The Significance of Myth in the Novel Ceremony

Many people in our culture misunderstand the function of myth. We usually assume that there are two kinds of narrative, completely different from one another: a journalistic compilation of facts, all literally true and verifiable, or stories spun by a fiction writer for the purpose of entertainment only. Myth, we assume, falls resoundingly into the latter group. While primitive and superstitious people may have once believed that the sun was pulled across the sky by a chariot, we in our infinite scientific wisdom know that is not the reason that the sun appears to move in the sky when viewed from earth. Therefore, the myth is written off purely as a work of fiction and fantasy. Indigenous peoples throughout the world, however, look at their myths and folktales in quite another way. They recognize in them an explanation, not for the way physical science works or history occurred, but for the way their culture feels about itself. For Native Americans, these stories concern the universe and the spiritual domain. They are didactic because they teach the history of the people, how to live, and how to survive. According to Paula Gunn Allen, “myth is a story of vision;… a vehicle of transmission of sharing and renewal.” It connects the past with the present. Myths “show us that it is possible to relate ourselves to the grand and mysterious universe that surrounds and informs our beings…The mythic heals, it makes us whole” (Allen, 116-17). Myths explain by analogy concepts that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to explain literally. They do so in a way that bypasses the conscious, analytical mind and heads straight for the heart (technically, the unconscious). Folklorist Carol Mitchell explains that Silko’s use of the Laguna creation myth at the beginning of Ceremony, “it recreates the power and the time of creation. The cosmic creation is the exemplary model of all life,” and hopes that it will restore the patient, Tayo (Mitchell, 34). Mitchell also believes

Cited: Allen, Paula Gunn. "Special problems in teaching Leslie Marmon Silko 's 'Ceremony. '." The American Indian Quarterly 14.4 (1990): 379+ Bell, Robert C. "Circular Design in "Ceremony"" American Indian Quarterly Vol. 5 Feb. 1979: 47-62. Bird, Gloria. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in the American Indian Traditions. 1st ed. Boston: Beacon, 1986. Bennett, Robert. Answers.com. 18 Nov. 2009. www.answers.com/topic/ceremony-novel-6. Huffstetler, Edward W. ""Leslie Marmon Silko 's Ceremony: The Recovery of Tradition." American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 33.1. (2009): 160-161. Letcher, Bettina Havens. "Diss." In the Belly of This Story: The Role of Fantasy in Four American Women 's Novels of the 1980 's. U of Rhode Island, 1991. Mitchell, Carol. ""Ceremony" as Ritual." American Indian Quarterly Vol. 5 Feb. 1979: 23-35. Nelson, Robert M. Place and Vision: The Function of Landscape in Native American Fiction. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. Saylor, Gregory. Leslie Marmon Silko. New York: Twayne, 1997. Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Penguin, 1977.