The Transformation: Tayo’s Genealogy in Ceremony

Abstract Tayo is an intriguing and complex character, and thanks to Leslie Silko’s abilities as a storyteller, his story is engaging. As we read of his search for a cure, we sympathize with his plight, and when Tayo confronts Emo and the evil forces he represents at book’s end, we support him. Like Tayo, we come to recognize the responsibilities he has to his world, but also that meeting these responsibilities results in his gaining the power to survive the confrontation through his awareness of appropriate action, or inaction in this case. Like Laguna oral literature, Ceremony is concerned with entertainment and enduring cultural values, and when Silko writes of a man trying to come to grips with a chaotic world seemingly bent on self-destruction, she does what past Laguna storytellers have done: clarify the changes in their world and dramatize how old ways may be adapted to accommodate those changes. Tayo’s story emerges from a long­ standing literary tradition which continues to define and redefine the sources of power found in the Laguna landscape and to provide knowledge of the ways that these sources may be utilized. As Tayo moves through his narrative, his awareness of the relationship between his experiences and those told of in the stories of his people grows, and he in turn moves from an isolated, ill individual to a powerful, competent representative of his people. In a word, he becomes a hero.