Interpretive Richness of Leslie Marmon Silkos Ceremony Essay -- Silko

The interpretative richness of Silkos CeremonyLeslie Marmon Silkos Ceremony is the extraordinary account of Tayo, a mixed-blood NativeAmerican in his long quest to cure the suffering that afflicts him and his people. The novel iscomplex enough that it can be interpreted in the context of starkly different paradigms, eachhighlighting important facets of the story. For instance, in the article Feminine perspectives atLaguna Pueblo Silkos Ceremony, Edith Swan offers a (symbolic) epitome of the plethora ofimportant female characters in the novel that is based on a deliberately unicultural, Lagunaworldview on the grounds that ... western presumptions must be set aside so that they do notadversely bias or manipulate tribal structures of meaning. Native premises must be allowed to provide on their own terms (309). On the other hand, Dennis Cutchins, in his article So that thenations may become genuine Indian Nativism and Leslie Marmon Silkos Ceremonyadvocates a politico-historical interpr etation of the novel as a reaction against the overwhelminginfluence of Western civilization on Native American culture. This reaction, Cutchins argues,takes the form of a revision of history for the purpose of removing the Western influence andadapting ancient traditions to better serve the needs of the present, thus resolving the conflictbetween the two cultures. Cutchins interpretation therefore, is multicultural, focalization on thehistorical relationship between Western and Native American cultures and providing a paradigm(namely, nativism) that helps put it all in perspective. By utilizing divergent paradigms ininterpreting Ceremony, Swan and Cutchins both succeed in highlighting the many fascinating... ...nse in the context of the outside world and the history of theNative American people. The differing theses however, do not contradict each other. Rather,they complement each other by providing a more complete picture through the simultaneousconsideration of socio-cultural as well as politico-historical perspectives of the novel.7Works CitedCutchins, Dennis. So that the nations may become genuine Indian Nativism and LeslieMarmon Silkos Ceremony. Journal of American Culture 22.4 (1 Dec. 1999) notpaginated.Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. late York Penguin, 1977.Swan, Edith. Feminine Perspectives at Laguna Pueblo Silkos Ceremony. Tulsa Studies inWomens Literature 11.2 (Autumn, 1992) 309-328.Work cited from within Swan, EdithAllen, Paula Gunn. The Psychological Landscape of Ceremony. American Indian Quarterly.5.1 (1979) 12.8