Summary/ Application

In Bird's essay she distinctly discusses the affect that language has on cultures. She explains how when she was growing up, her mother never taught her how to speak the "old language" and would speak it only when she didn't want Bird to know what was being said. she realized as she got older that colonization was the cause of the disappearance of the language. she also gives a good correlation between her life in Tayo's becasue Tayo has little experience with the "old language".

Tayo had to strain to catch the meaning, dense with place names he had never heard.
His language was childish, interspersed with English words, and he could feel shame tightening in his throat. (Ceremony 31)

the fact that Tayo feels shame for not knowing this language seems to plague other American Indians. they have been forced by whites to forget their language and culture and convert to christianity.

Bird also talks about the element of time that Silko shows in Ceremony. Bird shays she "collapses" time and shows two stories parallel to eachother as if they are happening at the same time. she give the impression that Tayo's story is not the only one going on and that the world has stories that intersect with eachother.

Christianity was probably the biggest portion of the essay becasue it is the most direct form of colonization. the missionaries came in and saw thought the American Indians were heathens and wanted to "save their souls".