23rd Annual Student Research Conference
Social Identification in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony
Clinton P. Mohs
Dr. Bob Mielke, Faculty Mentor
By using historically and tribally relevant information to guide Tayo along his ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko offers a solution to the problem of identification amongst the Laguna Pueblo tribe amidst the influence of Western culture in Ceremony. She shows how unabated assimilation and rejection of their tribal identity will not solve their issues through the characters of Emo and Rocky. Also, that full submersion into their Native American heritage is too simplistic and problematic, because, as a minority in a larger community, the influence of Western culture upon them is unavoidable. Silko presents Tayo as the happy medium to these two, who shows how a harmonious relationship between a strong Laguna Pueblo tradition and Western culture can be attained and that it is in this harmony that the tribe will find full self actualization in the larger American community.
Keywords: Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony, Laguna Pueblo
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 49-1
Location: VH 1304
Time: 1:15