

• Tayo is laying awake in bed, unable to sleep due to the voices he is hearing in his head. He remembers being in the Philippines to fight in World War Two and how he was unable to shoot and kill Japanese soldiers. Tayo's cousin Rochy had to reason with Tayo when he believed that one of the Japanese soldiers was his uncle Josiah.
• Tayo gets up and begins working on feeding the animals on the ranch and tries not to think of Josiah. We learn there is a drought going on that Tayo blames himself for as he had cursed the rain while in the Philippines.
• The story of Iktoa'ak'o'ya-Reed Woman going back down below and taking the rain with her is told.
• Tayo remembers returning home from war and being "white smoke." He was taken to a doctor who eventually pulls him from the smoke. He remembers being at the train station and seeing Japanese persons walking around. Tayo faints and when he wakes asks a depot man why the Japanese are not imprisoned anymore to which the man responds that they were freed shortly after Pearl Harbor. Tayo vomits.
• Tayo is hanging around outside when Harley rides up. Harley tells how he tried to help tend the livestock but his family wont let him. Tayo recalls the last time Harley tended the livestock and how it ended up with Harley in jail and 30 sheep and 1 sheep dog killed by wild animals. Harley remarks that his mom tried to keep him farthest away from the bars but by going to Tayo's he unintentionally went to the place farthest from the bars. It is mentioned that Tayo stabbed Emo in the stomach at one point.
• Tayo and Harley begin to make their way towards a bar and on the way there, Tayo remembers coming home after the war and old Grandma using Rocky's insurance money to buy an old heater. This leads Tayo to thinking that Rocky should have been the one to live. Tayo begins crying and they stop traveling as Harley believes Tayo has sunstroke.
• Tayo recollects coming home from war and how he was only a burden to Auntie, a way for her to play the martyr. He laid around sick due to "battle fatigue." Tayo told Robert he'd help him in the fields when he got better.
• Old Grandma believes Tayo needs the help of a medicine man and after a brief argument with Auntie, calls in old Ku'oosh. Ku'oosh tries to cure Tayo with the Scalp ceremony by cleaasing him of those he'd killed in the war. The ceremony did not work as Tayo had never killed anyone.
• A poem about the Scalp Society for warriors is told.
• At the Dixie Tavern, Tayo is isolated form the other veterans who are having a good time. He remembers how in uniform things were different. White women wanted him and old white women "blessed" him. Tayo is aware that these things are happening only because of the uniform he wore.
• Tayo tells the other veterans a story about how their glory days are over now that the uniforms are gone. He goes on a rant about how things had changed, their money was gone, and they were looked down upon again. Tayo significantly brought the mood down in the bar.
• Tayo and the corporal are carrying Rocky on a stretcher when the corporal stumbles. A Japanese soldier comes over and smashes Rocky on the head with a rifle butt, killing him. We learn that Tayo was in a prison camp at some point during the war.
• Tayo remembers a drought when he was little and how Josiah explained the drought happening because people have forgotten.
• The story of Pa'caya'nyi, a Ck'o'yo medicine man who showed the people magic and how they forgot about their mother corn alter, is told. As punishment the plants and grass were taken.
• Tayo remembers when he and Rocky killed a deer and how Rocky scoffed  a the old traditions. Tayo also remembers what happened the last time her went to a bar (i.e. stabbing Emo in the belly).
• The now starving people find Hummingbird who tells them there is plenty of food three worlds down (continued from the Pa'caya'nyi story).
• Emo accuses Tayo of believing himself to be superior because he is half-white. Harley, Leroy, and Emo tell stories of their conquests of white women. Emo once again accuses Tayo of believing himself better than them and begins playing with the teeth of a Japanese soldier that he took. It is clear that Emo enjoys killing and Tayo calls him out on it. Emo responds by saying Tayo loves the Japanese and makes a comment about Tayo's mother, causing Tayo to lunge at him and the cops to take Tayo away. 
• We learn that Tayo joined the army because of Rocky, especially since he called him his brother for the first time.Auntie always made sure that Tayo knew he was different when he was younger.
• Humming bird offers to help the people by passing along messages if they gave him a special jar and sang a special song. 
• The story of Josiah buying the Mexican cattle is told. While Rocky and Auntie didn't like the idea of the Mexican cattle (or that it was Night Swan's idea), Tayo loved the cattle because Josiah included him in the plans. Unfortunately the raising of cattle did not last long as they became lost a week after being delivered ( Josiah does brand his cattle though).
• Fly and Hummingbird agree to help the people and travel to the beautiful and flourishing world four worlds down.
• Josiah meets Night Swan and falls in love with her and spends every night with her. Auntie is upset when she finds out but Grandma doesn't mind.  
• Tayo takes a trip up to the canyon and prays for rain. He watches a spider drink, sees a hummingbird, and the next day the drought is ended as it rains.
• Tayo takes a note to Night Swan for Josiah and while he is there to deliver it has sex with Night Swan. She says that she had been watching him because of his different eyes and she tells him that change is everywhere and that it is okay.
• Fly and Hummingbird visit their mother asking for food and rain. She tells them to have old Buzzard purify the town.
• While Tayo wants to help on the ranch, Robert informs him that other members in the community want him to get help; Tayo starts feeling low again.
• Old Buzzard requests more offerings to help the town when Fly and Hummingbird ask for his help.
• Tayo is sent to see Betonie who scares him at first. After listening to Tayo speak about the war, Betonie tells him that he needs to complete a ceremony but that parts of the ceremony must change. Shush, Betonie's helper, enters and Betonie assures Tayo that Shush is not a witch as witches dress up in animal skins. Betonie tells that whites were the invention of Indian witchcraft and let loose on the world. Together the three go to the foothills of the mountains where Betonie begins performing the ceremony the Bear People used to say a young man captured by Coyote on Tayo.
• Betonie tells the story of men bringing a strange woman to his grandfather Descheeny who ended up taking the woman as one of his wives. Due to his other wives' jealousy, the strange girl had to be moved to a winter house below the mountains. The girls past and heritage is discussed.
• Fly and Hummingbird return to the town to get tobacco for old Buzzard but the people have none so instead they must go see caterpillar.
• Betonie tells Tayo that for the ceremony to truly work and be complete it will take a long time, even though Tayo is already beginning to feel better. 
• When walking home, Tayo is picked up by Harley and Leroy who have been drinking with a woman they picked up named Helen Jean. Tayo reluctantly joins them and they go to a bar where they continue to drink until Harley and Leroy are completely drunk. Helen Jean leaves to join another man she had been flirting with but Tayo, the only sober one, is the only one to notice.
• Helen Jean had been searching for a job to help her family out. She found a very low paying job cleaning a movie theater but when her boss began expecting sexual favors she left and ended up turning to working the drunk men at bars. This eventually leads to prostitution.
• Leroy and Harley get into a fight and Tayo is forced to get them into the truck and home while they piss and throw up on themselves.
• The story of Ck'o'yo Kaup'a'ta the gambler is told. He was so good that he even managed to catch the rain clouds. When the sun (the rain clouds' father) came to save them Spider Woman told him out to beat the gambler and the rain clouds were won back.
• Tayo finds one of the star signs that Betonie told him to watch for when he rests at a woman's house overnight.
• Hummingbird and Fly find Caterpillar who gives them the tobacco they need for Old Buzzard to purify the town.
• Tayo and his hostess have sex and in the morning Tayo leaves. He goes and begins looking for Josiah's cattle in hopes of bringing them home to fulfill Josiah's plans with the cattle. He finds the cattle on another farmer's farm. After a brief encounter with a mountain lion, Tayo finally finds the cattle and begins directing them through a hole in the farmer's fence. Tayo is caught by two patrol men but when they notice the mountain lion tracks they chose to go after it instead of Tayo. The tracks and evidence of Tayo taking the cattle are covered in snow.
• Tayo stays with a hunter and his wife who has secured Josiah's cattle. Upon returning with Robert and a cattle truck, they see that the cattle have been well cared for but they hunter and his wife are gone.
• Grandma believes Tayo is cured but Auntie is still skeptical. He helps Robert on the ranch during the day and decides to live on the ranch for good. There, Tayo meets the woman, Ts'eh, again. Tayo sees another one of Betonie's signs and begins bringing the cattle back to his people. 
• Tayo stays with the woman for the summer and she shows/teaches Tayo about various plants. Robert comes to wan Tayo that Emo is convincing people that Tayo is crazy and advises him to come home. Of course Tayo ignores this and the woman tells him that Emo and the white police are after him. After evading the men, the white police give up on Tayo like Ts'eh said they would. He is then picked up by Harley and Leroy who betray him and take him to Emo. When they take him to an abandoned uranium mine, Tayo sees the last of Betonie's signs.
• Emo and Pinkie arive, beat up the car, and torture Harley for letting Tayo go. Tayo almost jumps in to kill Emo but is stopped by a gust o wind that builds up the fire, sending Leroy and Pinkie to the ground.
• Tayo plants the seeds the woman needs and Old Buzzard gets tobacco. Once Old Buzzard purifies the town the rain returns. 
• Tayo, Ku'oosh, and the elders talk and Tayo tells them about the ceremony. They perform one final ceremony on Tayo. 
• Harley and Leroy are found dead and are buried with with full military honors. Tayo is treated like a full member of the family by Auntie finally. Emo kills Pinkie and in punishment is sent to California.

ANALYSIS:

The point of view in Ceremony switches between first person and third person. A good amount of the novel is told for Tayo's perspective, first person, and gives the reader insight into what Tayo is thinking at those moments. At the same time the third person perspective gives the readers a look at how an outsider might see everything that is occurring. When the traditional poems are being told it is a little harder to tell what the point of view is, but it is reasonable to say that the perspective for the poems is also third person.

The tone in Ceremony comes across as serious and, at times, almost desperate. The most basic tone that comes through is the gravity of the novel; there is a serious problem that needs to be fixed and the person who is supposed to fix it is struggling with his own internal demons. PTSD or "battle fatigue" is a very serious issue and is not something that should be taken lightly, neither is the alcoholism and prostitution seen throughout the novel. The almost desperate tone comes through a lot when Tayo is remembering things. When he remembers the corporal slipping and Rocky coming out, Tayo's panic and distress are evident. When Tayo is in the bar telling the other veterans his "story" (which is really fact), he seems desperate to make them understand. 

The imagery in Ceremony is dominated by nature and colors. Colors are brought up many many times and it is more than just detail. The color of different things; eyes, the cat, skin; play a huge role in the novel as Tayo's eye color is one thing that singles him out among the Laguna Pueblo. All the greens, yellows, blues, and browns mentioned throughout the play give a very natural feel to the imagery as they are colors often found in nature. That said, the description of landscape and various plants is also very prominent throughout the novel. As this novel deals a lot with returning back to a more natural state, all of the nature imagery fits well and helps give the reader a picture of what's around Tayo as well as emphasizing the importance of nature.

There are two major symbols in Ceremony. The first is the spotted cattle. For Tayo, the spotted cattle are representative of his bond with Josiah who included Tayo in all his plans for the cattle. Not only do the cattle represent Josiah to Tayo, but they also represent what is keeping away the rain. In the gambler story, the storm clouds are hidden in white spotted leather bags. When Tayo finds the cattle he finds the rain. On a broader scale, the cattle are hybrids and are symbolic of the better adaptive nature that hybrids have when it comes to surviving. Like Tayo, the cattle are hybrids and they show that being a mix is not a bad thing, sometimes it's the best thing. The second major symbol is bellies. Brought up many times throughout the novel, bellies are representative of where the stories are held and kept. A lesser symbol is the atomic bomb which is symbolic of the false light created by the whites.

THESIS:
Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, warns that both good and evil are present in every culture but only by balancing personal and foreign cultures can evil be ended.

Throughout Ceremony the idea of the conflicting cultures is seen many times. The main conflicting cultures, especially for Tayo, are his family's culture, Laguna Pueblo, and society's culture, white. When one culture would try and dominate the other, evil arose and the people of the non-dominate culture were looked down upon. An example is how the rest of the world treated and saw the Laguna Pueblo people. Tayo and the other veterans were only able to get the white women when they had the uniform, they were only considered human when they had that uniform on and it appeared they were conforming to the white culture. When that was gone, that honor and respect were taken away, leaving only the degradation that was originally there behind. Also the setting of World War Two displays the idea as Americans fought the Japanese and the Japanese Americans back at home were interred.

Within Tayo this idea is also seen. Tayo himself is a mix of the two conflicting cultures in the novel. Half white and half Laguna Pueblo, Tayo struggles to accept himself just as much as the people around him. His personal animosity towards his mixed heritage makes it a sensitive subject for him, especially when Emo is around, and that animosity is only released when Tayo learns that being different isn't bad. Being part of two cultures, Tayo can see both sides, something no other character can. It also makes him the best suited to complete a ceremony fit for modern times, which combines both the old and new and works for both cultures. 

QUOTES:
"He could feel the words coming out faster and faster, the momentum building inside him like the words were all going to explode and he wanted to finish before it happened." pg. 42 (Tayo)
     I feel this is a significant quote because it shows that Tayo is not disillusioned about his place in society like some of the other veterans may be. But I like that it is described as building, that Tayo can't hold it in, that other veterans' ignorance bothers him. It shows that Tayo is a good person who cares about others, making him the perfect person to complete the ceremony.

"Indians or Mexicans or whites--most people are afraid of change. They think that if their children have the same color of skin, the same color of eyes, that nothing is changing." pg 100 (Night Swan)
     This is an important quote because Tayo has finally found another person who is not one thing like everyone else around him. He's found someone else who is also different and Night Swan's words help lead him down the path to curing and accepting himself. She is the first person to point this out, even though we may have known it was true, and just hearing the words helps Tayo. I also think this is an important quote because it people will do anything, isolate anyone, to try and keep things the way they've (always) been.

"Their highest ambition is to get human beings while they are still breathing, to hold the heart still breathing so the victim will never feel anything again. When they finish, you watch yourself from a distance and you can't even cry--not even for yourself."  pg 229 (Ts'eh)
     I believe this quote is important because it shows the inhumanity of the witches, how other people and how they feel don't matter to them. They will roll over anyone and anything to get what they want and not care about the destruction they leave behind. More than anything, I think this is the perfect description of the destroyers, how they feel about the world, and what they are capable of.