Analysis of Major Characters
Tayo
Tayo embodies the confluence of Native American and white
cultures, both present in his ancestry, and in his experience, which brings
him from the reservation, to the US army, to the Philippines, to
a Veteran's Hospital, and back to the reservation. Carrying the signs
of the cultural mixing in his green eyes often makes Tayo bear the
brunt of a whole society's confusion at the ways in which the world
is changing. Especially since he never knew his father and was abandoned
by his mother at the age of four, Tayo encounters great difficulty
in negotiating his mixed identity and experience. This is exacerbated
by his Auntie who raises him with the constant reminder of his difference.
Like most of his peers, Tayo is educated in white-run schools. Unlike
his friends, however, he often finds the white ways of life faulty
and continues to respect and to believe in the Native American traditions
he learns from his family as well. Tayo is prepared to serve as
a bridge between the older and younger generations of Native Americans.
World War II interrupts Tayo's life, as it does to most
Americans of his generation. He comes of age on the battlefield,
amidst tremendous death and destruction. His awareness of the connections among
of all people and all things makes it incredibly difficult for Tayo
to kill in a war he does not understand, in a place far from his home.
The majority of the Native American men who return from World War
II drown their trauma in alcohol, full of confused anger. Tayo,
however, is more sad than angry. Painfully aware of the ways in
which Native Americans were and are mistreated by whites, Tayo is
not interested in glorifying his time in the army. These characteristics
allow him to respond to the help the medicine men Ku'oosh and Betonie
offer.
His lifelong desperation to belong in his family and his
community, along with his deep-seated belief in the power of the
old traditions, allow Tayo to take up the challenge offered by Betonie
and to undertake the completion of the ceremony, which can cure
both himself and his people. Although he often falters along the
path, Tayo's acceptance of the Native American mythical world allows him
to benefit from the aid of accidents, animals, spirits, and the
elements.
Betonie
As a medicine man, Betonie bridges the real and the mythical worlds.
As would be expected, he spends much of his time in communication
with spirits and stories to which others do not have access. The
story of his own childhood appears magical, as he is descended from
a woman who one day appears hanging in a treetop and turned out
to be in search of her husband. In these ways, Betonie is like the
other medicine man in the story, Ku'oosh. However, Betonie is also
shockingly connected with the mundane details not only of Native
American society but also that of whites.
Betonie attended a white-run boarding school and keeps
old gas station calendars among his sacred herbs and stones. He
lives not at the sacred center of the reservation, but on a cliff
overlooking a run-down white town. He is descended from generations
of Laguna medicine men and women only on one side; the other part
of his ancestry is Mexican. He is a kindred spirit to Tayo, standing
at the brink of a culture clash. But while Tayo tries desperately
to make sense of the world, Betonie was raised with a deep understanding
of it, and a profound tolerance for it. Where Tayo cries, Betonie laughs.
While Betonie is wise, he is not omnipotent (all-powerful).
Medicine men are vehicles rather than agents; they observe, remember, and
advise, but they need patients through whom to perform their ceremonies.
Betonie provides Tayo with the tools and the faith Tayo needs in
order to complete the ceremony. Betonie's role is that of the teacher,
rather than of the hero.
Auntie
Although Ceremony is clearly a Native
American novel about the adverse effects white people have on Native
American culture and on the world in general, the Native Americans
in the story are not idealized, nor are they wholly positive characters.
Along with Emo, Auntie is one of the most negative characters in
the book. In addition to embracing some of the more destructive
elements of white society, Auntie also adheres to Native American
tradition in a destructive manner.
The eldest daughter of Grandma, Auntie, whose given name
is Thelma, will be the next matriarch of her family. As such, she
feels responsible to the community for her family and especially
her younger siblings. However, Auntie is more concerned about how Laura
and Josiah's actions will affect the respect the community gives
to her family and what gossip they may cause to be spread, than
she is with their welfare. Similarly, she follows the letter rather than
the spirit of Native American traditions, leading her to condemn
completely any relationship outside of the community. In addition
to this blind adherence to Native American social mores, Auntie
is a devout Christian who thrives on a narrow interpretation of
the concept of martyrdom. In Auntie's understanding of martyrdom,
she will gain the respect of her peers if she is seen to suffer
for the sins of others. It is in this spirit that she raises Tayo,
rather than out of any love for him or any sense of the Native American
concept of family, which is not limited to nuclear (mother, father,
and child) units.
Although Auntie is a highly problematic character who
causes all sorts of unnecessary problems in Tayo's life, she is
not demonized. Although she does not do it out of love, she does
raise Tayo. She causes difficulty, but not ruin. Her mistreatment
of Tayo is attenuated by the rest of her family. Auntie's misunderstanding
of both Native American and Christian traditions is the result of
the same clashing of cultures that affects everyone in the novel.
