Ceremony Wrap-Up

The close of Ceremony makes even more explicit what has been clear throughout the novel; Silko's very strong affinity for her Native American heritage. Tayo is healed not only by the Native America medicine man, Betonie, but by an almost mystical Native American girl, and alongside her, the very land itself. Those set in opposition to those ideals- and they are Native Americans, too, as well as Whites, are portrayed by Silko as monsters. They are drunk, disloyal, and brutal. Silko paints them as odious, capable of great atrocity and disrespect.

This comes to a head with the pseudo-crucifixion of Harvey, an act which makes the slightly ambiguous nature of who Silko blames even more so. For it is Emo, a Native American, who is the most evil character- symbolic 'flashing yellow eyes' are evident on his glasses as they reflect the fire, and his impaling of Harvey is described as 'witchery'- the same 'witchery' that brought Whites into the world; and who performs the witchery? Native Americans. So where does the blame lie here? Silko seems to be suggesting that the most atrocious acts are those of the Native Americans who reject their own culture, or dabble in great evil (both), rather than any external race.