Ceremony And Stranger In The Village Analysis

(Student’s name) (Professor’s name) Literature and Language 10 April 2018 Ceremony and Stranger in the Village Analysis The content of this assignment will have an analysis of Ceremony by Silko and Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin which are both exceptionally written pieces. To give a brief background of both; Ceremony is a story about Tayo, a Native American veteran of the World War II, while he struggles to live during a time when his people needed to fight between what the “whites” said is the authentic way of life, and what his culture believes. The story revolves around Tayo’s hardship in finding the path meant for him, to other Native Americans that are fighting for their own. On the other hand, Stranger in the Village is about what the author went through in a village located in Switzerland. Baldwin says that he is black and due to his race, villagers see him as unique and fascinating. Based on his portrayal, it seems like these villagers have never laid eyes on a black man. In the story of Ceremony, there is an exploration of gender roles of 4 women and how it is significant to the evolution of Tayo’s persona and character. These 4 women she is surrounded with are her biological mother, Auntie, Grandma, and Ts’eh. Since Tayo has a mixture of different ancestries – half Native American and half white, he soon finds out he is naturally flawed in their culture, which would last until he is grown. However, the book begins by Tayo thinking about the war and recalls the way the Japanese look similar to him because they have the same complexion. One of the characters in the book named Rocky told him that they are ordered to the kill Japanese, but it confuses him why he needs to kill people that look the same, and maybe share the same feelings as him. He remains there because he was told he has the privilege to fly planes and make the USA proud. Another memory that occurred upon him is when he clashed paths with the wanted white man and his own path. The thought of the Japanese being like him is startling, and he began putting the people’s face he knew on the Japanese soldiers. As time goes by, he could not see why the Japanese had to be killed. When one of the Japanese soldiers killed Rocky, Tayo was shattered and shocked. The story of Tayo during that time is could be compared to how some soldiers of today might feel when they are at war. However, even if Tayo had this confusion, he still saw his people as the ones who found knowledge. Regardless of what Tayo thought, they exemplified unity and harmony amongst themselves. In the entire book, the difficulties of Tayo are being reflected by every character in the story. They struggle during a drought, disconnect, and loss between the natural state of things and what they currently are. A lot of problems come from this, and these problems are healed by the rediscovery of their origin. In addition, they become part of ceremonies that are created to relate to the truths they lost. The author creates a world where the same story lingers around them, which means all of them have the same start and end point before it happens again. By doing this, the author implies that there is nothing different or extraordinary, but people should not have fears because all bei...