Leslie Mormon Silko: Yellow Woman and a Beauty of Spirit and Ceremony: The Laguna Pueblo
The Laguna Pueblo are a Native American people that, according toSilko in Yellow Woman and a Beauty of Spirit, "embrace the whole ofcreation and the whole of history and time" (49). In this essay and in hernovel Ceremony, we see that the Laguna are not only connected to nature butare part of it. The land and its creatures are their creation, theirhistory, and their time. In her essay, Silko writes of this embodiment ofthe land within the identity of the Laguna: "Pueblos have...always been ableto stay with the land. Our stories cannot be separated from theirgeographical locations, from actual physical places on the land" (58). Wemost clearly see this connection to nature in the story of the protagonist In Ceremony we are treated to the homecoming of Tayo, who has beenaway fighting a war in a foreign place. His experiences have distanced himfrom emotion and from his heritage and connection with nature. Tayo'sbarren emotional state and his disconnection from self are mirrored by thedrought-ridden land which greets his return. Before he can reconnect with
When they aremaking love we are informed "he couldn't feel where her body ended and thesand began" (Silko 222). Tayo eventually begins toheal because of experiences that reconnect him with nature. This discovery connects Tayo to the stories ofhis people and of his existence that are intertwined with the history andsurvival of nature. When Tayo meets his lover he asks her name and shesays, "I'm a Montano," which means mountain (Silko 223). Conclusion In Yellow Woman and a Beauty of Spirit, Silko writes that the Lagunaelderly say, "If you can remember the stories, you will be all right. In this description ofLaguna storytelling, we see that where Laguna come from and the "place"they inhabit are part of who they are. The story of both nature and the Laguna, Tayorealizes, is similar to the descriptions of Night Swan who is portrayed aseternal like "the rain and wind" but also as "old and wrinkled" (Silko 88). Silko argues that when her people tell a story, they do so in thefollowing manner: "We are the Lagunas. One of theseis when he begins to take care of the apricot tree in Ts'eh's garden. Tayo's reconnection with nature enables him toreconnect with his people and himself. Such beingsappear in the novel and then depart, almost as if they serve as some kindof bridge by which the disconnected can reconnect to nature. Hisnurturing of the tree shows he is beginning to care again. The land and nature are notsomething they exist within, it is something that is a part of them.
Common topics in this essay:
I'm Montano,
Body Ceremony,
Spirit Silko,
Laguna Pueblos,
Night Swan,
Laguna Tayo,
Ceremony Laguna,
Beauty Spirit,
Swan Tayo,
reconnect nature,
Native American,
nature tayo,
remember stories,
reconnection nature,
connection nature,
reconnection nature enables,
apricot tree,
tayo makes,
nature love,
silko writes,
enables reconnect,
nature enables reconnect,
reconnect nature tayo,
yellow woman beauty,
tayo makes love,
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Acceptance Essays
