the Opresser and the Opressed

There are many indicators of Tayo's hard life that cannot go unnoticed in the novel Ceremony. These  make him want to become invisible to the world and everything around him.  For Tayo, the best way become invisible is using large amounts of morphine. A great quote that emphasizes this is, "He wanted to go back to the hospital. Right away. He had to get back where he could merge with the walls and ceiling, shimmering white, remote from everything." Silko Pg. 32  He wants to go back to the hospital for the morphine and wants to merge with the walls to block himself out of everything that is happening to him and the pain
he is feeling. Tayo may not be suffering from the pain of P.T.S. either.  This quote shows how subtle racism was a big part of his life. "You know the army doctor said "no Indian medicine". Old man Ku'oosh will bring his bag of of weeds and dust." Silko Pg. 34 Tayo has much respect for Ku'oosh and everything he does. This quote speaks to the fact that Americans are trying to take culture away from the Native Americans. Incidents such as these happen to Tayo often which can have a big emotional impact of him. When so much happens to one person, it eventually makes them have the need to oppress others.  This is called 'Transfer of Oppression'.  In this quote, Auntie wants Tayo to talk to the medicine man. "You know what people will say if we ask for a medicine man to help him. Someone will say its not right they'll say he's not pure blood any way." Silko Pg. 33  Because Auntie is being treated unfairly and ridiculed about using a medicine man, she is almost sure people will do the same to Tayo.   Throughout the novel Auntie ridicules Tayo. It is sad to see, but anger and pain can create a domino affect for those around you and those you care about.








Humans will always escape from pain.  People will do what it takes to heal. In Tayos case, it seems to be nature that heals him. Every time he brings up the Baton death march, he will associate it with rain which causes him to feel uneasy. However, he also brings up other types of nature when talking to old man Koo'ush. "Then he
heard the old man describe a cave north east of laguna where bats flew out on summer evenings. The rattlesnakes liked to lie there in the early spring. The snakes went there to restore life to themselves." Silko Pg. 35 First of all, Tayo is talking about animals in this quote, which calms him. Second he has a cheerful spirit when talking about this cave. Some might say, "He can't just ignore what happened and think about nature!" but right after that quote Tayo says "He remembers the wide round hole, so deep that lying on his belly beside Rocky, he had never been able to see the bottom." Silko Pg. 35 Although the animals and such are making him feel calm, any type of nature he thinks about can somehow be related to the Baaton death march. Tayo tells him that he has never killed anyone in war yet is still sick. This is when the old man slows down and begins to understand what is really going on in Tayo's head. "The old man shook his head slowly an made a low humming sound in his throat. you couldn't  kill another human being in battle without knowing it without seeing the result because even a wonder deer that got and ran again left great clots or lung blood or spilled guts on the ground." Silko Pg. 36 Old man Ku'oosh is basically saying, even if he did not kill any one, just the participation in war can give emotional scars. The old man still has faith in Tayo because although he is lost at the moment, does not mean he can come back. The past is not equal to the future.