"Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko

1)- Silko’s representation of women: choose either Night Swan or Ts’eh or Betonie’s Mexican grandmother (but only if you didn’t already focus on her in a Post). Explain what symbolic role she plays in the novel’s quests (note the plural quests), and what cultural functions or attributes the text assigns to women/femininity. Be sure you don’t treat this character only as a “real person” but also as a carrier of ideas and concepts. The paper isn’t just “about” this character, nor is it just about Tayo. This topic is about the representation of gender and ideology. Do more than just trace “color imagery” (no papers on “blue”) or just discuss her appearance, or just talk about what she “does for Tayo.” (And stay offline—there have been problems with this) 2)- Hybridity: many scholars are fascinated by the way Ceremony represents the mixing of things that, historically, some people have tried to keep separate—not only race/ethnicity, but old and new, western culture and Native American ways, humans and the natural world, and more. Choose one object, place, or recurring theme/image that you think exemplifies the novel’s general attitude towards hybridity, and construct an argument around it. It seems clear that Silko values, likes, reveres, etc. hybridity, so make your thesis more specific than that. Be sure to choose something that we did not discuss in a Forum or our class discussion (i.e. don’t just expand your Post on Old Betonie, and don’t focus on the Cattle or eye color [too obvious]).* 3)- Cultural Geography: The mountain with two names, Josiah’s spring, Caves, Ts’eh’s home, Cubero, the Highways, the uranium mine, Pa’to’ch: These are all places that the novel loads with symbolic importance and often multiple associations. Choose one place and explain why analyzing it is necessary to understanding the novel (and “understanding” here does not mean just following the plot, so don’t just describe events that happen here). How does your analysis help us see how the place functions in the novel, as a symbol, as a battlefield of ideologies, as a site where various themes can come together and create a new synthesis of ideas, etc.    

Sample Solution