Ceremony #2

We get poetic installments of the Hummingbird tale on p. 42-45, 49-50, 65-66, 76, 97, 104-105, 140 (to this point) How might you relate this story to Tayo’s?

In the poem, the people are fascinated by magic and instead of taking care of their crops and land, they neglect it. in return, "mother earth", it seems like took away the rain and the people began to starve. this poem relates to Tayo's story because he feels like he prayed the rain away and caused the six year drought. Tayo now feels it is his responsibility to figure out a way to bring the rain back just as the Shaman is trying to figure out how to bring rain back in the poem.

P. 62-63 covers the theme of Christianity as a coercive force of assimilation. By what means does this occur and what feelings does it evoke?

What i took from this part of the story is that Christians would look at Indian rituals and customs and "shake their fingers" at them. the whites would try to assimilate Indians into Christianity and white culture by giving emphasis on individualism while the Indians were big on clans and community, thus forcing the confused Indians to hate their own culture and also Christianity. It's like the whites would show Indians how good life would be if they assimilated and forgot their own culture. the people, like little sister, would hate the whites because they knew the motives and at the same time hate their own culture because they stifled the individual ans also feel guilty because he/she knew what pain they were causing their own people.

The long story.poem, p. 122-128, is of how "witchery" created whites and the onslaught of Europeans and all the destruction they brought. Gloss this poem to identify how the story represents Europeans and their relationship with the world. Consider also: what is the point of Betonie emphasizing the American Indian role in the destruction? What IS his point? Why does he think it is important for Tayo to think about it in this way?

this story is very interesting to me because it gave me a different way to look at things. In the story, white people were created from the "witchery" of the other races. these other races were trying to show off their witch craft and by these actions, they created a race that would end up dominating them. The story basically calls white people barbarians that will destroy everything. it describes everything from pollution, to guns, and even describes whites bringing disease to places. I believe the emphasis on American Indian role is to show that even they aren't perfect. It's easy to see faults in others without looking at yourself also and i believe the point is for Tayo to understand this point.