Reflection 21

I finished the novel, Ceremony, this week and wrote about it during class. Tayo went through an incredible amount of healing in the last section of reading. There was a lot about Ts'eh and how she is a metaphor for the earth. All throughout the reading, the sections went back and forth from something Tayo was doing to how he dreamed about Ts'eh and was in love with her. Tayo and Ts'eh helped raise the cattle and it made Josiah's vision come true, which was beneficial to Tayo's healing because he was very close to Josiah and creating his vision helped bring Josiah back to life metaphorically. It was also mentioned several times that Tayo woke up dreaming about Ts'eh which adds to the fact that she might only be a dream, rather than an actual person. Robert came to see Tayo and kept telling him that everyone was about to start looking for him and they were going to bring him back to the hospital because nobody thought he was healed. Ts'eh kept telling Tayo that if they caught him he would have to go back to the hospital and that he shouldn't run, but should bring himself to the hospital which makes me think that Ts'eh could be Tayo's subconscious trying to tell him to go to the hospital. It also talked about a she'elk that was painted on a cliff. I'm not sure what the she-elk is, but I assume it is a painting of a female elk. Betonie's sand paintings have been mentioned several times throughout the novel and I wonder why they are so special to Tayo's healing. There is only one picture in the entire novel and I think it is of Betonie's sand paintings of the stars, which were also mentioned in this section of the reading. I want to know more about these paintings and why they are so essential to Tayo's healing.

Near the end of the novel. Harley and Leroy drive by Tayo and he stops them. They try to drive him back home and Tayo agrees to go with. Both of them are incredibly drunk and it adds to the theme of alcoholism in the book. Later, it explains that they were trying to take him back to the town so they could give him to Emo, or bring him to the hospital. Tayo did not want either of those, but he didn't know that's what they were doing until later. Once he found out that is why they were drunk then he runs from the truck and hides in boulders. Atom bombs are brought up which is a theme in the novel. It states how there were wide open spaces where nobody could live and one day a few people say an incredibly bright light which was the atom bomb. The bomb only causes destruction which shows more about the theme of destruction as well. Finally, Tayo is hiding the boulders because he sees a car driving down the road. The car pulls up and Pinkie and Emo walk out of the car with Harley and Leroy. Both of them are tied up. Emo begins to beat Harley so that Tayo runs out of the boulders and they can catch him. Tayo was going to kill Emo with a screwdriver he got from the truck, but realizes that if he does that he is going to be sent back to the hospital so he decides not to kill Emo. Pinkie kills Leroy and they both kill Harley. The dead bodies are found the next day. The time changes settings to Tayo being in a kiva to tell his story, but I wasn't sure what a kiva is. I assume it is similar to a church, maybe a church for Native Americans. Finally, the novel ends with Emo killing Pinkie. Emo was drunk and shot Pinkie in the back of the head. Overall, the novel was interesting and Tayo went through an incredible amount of healing throughout. The ending was a huge surprise, except that Emo always seemed a little crazy. The novel ended with a short poem that symbolizes a new beginning for Tayo.