Ruth Benedict’s Ethnography of Pueblo Culture, Patterns of Culture, and

Response Piece Silko & benedickAs noted in the response by Janet T every last(predicate)man, there are three main themes concerning ruth Benedicts ethnography of Pueblo civilization, Patterns of Culture, and Leslie Marmon Silkos novel Ceremony. Both detail the importance of matrilineage, harmony and balance versus change, and ceremonies to the Pueblo Indians. It is main(prenominal) to note that Silko gives the reader a first-hand perspective of this lifestyle (she was raised in the laguna Pueblo Reservation), while Benedicts retain is written from a third-person point of view. Because of this, it was fairly easy to see how much of the actual destination was overlooked or misinterpreted in Benedicts work. While the preceding(prenominal) themes about Pueblo Indians were indeed mentioned in her book, Ceremony allows the reader comes away with a better understanding of why they lived as they lived, and how their lifestyle choices impacted all(prenominal) decision they made. As in my first assignment, my interpretation of the books was that Silkos was from a much to a greater extent personal perspective a luxury provided because her book is to be enjoyed as a fictional novel instead of an academic text. Set against the backdrop of post-WWII making life, the struggles of the Laguna Pueblo culture to maintain its identicalness while adjusting to the realities of modern day life are even more pronounced in Ceremony. Silko uses a wide range of characters in guild to give a voice to as many representatives of her tribe as possible. The main character, Tayo, is the person with whom the reader is more than likely to relate. The story opens with him reliving various phases of his life in flashbacks, and through them, the reader shares his inability to make out reality from delusion, past from present and right from wrong. His days are blurry by his post-war sickness, guilt for being the one to survive while his first cousin Rocky is slain, and his inabilit y to cope neither with life on the reservation or in the outside world. He is one of several representations of the beginnings of the Laguna Pueblo youth interacting with modern American culture.Tayos aunt (Auntie) is the personification of the Pueblo cultures staunch opposition to change. She is bound to her life and the commonwealth just about her more so because of the various disgraces brought upon her family by her nephew Tayo being a crossbred, her brother Josiahs love af... ...of looking within themselves for the causes of their misery, they chose to blame the gaberdine man for their misfortunes. At the same time, they were causing pain and suffering unto themselves by punishing those who were deemed too different (Emo trying to kill Tayo and settling on Harley) and shunning any changes to life as they knew it. By the end of the novel, Tayo represents the potentially new world for Pueblo culture. As Betonie said, elements in the world began to shift and it became requir ed to create new rituals in order to keep the ceremonies strong. This represents a real modern view on Pueblo life (Silkos) of the price tribe people must pay in order to survive in this world. As shown by Tayos final change, Silko sees it as necessary to maintain the necessity parts of Pueblo culture in order to maintain the web that connects all its people together but one must also regulate to adapt and accept the new world created around him or her in order to survive. Dont let them stop you, Betonie said in page 152, Dont let them finish off with this world. stagnancy is just as damaging as overwhelming change. Leslie Marmon Silko - CeremonyRuth Benedict - Patterns of Culture