Ceremony The Beginning

        The beginning of Ceremony is so inviting and so intriguing you want to continue reading right from the start. The book starts out with a poem that is filled with deeper meanings that will carry on into the rest of the book. The poem also introduces the reader the idea of Thought-Woman and earth and the four worlds below. Right from the start you get a taste of the Laguna Pueblo culture and belief with Thought Woman who is said to have created the universe. The poem ends with the final word sunrise which hints new beginnings and rebirth which you can tell will be really important in this book. The constant struggle of Tayo's past and the need for a new beginning, a new sunrise. Within the first couple pages you learn where the book is and has taken place, from WWII to the reservation and to the bar. Another really important thing from the beginning of the book is learning of Rocky's death who is Tayo's cousin and best friend. Rocky's death has a huge toll on Tayo and it's obvious it will be a struggle in the future for Tayo. " He could hear Rocky's words, and he could follow the logic of what Rocky said, but he could not feel anything except a swelling in his belly, a great swollen grief that was pushing into his throat." This quote from Tayo reveals that he's always in pain because of Rocky's death as well as Josiah's who was Tayo's uncle. Gives the reader there first glimpse of PTS too and Tayo's constant struggle with the disease. 

From the beginning of the book you can tell that Tayo struggles with his past as well as the future with everything that has happened in his life and PTS is a real struggle for him. 


        One of the most important parts of the first section of the book is when Tayo is describing the war and when Rocky was injured. " Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foilage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth, sometimes in solid thickets entangling the islands and, other times, in tendrils of blue mist curling out of the coastal clouds." The weather was really beginning to affect Tayo, he prayed for the rain to stop because it was too much but usually back home in the Laguna Pueblo tribe he prayed for more rain. The Rain and damp weather was gradually picking away at Tayo. 

Soldiers from WWII sitting in the pouring rain

     

       Tayo describes the weather being so bad at one point that he believed it was the weather that was killing Rocky during the road to the prison camp instead of the grenade that Rocky was hit by or the deadly walk to the prison camps. During this time Tayo explains how storytelling was able to keep him and the other men going during these horrible times. Reminiscing on good times and stories of friends and family was able to get there minds off of what was going on to something more positive and that was crucial for Tayo. Later on in this section you see that Tayo isn't ready to be back in the normal world and struggles greatly with more PTS. " The new doctor asked him if he had ever been visible, and Tayo spoke to him softly and said that he was very sorry but nobody was allowed to speak to an invisible one". Tayo feels guilty and responsible for all the wrong he did during the war and that's the biggest struggle with PTS. He feels invisible now and will never be looked at or be able to look at people the same. In the first section of the book you get a good introduction to Tayo and all the struggles his life has become from his past.

Just an idea of everything that comes with PTS

Sign of the Laguna Pueblo Tribe