Stereotypes In Silko's Ceremony

Silko’s novel, Ceremony, depicts the struggles of an individual who is seen as the “different” one. Tayo’s mother has been shunned by her community for deciding to interact with the White population that had dehumanized and took advantage of the First Nations. It is noted in the book that the Laguna community has suffered harm, and pain because of Tayo’s mother’s mistake which results in the community perceiving her as the outcast.
I can relate to Tayo’s mother as I, too, wanted to fit in with a group that saw my race as something ‘else’. Trying to fit in with a group is not as easy as it sounds, especially if the group sees a particular race and mocks it – as seen in the fact that the whites mocked the traditions and ceremonies held by the First Nations. In my case, the people that I encountered were ignorant and it was as if the stereotypes and prejudices against my ethnicity were an advantage to them. It is mentioned in particular scenes of the novel, that Tayo’s mother had made the decision to fit in with the whites, disregarding (or leaving the thought in the back of her mind) that her
The moment that I was introduced to people who were completely different than me, I felt extremely anxious. I, too, have made a mistake when deciding to want to fit in because I had fallen into the wrong crowd at the time. I felt uneasy and anxious every day when I was with them because the people that I mistakenly befriended were ones to taunt, mock another friend of mine. Although I desperately wanted to fix the situation, it escalated. This is linked to how Tayo’s mother made the decision to fit in with the whites who had colonized and mistreated the First Nations, but after realizing what she had done, she wanted to fix it and go back, but couldn’t, thinking that her relatives would hate her for what she