Ceremony vs. There There

The Prologue of "There There" is an essay of non-fiction, while "Ceremony" is fiction, yet Silko refers to many similar motifs and historic instances and customs in her novel. In both works, one of the most frequent motifs is that of violence, especially violence that has been directed towards Native Americans. For example, in "There There" the narrator remarks, "Metacomet's head was sold to Plymouth Colony for thirty shillings - the going rate for an Indian head at the time. The head was put on a spike, carried through the streets of Plymouth, then displayed at Plymouth Fort for the next twenty-five years." This is representative of the time as many white Americans were colonizing and overtaking the Native's land and killing them in the process. In the fictitious "Ceremony," violence is displayed through the death of Tayo's Uncle Josiah, the death of Tayo's 'brother' Rocky, Tayo stabbing Emo, and, though it is directed towards the Japanese and not Native Americans, Emo's sack of human teeth that he pulled from a Japanese corpse. This extreme violence proves the injustice of this time period in which white Americans oppressed the Native's who had no effective means to fight back. Another way the settlers took advantage of the Natives (shown in both works) was the incessant relocation of their population, thus separating tribes and weakening the culture. Native Americans no longer felt connected to their roots after being relocated several times. This is touched on in "Ceremony" with Tayo's feeling like an outsider. Although it is not entirely because of relocation and more because of his mixed heritage, it still represents the feeling that nearly the entire Native American population had at this time due to relocation. They no longer felt at home.