Ceremony. Why is this the odd one out? Well, for starters, we've read an odd number of books, but it seems to evade the two groups I've made. It does cover the "main themes" of both other sets of texts, but I feel that that's not really the main point of Ceremony. I also set it apart because it diverges from the other very Western texts we've read.
Learning about the Laguna culture was a very rewarding experience in understanding this novel. It took on a whole new meaning the second time I read it, before I new there had to be some reason for the way things were, but didn't understand why. The more I understood, the more beautiful it became, the poems blending in with "the story" until it becomes "the story". And that's what Silko intended, the importance of the stories, that they're shared. They become your culture, they become you.
There seems to be no other way of effectively writing Ceremony except in stream of consciousness. Tayo has managed to bust the hoop of time, instead of living on one strand of the circle, he lives all levels at once and cannot separate which Tayo he is. Only once he has completed his quest around the circle to undo the witchery of the war does Tayo find himself. He comes to accept his Mexican eyes, and finds his purpose. He will not remain trapped in the past, but will continue with T'seh and Betonie to create a culture that will survive the drought with stories and regaining a connection to their heritage.
Ceremony was extremely different than the other things we have read, so it does make sense to put this one on its own. You did a really good job touching on the unique qualities of the novel and the essential parts to remember. From this information, I think someone could write a good essay given an appropriate prompt.
ReplyDeleteYour overall groupings for the synthesis makes sense and it was an interesting way to do it. It helped point out the similarities and differences between all the works we have read. Some important things you left out of the synthesis were comedy and tragedy, the vocabulary, types of multiple choice questions and how to answer them, information about the critical lenses, and information about poetry. You definitely talked about the most important things for this class (the literature), but the other parts are important to remember as well!
It is very interesting that you decided to put Ceremony into a group of its own. I can hardly disagree, it was a very different book compared to anything I have ever read prior. You do a very good job of explaining the novel. I also agree that it was very rewarding to read a novel based on a different culture.
ReplyDeleteBut Ceremony is about the American Dream, too! Just from both the American and the Laguna perspective. And it's also about responsibility to self versus the group, just like P & P and Hamlet. grr. That's why we read it in between. Like a bridge. Connecting the two groups. Get it? Oh, never mind.
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