Witchery: The Roots of Evil

Some people might think of Witchery as a silly idea given some American colonies' tragic experiences In Tayo's culture, Witchery is considered real and a very significant part of life. In Pueblo tradition, all evil comes from Witchery. This quote gives the reader a good idea about what witchery is. "Finally there was only one. Who hadn't shown off any charms or powers. The witch stood in the shadows beyond the fire. And had no one ever knew where this witch had came from. Witch tribe. Or if not man or a woman." Silko Pg.134 many things were brought up in the statement. First of all, it says that the Witch or evil could be man or woman. Second, It will show charm or powers. Last, Fire is a classic metaphor for evil in literature. However this witch is standing behind it, making it featureless. Only a dark entity.

the Healing of Tayo

There are several key factors in the process of Tayo's healing. Baton is one of them. He is somewhat a turning point for him. Tayo is intrigued because Betonie is something he has never seen before. He starts out very subtly, teaching him life lessons. He takes this action because Tayo is very emotional and fragile in this point in his life, which this quote depicts. "Betonie sounded as if he were explaining something simple but important to a small child. But Tayo's stomach clenched around the words." Silko Pg. 125 Betonie is trying to get a point across to Tayo however, he is realizing that it hurts. He is also realizing that he must hear him. In the long run this helps more, making Tayo and Betonie close friends. One thing Betonie may have taught him is that nature is not always bad. Infact Tayo is
seeing nature in a whole to spectrum. ""mountain lion becoming what you are with each breath, your substance changing with the earth and sky." Silko Pg.196 This quote is a very important factor showing Tayo's healing because he is not only connecting with something that is more powerful that himself but also understanding it. Tayo has had many people showing him the good and evil of nature and everything around him but one stood out. Tissea may not be literal person, nevertheless Tayo's mind he was intrigued. "From the stars and the woman, the mountain and the cattle would come." Silko Pg. 186 In this quote, instead of connecting nature with bad memories like rocky dying for example, he is now connecting it with fantasies. Like a woman or the cattle. Even if it seems impossible to heal from something, it is. There is always hope which is what makes tay amazing and stick out from others. Even though he did not have any good memories to connect with nature. He came to understand that he actually did, He just had to create them.



Tayo is inevitably healing through nature. One year ago, according the the book Ceremony, Tayo was so riddled with P.T.S. and emotional distress. This led to him only connecting nature to bad memories. He's has learned many new things since that time. Tayo has changed changed greatly. For example, this quote gives input on how Tayo feels about tissae,"When she left, he got dressed and followed her, he stood in the west and looked at the morning stars." Silko Pg. 189 Tayo after a year is finally starting to live in the present which is being cause by this mystical woman. It s apparent that she is helping Tayo, but how much? this quote is a perfect example that she is one of the biggest factors in his healing process. "I don't want any of those around. They can do their drinking some place else. Not at our place. Her face was stiff." Silko Pg. 218 She is making an impact on Tayos life because she is the only female role model for
him. This quote is also important because at the beginning of the book, Tayo would usually use  drugs to take out his emotions and pain, but now he is staying away. As he becomes closer with Tissea, Tayo begins to understand the balance life needs to have. It is interesting how much is changing. Throughout the book, there will be poem that starts with sunrise. What does this mean? and how is it significant to his healing process? "sunrise sunrise, his words made vapor in the cold morning air." Silko Pg. 216 It almost seems like a new beginning, or a new hope. He is starting to feel the world around him and notice things. each "sunrise" in the book may be a significant milestone in his healing process. If one picks at a scab. It will never heal, but if they understand how they got it and leave it alone. it will eventually heal. Tayo is almost though that process.

Shifting of Life and Tayo's Transformation

Nothing can stay the same. Cultures, Individuals and nature. These things all have phases as explained by Betonie in Ceremony in fact he may be a symbol in the book for the changing of culture. "shopping bags poked out; piled to the tops of woolworth bags were bouquets of dried sage and the brown leave of mountain tobacco wrapped in swaths of silvery unspun wool." Silko Pg. 120 Betonie's home is a completely different place for Tayo. He is at first unsure how to react, Tayo is used to a traditional Indian. As medicine man Ku'oosh is very traditional, Betonie is not. Tayo is realizing that in this quote, "and what do I make of all this? He nodded his head slowly up and down. "Maybe you smelled it when you came in. "I the old days it was simple. A medicine person could get by without all these things. But nowadays..." Silko Pg. 121 The "things" Betonie is referring to are all of the new world items Tayo is seeing scarred throughout Betonie's house. He is saying how he needs all these things nowadays in order to be a successful medicine man. The culture is changing. As Tayo heals, nature has played a big roll in his life. At first the nature he describes is very dark and deeply moving. However, tward the current stage in his healing he is describing more and more beautiful depictions. For example, "Any way, I couldn't help any one who was afraid of me." "He started humming softly to himself, a song that Tayo could only hear only faintly, but that reminded him of of butterflies darting from flower to flower." Silko Pg. 123 This is  interesting
because instead of triggering his P.T.S. this reminds of him something more beautiful. This is symbolizing the shifting in his state of mind. Individuals change through out their life. This makes life change through time. It is a circle that will not change until life on this planet ceases to exist.










Tayo has unfortunately gone through a lot of negatively impacting things during his lifetime. He blames most of those things on himself. One of the things Tayo is burdened with never being able to fit in. At the reservation he is too "white", outside the reservation he is too "Indian" Although for some reason, Gallop was one place he seems to fit in even and Ironically could be where Tayo was conceived. "They don't understand. We know these hills and we are comfortable here." there was something about the way the old man said comfortable, it had a different
meaning" Silko Pg. 117 What is that "different meaning? Even if the whites pushed these people to a different type of land, they still come here and some live here despite all of the failure and poorness of this town. This is what Tayo began to figure out. Tayo has seen more death and destruction than any human should in the Baaton death march. In this quote he talks about witches, the root of all evil. These witches are a possible cause for all the destruction tay has seen. "The witch stood in the shadows beyond the fire and no one ever knew where this witch came from, which tribe? or if it was a man or woman. but the important thing was, this witch didn't show off any dark thunder charcoals or red ant-hill beads." Silko Pg. 135 This which could be a metaphor for Tayo's P.T.S. Or it could be evil in general. Either way it is a dark presence which is somewhere within Tayo. Out of all of this he seems to be healing. which is naturally beautiful. He "He blinked back the tears, but he didn't move. He was tired of fighting. If there was no one left to trust, then he had no more reason to live" and "if you can't trust me you should go home before it gets dark. You can't be too carful these days. Silko Pg. 122 He is somewhat still in pain, but Sometimes one has to resurrect the pain in order for it to go away. It is only human nature.