Monday, January 29, 2007
Literary essay
Last semester, one of the Grade 11 classes read the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston while the other read the novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. We came up with a list of essay topics for each novel, and students wrote on one of their choice. Here is Bibi's essay about Ceremony.
The Whorls of Life
In the book Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko there are many references made to certain aspects of life that struck my attention. Such as having the ability to achieve the impossible. It made me think about how modern day society stops people from taking a second to be grateful for everything they have instead of complaining about everything they don’t have. I also realize that the respect the people used to have for the earth no longer exists. Tayo taught me this and healed himself by breaking though these barriers throughout the book and by realizing the difference between him and his friends.
In this novel there are two different types of people. Those who respect the earth with all their heart and those who couldn’t care less. After Josiah says, “‘this is were we come from, see. This sand, this stone, these trees, the vines, all the wild flowers. This earth keeps us going’” (45), I realized that we live on the earth and it’s the earth that is serving us. People take advantage of it and destroy the earth by cutting down forests and building huge factories, thinking that the earth is just an object to experiment on, rather than realizing that it’s the earth that feeds us when were hungry and shelters us when its cold. It’s the earth that gives us a home.
Tayo knows this and respects the animals by filling their tracks with pollen such as “the yellow spotted snake [who was] the first to emerge, carrying this message [that the world was alive] on his back to the people” (221). He also covered the deer’s head with his coat because “the people said you should do that before you gutted a deer. Out of respect”(51). He carefully shakes the snow off the tree to keep its branches from breaking (208) and he respects the rain when he realizes Josiah was right when he said, “Nothing is all good or all bad either” (11).
In life there are some things such as the heat of the sun or the shade of the trees that all people either complain there is too much of or too little of. In Ceremony it was the rain that Tayo complained about. When he was in the jungle he cursed the rain for never stopping and he blamed the rain for killing Rocky (12), but when he is home on the ranch it is the rain that he prays for. “‘Nothing is all good or all bad either’” (11). When Josiah said this it made me realize that we should just be grateful for what we do have because some where in the world there is someone else who wants it. The lack of gratitude is one of the barriers Tayo had to break through in order to heal.
“They were not barriers if a person wanted to get to the moon there was a way; it all depended on weather you knew the directions-exactly which way to go and what to do to get there; it depended on weather you knew the story of how others before you had gone” (19). It was this that Tayo needed to know to heal. The “they” referred to above is talking about a physical barrier, the high sandstone cliff of a mesa, but on a broader spectrum it refers to any obstacle in life that makes us doubt our ability to achieve what we want. In life when you know what to do or you follow in the path of someone who has already succeeded, you have a better chance of succeeding yourself. Tayo followed the path of Coyote with the guidance of Betonie by making hoops of hard oak, scrub oak, and pinon, tieing them together with yucca, and sitting in the middle of a sand panting (141). I’ve learned that by following a path that has already been walked I can achieve anything I want. Tayo may not have realized, but by choosing to follow the path laid out by Betonie, Kh’oosh, and Ts’eh, he would eventually reach his goal of being healed.
All in all, Tayo’s journey from sickness to health showed me that there are many different ways of dealing with situations in your life. Whether it is taking the high road and becoming a better person by breaking thought barriers or taking the easy way by drinking and numbing the pain in your life. That’s how Tayo was different. He had the strength and ability to see that the world was a gift and was grateful for that. He used that knowledge and understanding to his advantage, healing himself and consequently healing everyone around him.
Last semester, one of the Grade 11 classes read the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston while the other read the novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. We came up with a list of essay topics for each novel, and students wrote on one of their choice. Here is Bibi's essay about Ceremony.
The Whorls of Life
In the book Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko there are many references made to certain aspects of life that struck my attention. Such as having the ability to achieve the impossible. It made me think about how modern day society stops people from taking a second to be grateful for everything they have instead of complaining about everything they don’t have. I also realize that the respect the people used to have for the earth no longer exists. Tayo taught me this and healed himself by breaking though these barriers throughout the book and by realizing the difference between him and his friends.
In this novel there are two different types of people. Those who respect the earth with all their heart and those who couldn’t care less. After Josiah says, “‘this is were we come from, see. This sand, this stone, these trees, the vines, all the wild flowers. This earth keeps us going’” (45), I realized that we live on the earth and it’s the earth that is serving us. People take advantage of it and destroy the earth by cutting down forests and building huge factories, thinking that the earth is just an object to experiment on, rather than realizing that it’s the earth that feeds us when were hungry and shelters us when its cold. It’s the earth that gives us a home.
Tayo knows this and respects the animals by filling their tracks with pollen such as “the yellow spotted snake [who was] the first to emerge, carrying this message [that the world was alive] on his back to the people” (221). He also covered the deer’s head with his coat because “the people said you should do that before you gutted a deer. Out of respect”(51). He carefully shakes the snow off the tree to keep its branches from breaking (208) and he respects the rain when he realizes Josiah was right when he said, “Nothing is all good or all bad either” (11).
In life there are some things such as the heat of the sun or the shade of the trees that all people either complain there is too much of or too little of. In Ceremony it was the rain that Tayo complained about. When he was in the jungle he cursed the rain for never stopping and he blamed the rain for killing Rocky (12), but when he is home on the ranch it is the rain that he prays for. “‘Nothing is all good or all bad either’” (11). When Josiah said this it made me realize that we should just be grateful for what we do have because some where in the world there is someone else who wants it. The lack of gratitude is one of the barriers Tayo had to break through in order to heal.
“They were not barriers if a person wanted to get to the moon there was a way; it all depended on weather you knew the directions-exactly which way to go and what to do to get there; it depended on weather you knew the story of how others before you had gone” (19). It was this that Tayo needed to know to heal. The “they” referred to above is talking about a physical barrier, the high sandstone cliff of a mesa, but on a broader spectrum it refers to any obstacle in life that makes us doubt our ability to achieve what we want. In life when you know what to do or you follow in the path of someone who has already succeeded, you have a better chance of succeeding yourself. Tayo followed the path of Coyote with the guidance of Betonie by making hoops of hard oak, scrub oak, and pinon, tieing them together with yucca, and sitting in the middle of a sand panting (141). I’ve learned that by following a path that has already been walked I can achieve anything I want. Tayo may not have realized, but by choosing to follow the path laid out by Betonie, Kh’oosh, and Ts’eh, he would eventually reach his goal of being healed.
All in all, Tayo’s journey from sickness to health showed me that there are many different ways of dealing with situations in your life. Whether it is taking the high road and becoming a better person by breaking thought barriers or taking the easy way by drinking and numbing the pain in your life. That’s how Tayo was different. He had the strength and ability to see that the world was a gift and was grateful for that. He used that knowledge and understanding to his advantage, healing himself and consequently healing everyone around him.
# posted by MPA Student Work @ 11:04 PM 
